Christianity
number of adherents:
around 2.2 billion (largest in the world)
call them:
Christians
geographic location:
Europe, the Americas, southern Africa
denominations:
Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Protestants (Lutherans, Methodists,
Baptists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, many more)
founder: Jesus
Christ (it’s Abrahamic in origin)
holy book: The
Bible, especially the New Testament
beliefs: Jesus is
both human and divine - the Son of God; he
led a virtuous life; he was crucified, died, buried, and resurrected; he
ascended into heaven where he reigns with God the Father
clergy: the Pope is
head of the church, priests are local authorities
Islam
number of adherents:
1.5 billion (second largest)
call them: Muslims
geographic location:
Indonesia, Middle East, north Africa
denominations:
Sunnis (75 - 90%), Shiites (10 - 20%)
founder:
Muhammad (570 - 632)
holy book: Qur’an
beliefs:
monotheistic, Abrahamic
Five
Pillars (testimony, prayer, alms-giving, fasting, pilgrimage)
Muslims see their
purpose in life as serving and submitting to Allah (God), and observing Islamic
law
Hinduism
number of adherents:
1.1 billion (third largest)
call them: Hindus
geographic location:
India, Nepal
holy book: the Vedas
- eternal truths revealed to ancient sages; composed in verse form (meant to be
sung and easily memorized)
founder:
no distinct founder - it is a series of intellectual or phil0sophical points of
view, rather than a rigid, strict set of beliefs - probably the oldest
religion, although Hinduism is less a religion than a way of life, or a faith
Buddhism
number
of adherents: 500 million to 1.5 billion (estimates vary quite a bit)
call
them: Buddhists
geographic
location: southeast Asia, China, Nepal, Japan
(there
are 1.2 million Buddhists in the United States)
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