I heard an interesting NPR story this week regarding how the world’s major faiths were affected by the tsunami. It focused on how different religions reconcile human suffering with the idea of a caring God. The story featured views and opinions from Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and Christians.
The story’s global perspective on religion made me wonder what are the most popular religions in the world; so I looked it up.
- 19.67% Muslims
- 17.28% Roman Catholics (Christian)
- 13.28% Hindus
- 13.05% Other religions
- 12.43% Non-religious
- 5.84% Buddhists
- 5.61% Protestants (Christian)
- 3.49% Orthodox (Christian)
- 2.41% Atheists
- 1.31% Anglicans (Christian)
- 0.38% Sikhs
- 0.23% Jews
With so many religions and so many difference, one has to ask, “If someone was never exposed to religion and wanted to adopt a religions belief, how should they go about making such a decision?”
The story also made me wonder exactly how many different religions are there.