Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Ananda W. Arthur Hyman. David Bentley Hart. Wentzel van Huyssteen. Menachem Fisch. Keith Ward. Authentication and Conflict in Religious Belief? TV Episode. A Tribute to Huston Smith. Pluralistic Hypothesis of Religion. Do Religions Complement or Contradict? Strictly speaking it's an infographic rather than a map, but you get the idea.
The circles represent countries, their varying sizes reflect population sizes, and the slices in each circle indicate religious affiliation. The result is both panoramic and detailed. In other words, this is the best, simplest map of world religions ever. Some quick takeaways:. But the map — based on figures from the World Religion Database behind a paywall — also allows for some more detailed observations.
Of course, clarity comes at the cost of detail. The map bands together various Christian and Islamic schools of thought that don't necessarily accept each other as 'true believers'. It includes Judaism only 15 million adherents, but the older sibling of the two largest religious groups yet groups Sikhism 27 million and various other more numerous faiths in with 'others'. And it doesn't make the distinction between atheism " There is no god " with agnosticism " T here may or may not be a god, we just don't know ".
And then there's the whole minefield of nuance between those who practice a religion but may do so out of social coercion rather than personally held belief , and those who believe in something but don't participate in the rituals of any particular faith.
To be fair, that requires more nuance than even a great map like this can probably provide. Frank Jacobs , , Big Think. This article was originally published by Big Think. The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains. The festival lasts five days and the story behind the festival differs for each of the three religions. Although the group faces a great deal of criticism and gender discrimination, the women are persisting with their art and working to inspire others.
I accept. Devotees try to form a human pyramid to break a clay pot, to mark the Hindu festival of Janmashtami in Mumbai. Frank Jacobs , Big Think. Take action on UpLink. Whether that belief constitutes cause or effect has recently been disputed , but the upshot is that sharing a faith allows people to co-exist relatively peacefully.
The knowledge that Big God is watching makes sure we behave ourselves. Or at least, it did. Today, many of our societies are huge and multicultural: adherents of many faiths co-exist with each other — and with a growing number of people who say they have no religion at all. We obey laws made and enforced by governments, not by God.
Secularism is on the rise, with science providing tools to understand and shape the world. Powerful intellectual and political currents have driven this proposition since the early 20th Century.
Communist states like Soviet Russia and China adopted atheism as state policy and frowned on even private religious expression. His successors are emboldened by surveys showing that in many countries, increasing numbers of people are saying they have no religion. Despite this, religion is not disappearing on a global scale — at least in terms of numbers.
Muslims would grow in number to match Christians, while the number unaffiliated with any religion would decline slightly. Modern societies are multicultural where followers of many different faiths live side by side Credit: Getty Images. Religion will continue to grow in economically and socially insecure places like much of sub-Saharan Africa — and to decline where they are stable. That chimes with what we know about the deep-seated psychological and neurological drivers of belief.
When life is tough or disaster strikes, religion seems to provide a bulwark of psychological and sometimes practical support. In a landmark study, people directly affected by the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand became significantly more religious than other New Zealanders, who became marginally less religious. The traditionally religious both belonged and believed; hardcore atheists did neither. The research suggests that the last two groups are significant.
In interim results released in May , the researchers found that few unbelievers actually identify themselves by these labels, with significant minorities opting for a religious identity. But what does it actually mean? In , Linda Woodhead wrote The Spiritual Revolution , in which she described an intensive study of belief in the British town of Kendal. Today, Woodhead says that revolution has taken place — and not just in Kendal. Organised religion is waning in the UK, with no real end in sight.
US megachurches bring in thousands of worshippers Credit: Getty Images. In poorer societies, you might pray for good fortune or a stable job. But if your basic needs are well catered for, you are more likely to be seeking fulfilment and meaning. Traditional religion is failing to deliver on this, particularly where doctrine clashes with moral convictions that arise from secular society — on gender equality, say.
What do these self-directed religions look like? Many religions have syncretistic elements, although over time they are assimilated and become unremarkable. Festivals like Christmas and Easter, for example, have archaic pagan elements, while daily practice for many people in China involves a mixture of Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. The joins are easier to see in relatively young religions, such as Vodoun or Rastafarianism.
An alternative is to streamline. New religious movements often seek to preserve the central tenets of an older religion while stripping it of trappings that may have become stifling or old-fashioned. But without the deep roots of traditional religions, these can struggle: the Sunday Assembly, after initial rapid expansion, is now reportedly struggling to keep up its momentum. But Woodhead thinks the religions that might emerge from the current turmoil will have much deeper roots.
The first generation of spiritual revolutionaries, coming of age in the s and s, were optimistic and universalist in outlook, happy to take inspiration from faiths around the world. Their grandchildren, however, are growing up in a world of geopolitical stresses and socioeconomic angst; they are more likely to hark back to supposedly simpler times. This article is part of a BBC Future series about the long view of humanity , which aims to stand back from the daily news cycle and widen the lens of our current place in time.
In the European context, this sets the stage for a resurgence of interest in paganism. Paganism also often features divinities that are more like diffuse forces than anthropomorphic gods; that allows people to focus on issues they feel sympathetic towards without having to make a leap of faith to supernatural deities.
Similar movements exist across Europe, such as Druidry in the UK. Not all are liberally inclined. These are niche activities at the moment, and might sometimes be more about playing with symbolism than heartfelt spiritual practice. But over time, they canevolve into more heartfelt and coherent belief systems: Woodhead points to the robust adoption of Rodnovery — an often conservative and patriarchal pagan faith based around the reconstructed beliefs and traditions of the ancient Slavs — in the former Soviet Union as a potential exemplar of things to come.
A woman dances as druids, pagans and revellers gather at Stonehenge Credit: Getty Images. While the world religions are likely to persist and evolve for the foreseeable future, we might for the rest of this century see an efflorescence of relatively small religions jostling to break out among these groups.
But if Big Gods and shared faiths are key to social cohesion, what happens without them? One answer, of course, is that we simply get on with our lives. Munificent economies, good government, solid education and effective rule of law can ensure that we rub along happily without any kind of religious framework. And indeed, some of the societies with the highest proportions of non-believers are among the most secure and harmonious on Earth.
What remains debatable, however, is whether they can afford to be irreligious because they have strong secular institutions — or whether being secular has helped them achieve social stability. Religionists say even secular institutions have religious roots: civil legal systems, for example, codify ideas about justice based on social norms established by religions.
The likes of the New Atheists , on the other hand, argue that religion amounts to little more than superstition, and abandoning it will enable societies to improve their lot more effectively. Connor Wood is not so sure.
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