An Interfaith Approach to
Religious Identity -
An overview of the history and geography of
TWENTY WORLD-VIEWS
by Diana Chaudhuri
1
1
Twenty World-Views
1
1
- Aboriginal Australian
- African Spirituality
- Agnosticism
- Atheism
- Baha’i
- Buddhist
- Christian
- Confucianism
- Hinduism
- Islam
- Humanism
- Jainism
- Judaism
- New Age
- Rastafarianism
- Shintuism
- Sikhism
- Taoism
- Traditional
and Indigenous
- Zoroastrianism
- Other
Perspectives
1
NAME OF WORLD-VIEW / DATE/PERIOD OF ORIGIN / PLACE/S OF ORIGIN / NUMBER OF BELIEVERS IN THE WORLD TODAY / WHERE FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY1) Aboriginal Australian / Probably 30-40000 years ago – long before recorded time.
One of the most ancient living faith systems and cultures.
The word ‘Aborigine’ is from the Latin word which means ‘from the beginning.’
Aboriginal religion is founded on a concept of ‘Dreamtime.’ The Dreamtime ancestors shaped the barren world and created everything from the same source. The Dreamtime ancestors sleep in the earth, as its sacred places, so the Aboriginal Australians have a unique sense of kinship with the land. / The Aboriginals are the original inhabitants, the indigenous peoples of Australia, the Torres Strait and Tasmania.
They developed as a network of interrelated but separate, independent tribes or nations. / 400,000 people,
which is some 2%
of the total population
of Australia / Mostly in Australia
NAME OF WORLD-VIEW / DATE/PERIOD OF ORIGIN / PLACE/S OF ORIGIN / NUMBER OF BELIEVERS IN THE WORLD TODAY / WHERE FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY
2) African spirituality / ‘African Spirituality’ is an umbrella title for both the traditional polytheistic religions of Africa which date from pre-history - and the religions rooted in African culture and tradition practised in the African Diaspora, which have developed over the past 100 years. Since both Christianity and Islam have historical connections with Africa which go back for hundreds of years, African Spirituality often reflects these religions and they are often, practised syncrenistically. / There are many ancient African religions, found throughout African continent. Most of these fall into the general category of ‘Shamanism.’
The African Diaspora is concentrated in South America, The Caribbean, USA and UK
African Spirituality tends to be practised by people of African descent but there can be some overlap into different cultures where they closely coexist – such as in the celebration of Kwanza. /
Approximately
3-4 million / Africa,South America, (especially Brazil)
the Caribbean,
the USA,
Canada and
theUK.
There are smaller communities in the African Diaspora found in many other countries.
NAME OF WORLD-VIEW / DATE/PERIOD OF ORIGIN / PLACE/S OF ORIGIN / NUMBER OF BELIEVERS IN THE WORLD TODAY / WHERE FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY
3) Agnosticism / Developed mostly in Western intellectual circles during the past 200 years. Thomas Huxley invented the term ‘Agnostic’ in the 1840’s ‘a’ is a negative prefix to ‘Gnostic’ the Greek word for knowledge, so it literally means someone who does not know. / Western Europe, (especially the UK and France)
USA and Canada / Agnosticism is a philosophical perspective,
not a religion.
It is impossible to quantify accurately.
The 1996 and 2001 Canadian censuses showed that the percentage of atheists, agnostics and humanists etc rose from 12.3% to 16.2% so it is a World-View which is increasing in the West, but there is no way of knowing the actual numbers worldwide. / Western Europe, USA and Canada.
Small populations of agnostics are likely to be found in most countries now, especially in intellectual circles.
The Graduate Centre of the City University of New York conducted a study of 50,000 adults in 2001. From this they estimate that there are 991,000 American adults who identify themselves as Agnostic. That is 0.5% of the total population. There are more self-identified Agnostics than Atheists in the USA. In The 1996 Canadian Census counted 21,975 Agnostics.
NAME OF WORLD-VIEW / DATE/PERIOD OF ORIGIN / PLACE/S OF ORIGIN / NUMBER OF BELIEVERS IN THE WORLD TODAY / WHERE FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY
4) Atheism / Atheism involves an active rejection of belief in the existence of God. But atheists usually are reacting against a particular cultural concept of God.
Epicurus rejected the Gods of Ancient Greece, Fredrich Nietzsche and Karl Marx reacting to the Christianity of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, for example.
