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Distribution of Religions
Ch. 6.1 (pp. 168-178)
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Intro
• Universalizing religions
– Seek to appeal to all people
– role of missionaries
• Ethnic religions
– Appeal to a smaller group of people living
in one place
• monotheism vs. polytheism
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World Distribution of Religions
Figure 6-3
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I. Universalizing Religions
A. Christianity
– The largest world religion (about 2 billion
adherents)
• Many adherents in Europe, the Americas
– Three major branches
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Roman Catholicism (51 percent)
Eastern Orthodox (11 percent) (c. 1054)
Protestant Christianity (24 percent) (c. 1517)
Other, smaller branches of Christianity
comprise 14 percent of all Christians
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Distribution of Christians in the
United States
Figure 6-2
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I. Universalizing Religions (cont.)
B. Islam
– The second-largest world religion (about
1.3 billion adherents)
• Significant clusters in the Middle East, North
Africa, and South Asia
– Core of Islamic belief = the five pillars
– Two significant branches
• Sunnis (83 percent) (“followers of Mohammed’s
example”)
• Shias or Shiites (16 percent) (descendants of
Mohammed’s family)
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I. Universalizing Religions (cont.)
C. Buddhism
– About 400 million adherents (difficult to
quantify)
• Significant clusters in China, Southeast Asia
– The Four Noble Truths
– Three branches
• Mahayana (China, Japan, Korea)
• Theravada (Southeast Asia)
• Tantrayana (Tibet, Mongolia)
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I. Universalizing Religions (cont.)
D. Other Universal Religions
– Sikhism – Nanak (guru)
• Began in Pakistan, largest in Punjab, India
• c. late 16th Century
• About 23 million followers
– Baha’i – Bab & Bah’a’ullah (founder &
prophet)
• Iran (c. 1844)
• About 7 million followers
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II. Ethnic Religions
A. Hinduism
– The third-largest religion in the world (900
million adherents)
– 97 percent of Hindus are found in India
– Many paths to spirituality
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II. Ethnic religions (cont.)
B. Other ethnic religions
– Confucianism (China)
– Daoism (China)
– Shinto (Japan)
– Judaism (today: the United States, Israel)
• The first monotheistic religion
• Influence on Christianity & Islam
– Ethnic African religions
• Animism
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Buddhism
Hinduism
Figure 6-5
Figure 6-4
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Religions of the United States
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.