A Complete Introduction to Great Faiths of The World!: World Religion Series, #1

By Mary Pandeo

This book is designed to introduce you to many of the most popular religions in the world today. It is likely that you have heard about many of these religions in the past but this book will help to bring them to life, allowing you to see the intricate details that are associated with each one.

“World Religion Series - A Complete Introduction To Great Faiths of the World!” will give you an overview of these wonderful religious practices and will help you to develop an appreciation for the spiritual diversity that exists in our world today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shaharm Publications
• Release date: Mar 10, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524211738

Mary Pandeo

Mary Pandeo has spent her entire working life as a religious education teacher in several school across the world. As a frequent traveller, Mary has always been fascinated by how religion can shape one's society and social beliefs. Religion and spirituality has been a lifelong passion for Mary and she endeavours to research and uncover all she can about the world's most prominent faiths. Mary has created her series of books to share this passion with you and, when you read them, you'll uncover all you need to know about Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and more.

Book preview

Introduction to the World’s Great Faiths

Understanding world religions is one of the best ways to better understand other people. While the world is full of many different religions there are five major religions that a large portion of the globe adhere to. These five religions are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. By understanding the basics of these religions one is able to understand the belief structure of approximately 77% of the world’s population.

According to the Pew Research Center, Christianity is the largest of the world religions with 31.5% of the global population following this religion. The second largest religion is Islam with 23.2% of the global population following the religion. Around 15% of the world’s population follows Hinduism, and 7.1% follows Buddhism. Only 0.2% of the global population is believed to follow Judaism.

The Pew Research Center also found that around 16.3% of the global population has no religious affiliation. This would technically make Atheism or Unaffiliated the third largest religious grouping in the world. As there is no one set belief structure for this group it is not considered cohesive enough to be a religion on its own, as many unaffiliated people do believe in certain aspects of different faiths, but do not affiliate themselves with the religion.

There are a number of other religions that are followed around the world and they are generally classed as Folk religions or other religions. Folk religions have a following of 5.9% of the global population with other religions having a following of 0.8%. These categories combine a number of religions from African traditional religions to Chinese folk religions and Wicca.

Of the largest religions in the world the geographical distribution varies greatly with some religions being followed by people around the world, while others are locked to certain areas. Followers of Christianity are the most widely spread with approximately equal numbers practicing in Europe, Africa and the Americas. Approximately 62% of followers of Islam reside in Asia-Pacific with 20% living in the Middle East and North Africa while 16% are in sub-Saharan Africa. Hinduism, along with Buddhism, is primarily followed by people living in the Asia-Pacific region with 90% of Hindus and 99% of Buddhists living in this region. Judaism is split between North America, the Middle East, and North Africa with most of the followers of this religion residing in Israel.

There is also a difference between the five major religions of the world when the average age of followers is considered. Islam and Hinduism have the youngest average age of followers, with median ages of 23 and 26 respectively. Christianity has a median age of 30, while Buddhism has a median age of 34. Judaism has the oldest median age of all the major religions at 36.

Christianity - The World’s Largest Religion

Christianity is the world’s largest religion with around 2.2 billion people belonging to the religion. Christianity is based on the teachings and words of Jesus Christ taught to followers through the Bible. The large reach of Christianity comes from the missionary activities that the church has undertaken over the centuries and still continues