Mikhail Bakunin (1814–76) was a Russian anarchist and atheist who founded the philosophy known as Nilhism. However Atheism as a conscious ‘faith stance’ is quite a recent concept, probably originating in the late 20th Century. / Western Europe, especiallyRussia, Germany, France and England. / A worldwide survey in 2000 by the Gallup polling agency found that 8% do not think there is any spirit, personal God, or life force.
The 1996 and 2001 Canadian censuses showed that the percentage of atheists, agnostics and humanists etc rose from 12.3% to 16.2% so it is impossible to give an accurate estimate. / Most atheists are found in the intellectual and anarchistic sections of Western society, especially in the USA. Canada and Western Europe.
However the spread of global materialism and idolisation of Western Capitalism means that in other countries atheism is becoming a fashionable attitude among young intellectuals.
NAME OF WORLD-VIEW / DATE/PERIOD OF ORIGIN / PLACE/S OF ORIGIN / NUMBER OF BELIEVERS IN THE WORLD TODAY / WHERE FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY
5) Baha’i / Siyyis Ali-Muhammad 1819 – 1850 CE, assumed the title of ‘The Bab,’ (which means ‘The Gate’) On 23rd May 1844 he explained that his mission was to herald a new teacher who would fulfil all the great religions.
The Baha’i religion takes this date as its origin.
On April 21 1863 MirzaHusayn-Ali-i-Nuri, a prominent member of the ‘Babis’ assumed the title of Baha’u’llah. (This name means Glory to God’ in Arabic)
Baha’u’llah is considered to be the main ‘Founder’ of the Baha’i faith.
Mirza Husayn-Ali-i-Nuri(1817 – 1892,) was born in Tehran, Iran. / In 1844 Mirza became a leading advocate of the Babi movement, whose founder – the Bab was put to death for ‘dangerous heresy.’
Mirza was imprisoned in Tehran. Here he experienced a series of profound revelations. Exiled from Iran on his release from prison, he lived in Baghdad, (Iraq) Constantinople and Edirne, (Turkey.) Exiled to Acre in August 1868, he wrote his most ‘important work – The Kitab-i-Aqdas there.
In the 1870’s he was given freedom to move outside the city and he lived peacefully with his followers until his death on 29th May 1892. / Difficult to give a precise figure, Baha’i sources estimate
5 million members worldwide. / About 2.5 million are in India,
140,000 in the USA,
15,000 in Canada,
and smaller communities in about 200 other countries.
Baha’i is one of the worlds fastest growing faiths.
In Iran, where the religion originated, Baha’is are an important minority but still liable to persecution.
NAME OF WORLD-VIEW / DATE/PERIOD OF ORIGIN / PLACE/S OF ORIGIN / NUMBER OF BELIEVERS IN THE WORLD TODAY / WHERE FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY
6) Buddhism / Siddhartha Gautama was born in Lumbini, (160 km north of Benares, in what was at that time northern India but is now southern Nepal) - in 563 BCE.
A prince of the Shakya kingdom, he left home to seek for the cause of suffering – and a way of overcoming it. After five years he attained enlightenment near the town of Gaya.
Now given the title of ‘The Buddha’ – which means The Enlightened One’ - he preached his first sermon in theDeer Parkat Samath near Benares and taught for 40 years.
(continued in next column.) / Lumbini, Samath, and many other significant places where the Buddha travelled and taught in India and Nepal
______
The Buddha died at Kusinagara aged 80. After his cremation his ashes were buried in monuments called Stupas.
(According to most Buddhist chronicles, King Ajatasatu of Magadha and a Brahmin priest named Drona took custody of the Buddha's remains. They divided the relics into eight portions and assigned eight kings the responsibility for building stupas to enshrine the sacred objects in eight different locations in what are today northern India and southern Nepal. These sites, and others which contain his relics, are centres of pilgrimage for Buddhists today. / Estimates vary between
230 and 500
million.
Most sources
give a
worldwide total
of
some
350 million / Top ten countries areThailand (95%)
Cambodia (90%)
Myanmar (88%)
Bhutan (75%) Sri Lanka (70%)
Tibet (65%)
Laos (60%)
Vietnam (55%)
Japan (50%)
Macau (45%)
andTaiwan (43%)
Important minority communities of Buddhists can be found in almost every country including other countries in
Asia,
Western Europe, North and South America, Australasia
andAfrica.
