Religion
Religions of the World
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Religion
Religions of the World
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Distribution by Continent 1995 (N & S America data is 2005)
1. North and West Africa is mainly Muslim while the rest is mainly Christian. See Africa below for regional numbers. 2. Oceania - Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific, Papua New Guinea 3. Latin America was 80% Catholic in 1995. See Catholics below 4. The number of people with no religion in Europe is much higher now. See Religious Views below.
Changes in Demographics - Growth Rates: Estimates very all over the place. Some say Islam is growing much faster than Christianity, however there is no reliable information on this. Christianity is on the decline in western Europe but is growing in developing areas. The best estimates I could find are that worldwide Islam is growing at 2.1-2.9% and Christianity is growing at 1.3-2.3%. Hinduism and Buddhism are stable. World population is growing at about 0.8% per year. People identifying themselves as having no religious belief is increasing in Europe and North America but this seems to be offset by growth in developing regions. At bible.ca they estimate the 2050 makeup will be: 34% Christian, 25% Muslim, 13% Hindu, 4.8% Buddhists, 12% no religion.
Decline in developed regions:
A 2000 study by the Swedish-based World Values Survey shows the percentage of Europeans who don't regularly attend church has gone from 31% to 36% since 1981. The average decrease in theism was about 5% over same time period. e.g. Spain 87% to 81%, Sweden 52% to 47%.
See: Religions of the world: numbers of adherents; growth rates
Catholics: AsiaThe middle east is primairly MuslimSouth Asia (India, Nepal) is primairly Hindu The far east and SE Asia are primairly Buddhist Largest Countries in South and East Asia
‡ - China is a complex mix of religious, superstitious and magical beliefs and practices. The main religions are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and Christianity. † - Philippines is 81% Catholic § Many Japanese ascribe to both Buddhism and Shintoism
* Korea: Countries with large numbers of Muslims (2009 est.)
The Profit Mohammad was born from the lineage of Ishmael;
His father's name was Abdulah, meaning slave of Allah,
and he was of the tribe of Hashim,
who were noble people from the Quraysh.
* As much as 80 percent of the world's Shi'ite population lives in four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq.
List of countries by Muslim population Europe
* The numbers in the CIA World Factbook do not agree with other sources for Scandinavia which indicate that less than 50% believe in God and France and Germany where almost 50% do not believe. Religious Views and Beliefs Vary Greatly by Country
A 2000 study by the Swedish-based World Values Survey shows the percentage of Europeans who don't regularly attend church has gone from 31% to 36% since 1981. The average decrease in theism was about 5% over same time period. e.g. Spain 87% to 81%, Sweden 52% to 47%. Countries, ranked by percentage of atheists/agnostics/non-believer: (Most non-belivers) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1. Sweden 46 - 85% 2. Vietnam 81% 3. Denmark 43 - 80% 4. Norway 31 - 72% 5. Japan 64 - 65% 6. Czech Republic 54 - 61% 7. Finland 28 - 60% 8. France 43 - 54% 9. South Korea 30 - 52% 10. Estonia 49% 11. Germany 41 - 49% 12. Russia 4 - 48% 13. Hungary 32 - 46% 14. Netherlands 39 - 44% 15. Britain 31 - 44% 16. Belgium 42 - 43% 17. Bulgaria 34 - 40% 18. Slovenia 35 - 38% 19. Israel 15 - 37% 20. Canada 19 - 30% 21. Latvia 20 - 29% 22. Slovakia 10 - 28% 23. Switzerland 17 - 27% 24. Austria 18 - 26% 25. Australia 24 - 25% |
26. Taiwan 24% 27. Spain 15 - 24% 28. Iceland 16 - 23% 29. New Zealand 20 - 22% 30. Ukraine 20% 31. Belarus 17% 32. Greece 16% 33. North Korea 15%* 34. Italy 6 - 15% 35. Armenia 14% 36. China 8 - 14%* 37. Lithuania 13% 38. Singapore 13% 39. Uruguay 12% 40. Kazakhstan 11 - 12% 41. Mongolia 9% 42. Portugal 4 - 9% 43. USA 3 - 9% 44. Albania 8% 45. Argentina 4 - 8% 46. Kyrgyzstan 7% 47. Dominican Republic 7% 48. Cuba 7% 49. Croatia 7% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005). See also Religion in Europe. Black Muslim Movement (BMM): This is largely a black urban movement in the US. One driving force was a rejection of Christianity as the religion of the historically oppressing white race. It was started by Wallace Fard who built the first temple in Detroit. Elijah Muhammad (born Elijah Poole) established a second temple in Chicago and later supervised the creation of temples in most large cities with significant black populations. They taught that blacks were racially superior to whites and that a racial war is inevitable. The charismatic Malcolm X was perhaps their most famous spokesperson; he played an important role in reversing the BMM's anti-white beliefs. In its earlier years, the movement deviated significantly from traditional Islamic beliefs (particularly over matters of racial tolerance the status of the BMM leaders as prophets). This deviation is being reversed.
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