RELIGIONS 

Brief History on different religions

Bibles

Catholic Church

Islam: 1.5 billion Islam (Arabic: الإسلام‎ al-’islām, pronounced [ʔislæːm] ( listen)[note 1]) is the monotheistic religion articulated by the Qur’an, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Arabic: الله‎, Allah), and by the teachings and normative example (called the Sunnah and Hadith) of Muhammad, the last Prophet of Islam. The word Islam means 'submission to God',[1] and an adherent of Islam is called a Muslim. { 2 } Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheism: 1.5 billion is defined as a rejection of the belief in the non existence of any god or higher power.

Hinduism: 900 million, Hinduism is the traditional religious of South Asia, especially in the Republic of India and in Nepal.
Chinese traditional religion: 394 million is a traditional religion is also referred to as Chinese folk religion. It is a collective label given too many folkloric beliefs that draw heavily from the Chinese mythology.

Buddhism: 376 million, being a philosophy and religion that is made of a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices largely based on teaching attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha

Primal-indigenous: 300 million, “Animism (from Latin anima "soul, life") is a philosophical, religious or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans but also in other animals, plants, rocks, natural phenomena such as thunder, geographic features such as mountains or rivers, or other entities of the natural environment. Animism may further attribute souls to abstract concepts such as words, true names or metaphors in mythology. Animism is particularly widely found in the religions of indigenous peoples, although it is also found in Shinto, and some forms of Hinduism and Neopaganism.”

African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million is just a movement of a population that may share a common national and/or an ethnic identity.

Sikhism: 23 million was founded in the fifteenth century on the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev and ten successive. Their salvation is through disciplined personal meditation on the name and message of God to the extent that one could interpret God as the Universe itself.

Juche: 19 Million, The Juche Idea alternatively chuch'e (Korean pronunciation: [tɕutɕʰe] approximately "joo-ch'he") is the official state ideology of North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea). It teaches that "man is the master of everything and decides everything," and that the Korean people are the masters of Korea's revolution. Juche is a component of North Korea's political system.[citation needed] Juche literally means "main body" or "subject"; it has also been translated in North Korean sources as "independent stand" and the "spirit of self-reliance". Juche cannot be completely translated into foreign languages. Its best translation would be ‘always putting Korean things first.’ { 3 }

Spiritism: 15 million is a philosophical doctrine that was established in France in the mid-nineteenth century. Spiritism is based on the five books of the Spiritist Codification written by a French educator Hypolite Leon Denizard Rivail. The books are based on some phenomena that the author saw.

Judaism: 4.2 million, Finding out what “Judaism” means and stands for is very hard to do. The information I found shows who started it, but not much else. James Parkes (1896-1981) was born on the Island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands and was a clergyman, historian and social activist. He created the foundations of a Christian reevaluation of Judiam in 1929 with the publication of the Jew and His Neighbor.

Jainism: 4.2 million is philosophy and practices rely mainly on self-effort in progressing the soul on the spiritual ladder to divine consciousness. Jainism is an ancient religion of India that prescribes a path of peace and non-violence towards all living beings.
Shino: 4 million, Shino was another that I came up empty when trying to research it.
Cao Dai: 4 million, “Cao Dai (Cao Đài) is an Asian new religious movement that emerged in Vietnam in 1926 and was founded by Ngô Văn Chiêu (1878 – 1932). Caodaiists, as followers of this religion are called, believe that humanity is currently in the final age of revelation and salvation, and that their religion provides God's latest plans. Cao Dai is syncretistic, embracing insights from other religious traditions, especially Taoism and Buddhism. Adherents engage in eclectic practices such as prayer, veneration of ancestors, nonviolence, séances, and vegetarianism with the goal of rejoining with God the Father in Heaven, and the ultimate goal of freedom from reincarnation.”

Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million is a philosophy and religion is based on the teachings of a prophet call Zoroaster. “In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil originates from Him. Thus, in Zoroastrianism good and evil have distinct sources, with evil (druj) trying to destroy the creation of Mazda (asha), and good trying to sustain it. Mazda is not immanent in the world, and His creation is represented by the Amesha Spentas and the host of other Yazatas, through whom the works of God are evident to humanity, and through whom worship of Mazda is ultimately directed. The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, of which a significant portion has been lost, and mostly only the liturgies of which have survived. The lost portions are known of only through references and brief quotations in the later works of (primarily) the 9th-11th centuries.”
Tenrikyo: 2 million, founded in the 19th century Tenrikyo is a monotheist religion originating in revelation to a 19th century Japanese woman named Miki Nakayama. Tenrikyo’s worldly aim is to teach and promote the joyous life which is cultivated through acts of charity and mindfulness called hinokishin.

Neo-Paganism: 1 million is influenced by pre-Christian pagan beliefs of Europe. It is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements.

Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand, is a liberal religion characterized by its support for a free and responsible search for truth and meaning 

Rastafarianism: 600 thousand is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930’s in Jamaica from a Christian Culture. They worship Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, former Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-1936 and 1941-1974)

Scientology: 500 thousand was created by L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986) Scientology teaches that people are immortal spiritual beings who are lost or have forgotten their true nature. In the United States it emphasizes that they are a bonafide religion because they are tax exempt in the United States.

Christianity: The last one that I will list and show evidence that it is the true and correct religion. Christianity which is a monotheistic religion that is based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, written in the New Testament of the Bible. Christians believe Jesus is the “son of God”; God having become man and the savior of humanity. Christianity began as a Jewish sect where the Jewish history is recorded in the Hebrew Bible. Judaism believes that Jesus of Nazareth was just a prophet and was not the Messiah that has been promised to them. That is why Judaism believes in the Old Testament only and this part of scripture is common to Christianity and Judaism.

                Author: Richard L. Brown

Catholic Church:                                                               http://www.vatican.va/phone_en.htm
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America:             http://www.goarch.org
Episcopal Church USA (Anglican):                              http://www.ecusa.anglican.org
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:                                http://www.elcca.org
Lutheran Church Missouri Synod:                             http://www.lcms.org
Presbyterian Church USA                                             http://www.pcusa.org
United Methodist Church:                                           http://www.umc.org/index.asp
Southern Baptist Convention:                                    http://www.sbc.net
United Church of Christ:                                               http://www.church-of-christ.org/
Seventh-day Adventist Church:                                                 http://www.adventist.org
Assemblies of God:                                                         http://www.ag.org/top/

{ 1 }        Christianity Today General Statistics and Facts of Christianity Today (http”//Christianity.about.com/od/denominations/p/christiantoday.htm)
{ 2 }        www.wikipediathefreeencyclopedia
{ 3 }       www.wikipediathefreeencyclopedia
{ 4 }        Christianity Cults and Religions 7th Edition.

Christianity Cults and Religions 7th Edition
Christianity Today General Statistics and Facts of Christianity Today (http://Christianity.about.com/od/denominations/p/christiantoday.html)
WILLMINGTON’S GUILD TO THE BIBLE by Dr. H.L. Willmington
KING JAMES BIBLE
www.adherents.com/religions by adherents.html
HISTORY OF THE BIBLE: HOW THE BIBLE CAME TO US by Wesley Ringer at www.godandscience.org/.../bibleorigin.html
THE BOOK OF BOOKS by William Evans at www.anabaptists.org/history/howwegot.html
www.calvin2catholic.com 
Pentecostal Pastor now a Catholic by Judy Tarjanyi catholiceducation.org/…/cs0024.html

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11-2010