NAME OF WORLD-VIEW / DATE/PERIOD OF ORIGIN / PLACE/S OF ORIGIN / NUMBER OF BELIEVERS IN THE WORLD TODAY / WHERE FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY
7) Christianity / Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod of Judea.
Records show that King Herod died in 4BCE so Jesus must have been born shortly before that date.
When Jesus was about 30 years old he began his Ministry. He was crucified about 3 years later.
It can be argued that Christianity as a distinct religion began after the death and resurrection of Jesus,about 30 CE, although Christians usually take the date of 0CE, the traditional date given for Jesus’ birth. / Israel/Palestine in the Middle East
Born in Bethlehem, Jesus went to Egypt as a young child when his family fled there as refugees to escape from King Herod. They returned to the village of Nazarethwhere his parents had lived before going to Bethlehem at the time of his birth.
Jesus taught all around the region of Galilee and in Jerusalem, where he was executed by crucifixion. / David B Barretts World Christian Encyclopaedia (1994) gives a figure of 1.9 billion Christians worldwide, and predicts that this figure would increase to 2.1 billion by the year 2000.
Christianity is a very diverse religion with some 20,000 different denominations. The largest are Catholic Church 1,050,000,000 members,Eastern Orthodox Churches 225,000,000
Anglican Communion (including the Church of England) 73,000,000 and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church 35,000,000. / Christianity is a worldwide religion. Some countries with high percentages of Christians include:
Mexico (99%)
France (98%) Brazil and Philippines (93%)
Italy (90%)
United Kingdom (88%)
USA 85%
Germany (83%)
Many other smaller countries have 95 – almost 100% Christian populations and even when the percentage population is low this can represent a huge number of people, for example in China where Christians represent only 5.7% of the population but number over 70 million people.
NAME OF WORLD-VIEW / DATE/PERIOD OF ORIGIN / PLACE/S OF ORIGIN / NUMBER OF BELIEVERS IN THE WORLD TODAY / WHERE FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY
8) Confucianism / K’ung Fu Tzu or Confucius as he is called in the West was born in 551BCE, in the state of Lu (today known as Shantung,China. ) He died in 479BCE.
Confucius was an official in the state, deeply concerned with the militarism which dominated China at that time. His philosophy, based on love, compassion and right relationship, led him to be expelled form Li, and he travelled around China with his disciples, on what he believed to be a Heaven ordained Mission, teaching, writing, compiling and editing texts which continue to offer inspiration and guidance some 2,500 years later. /
China
(Confucianism is a ‘code of conduct’ rather than a religion and can be lived in syncretism with other religions. Many Confucians are Buddhist or Christian.)
/ About 6 million,mostly in China and other parts of Asia. There are small communities in many other countries, mostly within the populations of the Chinese Diaspora, (including some 26,000 in USA) / China, Taiwan and other parts of Asia. There are small communities in many other countries, mostly within the populations of the Chinese Diaspora, (including some 26,000 in USA)
NAME OF WORLD-VIEW / DATE/PERIOD OF ORIGIN / PLACE/S OF ORIGIN / NUMBER OF BELIEVERS IN THE WORLD TODAY / WHERE FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY
9) Hinduism / The word Hinduism has its roots in the name of the river Indus. The Indus civilisation is one of the oldest civilisations in the world and Hinduism is believed to have its origins in the religion practised by this ancient Indus Valley Civilisation combined with the Aryan invaders who were nomadic peoples, and all the many and varied tribal and regional ancient cultures and religions of India (the land East of the Indus.)
Hinduism has grown organically like a garden from the mists of pre-history. Unique in having no one ‘founder,’ countless sages and saints have added to and shaped the teachings of Hinduism over the millennia, like gardeners inheriting and tending a most beautiful family estate. Such Hindu luminaries can be found in every period of time and those alive today continue to shape and add to the wealth of wisdom and truth that is Hinduism. /
India
in its ancient, geographical area, which stretchesfrom the Indus valley in Pakistan to Myanmar in the east, the Himalayan mountains in the north and Sri Lanka in the south. / Hinduism,
the faith of more than 860 human beings in India,
and in smaller communities around the world, largely within the Indian Diaspora
(see below and in next column.)
Europe's largest Hindu population is
1.3-million in theUnited Kingdom, followed by
Holland, 150,000; Germany, 30,000; Spain and Portugal, over 10,000; Switzerland, 8,000; Sweden, 8,000; andNorway, 2,000. / About 80% of India's one billion people consider themselves Hindus; there are perhaps 30 million Hindus elsewhere, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
Sizeable minority populations all around the world including. Africa, Australasia, Latin America, the Caribbean, a million in the USA and in Canada and Europe.
There are major Hindu populations in
South Africa (1,100,000)
Tanzania (60,000), Kenya (60,000),
Nigeria(30,000) and Zambia(20,000) with significant communities in Zimbabwe, Somalia and Botswana.
NAME OF WORLD-VIEW / DATE/PERIOD OF ORIGIN / PLACE/S OF ORIGIN / NUMBER OF BELIEVERS IN THE WORLD TODAY / WHERE FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY
10) Humanism / Humanism began in the Renaissance period in Western Europe
(1300 – 1500CE)
when intellectuals were re-discovering the Greek and Roman classics in art and literature. Italian Petrarch and Boccacio, English Thomas More and Dutch Erazmus were among the best known of those early humanists. / Early Renaissance Humanism began in Western Europe and centred on Italy.
Humanism grew in importance during the 18th Century European Enlightenment period with the French Voltaire, Diderot and Rouseau – and English Matthew Arnold leading the way.
In the early days many Humanists were religious but since
the mid 20th Century
Humanism has become largely associated with non-religious and atheistic perspectives. / Humanism comes under a general ‘umbrella’ heading of
‘Non-Religious groups’ which in some surveys is given a world percentage of about 14% (World Christian Encyclopaedia.) In Britain the British Humanist Association(which is an organisation promoting secular, ethical Humanism and tends towards an atheistic rather than agnostic perspective) has about 50 branches.
I can not yet find any reliable statistic for humanists worldwide or in the UK, which is not surprising as it is not a highly structured or organised World-View. / There are Humanist groups in some 60 countries worldwide. The largest and best organised groups are found in Europe and North America, but there are probably independent-minded humanists in most if not all countries.
NAME OF WORLD-VIEW / DATE/PERIOD OF ORIGIN / PLACE/S OF ORIGIN / NUMBER OF BELIEVERS IN THE WORLD TODAY / WHERE FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY
11) Islam / The prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was born in Makkah in the year 571 CE. One night in the month of Ramadan in 610 CE Muhammad was praying and meditating in a cave on mountHira, near Makkah, when an angel appeared to him and commanded him to read or recite. This was the start of revelations which continued for the rest of his life.
Commanded to teach the new religion which demanded people turn from their old religious ways and embrace Islam, Muhammad met with strong opposition. In 622CE he left Makkah and went to live in Yathrib, a town to the north, which was renamed as Madinah.This journey is called the Hijra and marks the start of the Muslim calendar.
After returning to Makkah in 630, Muhammad returned to Madinah where he died in 632CE at the age of 63. / Makkah
and
Madinah
in the part ofArabia
now found in
Saudi Arabia,
in the Middle East. / 1.3 billion worldwide.
Sunni Islam – 900,000,000
Shi’ite Islam 125,000,000
Ahmadiyya 10,000,000
American Muslim society 2,000,000
And some 1,591,000(which is 2.7% of the population) in the UK / Top ten largest Muslim populations –Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Nigeria, + China.
Other countries where the population is more than 50% Muslim include:
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and in the Middle East, Albania and Bosnia in Europe, Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lybia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Mauritania in Africa and Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan, in Asia. There are also large minority populations of Muslims in most other countries including UK + USA
NAME OF WORLD-VIEW / DATE/PERIOD OF ORIGIN / PLACE/S OF ORIGIN / NUMBER OF BELIEVERS IN THE WORLD TODAY / WHERE FOUND IN THE WORLD TODAY
12) Jainism / According to Jain philosophy Lord Mahavir was the 24th and last Tirthankara or Jina of the Jain religion. (A Jina is a spiritual conqueror.) Tirthankaras were born as human beings but attained a state of perfection through God-realisation so they are the ‘gods’ of Jainism.
Lord Mahavir was born in 599BCE as Vardhamana, a prince of Bihar, India. At the age of 30 he became a Monk. After 12 years of silence, austerity and meditation he was able to conquer his desires and emotions and achieved realisation. He spent the next 30 years of his life travelling around India teaching. At the age of 72 (527BCE) he died.
Unlike the Buddha Mahavira did not start a new religion but reformed and continued the teachings and traditions of Jainism which was a distinct religion already in existence. / Biharand other places associated with Lord Mahavira
and the earlier