THE 8 MAIN RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD (WITH THE MOST FOLLOWERS) - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

The main religions of the world are Christianity, Judaism or Islam, although there are a great variety of beliefs that spread throughout the globe. Also, there are religions in Asia and Africa followed by millions of people but are not as well known in the Western world.

In the cultures of the world, there have traditionally been many different groups of religious beliefs. In Indian culture, different religious philosophies were traditionally respected as differences in the search for the same truth. In Islam, the Quran mentions three different categories: Muslims, people of the book, and idol worshipers.

Initially, Christians had a simple dichotomy of world beliefs: Christian civility versus foreign heresy or barbarism. In the 18th century, "heresy" was clarified to mean Judaism and Islam, along with paganism.

In this article I will mention the different religions of the world that have the most followers and I will explain their origins, principles and sacred books.

List of the 8 religions with the most followers in the world

1- Christianity - 2.2 billion people

Christianity is the religion with the most followers in the world. More than two billion people cling to it.

• Origins: based on the beliefs of Jesus of Nazareth, Christianity in the time of Emperor Tiberius, after the death of the Jewish prophet. His apostles, led by Paul of Tarsus, decided to finish spreading their sermons throughout most of the territories belonging to the Roman Empire at that time.
• Principles: The principles of Christianity are summarized in their most basic form in the Ten Commandments:

1. You will love God above all things.
2. You will not say the name of God in vain.
3. You will sanctify the holidays.
4. You will honor your father and mother.
5. Thou shalt not kill.
6. Thou shalt not commit impure acts.
7. You will not steal.
8. You will not give false testimonials.
9. You will not indulge in impure thoughts and desires.
10. You shall not covet.

• Books: the holy book of Christianity is the Bible, which consists of two distinct parts. On the one hand, the Old Testament, and on the other the New Testament, made up of a total of 27 books.
• God: of monotheistic ideology, Christians believe in the existence of a single almighty God who created the existential of everything from nothing. On the other hand, the people who inhabit the earth were born from his power in his image and likeness.

2- Islam - 1.6 billion people

Despite the fact that agnosticism, atheism or the non-religious person are not classified as religion, it is true that their collective, with more than one billion people, is a point to be highlighted in this article.

Now, what does each of these qualifiers mean?

Starting with the agnostic, we can define him as the person who does not deny the existence of God, but who considers the belief of a supreme entity as something inaccessible for his person.

The atheistic person is, directly, someone who denies the existence of God, while the non-religious person does not deny the existence of some God, but does not feel identified with any existing creed.

Finally, we must mention the people settled within the secular group. This term is used to define individuals who hold ideas without any spiritual component, but who show characteristics similar to those of a religion. Examples of this are communism or free market ideals.

4- Hinduism - 1 billion people

Hinduism is one of the religions that has more adherents in Asia, especially in India. The name "Hindu" means "sindhu" in Sanskrit, which in turn means "river", referring to the peoples of the Indus Valley.

• Origins: Historians disagree on when Hinduism originated. Despite this, it is believed that it was appreciated in the 19th century to give name to the set of religious coalitions that existed in India.
• Principles: belief in a life position that has been determined by actions in a previous one. For this reason, they explain all their events as consequences of those carried out in the past.
• Books: Shruti is a set of texts that, as a rule, cannot be interpreted in any way, but must be followed to the letter. There are also other types of sacred texts called Smriti but of less relevance.
• God: Hindus do not believe in only one God. It is a polytheistic religion that highlights Brahma - creator god -, Visnu - preserving god of the universe - or Shiva - god of destruction -.

5- Buddhism - 380 million people

African traditional religions consist of a large conglomerate of beliefs. All of them have different characteristics. There is a great variety, but I am going to highlight the three most important of all: Akan, Odinani and Serer.

• Origins: the origins of this type of religion are not clearly marked in time. To this day, it is still being studied to mark an approximate date.
• Principles: they are mainly based on nature and cosmology. The symbols also take on a clear tone of importance. They commonly pray to the weather to buy food or avoid long periods of drought.
• Books: in general, in African traditional religions there are usually no sacred books or texts of the same nature.
• God: belief in gods often varies from one to another. Serer, for example, only believe in a supreme divinity named Rog. Also, Akan focuses on a supreme god who receives different names depending on the region in which the worship is located. On the other hand, in Odinani it is based on pantheism.

7- Sikhism - 23 million people

Along with Hinduism, one of the religions with the most followers of the Indian country. Its name derives from the Sanskrit word "instruction" and "disciple."

• Origins: Sikhism was founded in the late 15th century by Guru Nanak. He would spread his religion by preaching in different places such as Tibet, Sri Lanka or even Mecca. He spread his doctrine by both Hindus and Muslims.
• Principles: Sikhism seeks that we see God in each one of us. Also in remembering it all the time, always keeping it in mind. They also point to the man as a person who must lead a productive, honest and peaceful life, being the head of the family.
• Books: His most sacred book is the Guru - grant - sajib. It is the most important of all and was established by the tenth appointed guru, Guru Gobind Singh.
• God: the doctrines of Sikhism are based on the belief of a single pantheistic God. According to this thought, both the universe, nature and God himself are equivalent to each other.

8- Judaism - 15 million people

Judaism is used to refer to both a religion, a culture and an ethnic group. It is also the oldest religion of all the monotheistic religions that appeared from the beginning - Christianity, Islam and Judaism -. However, it is the one that maintains the least faithful.

• Origins: the name of Jew comes from one of the twelve tribes of Israel, specifically the one belonging to Judah, the son of Jacob.

Now, its first moments refer to Abraham, recognized as the father of the Jews, who crossed Canaan from Mesopotamia after feeling the call of God.

• Principles: the principles of Judaism can be divided into different aspects, among which we find the faith in the existence of a single, eternal, and incorporeal god, that Moses is the most important prophet of all and in the resurrection of the dead.
• Books: this religion is made up of the Tanach, made up of the Torah and the Talmud. This is divided by different parts of the Bible among which is the Old Testament of the Protestants. It is limited by different parts written in Hebrew.
• God: Under the name of Yahweh or God. They are monotheistic and do not tolerate the existence of any other divinity.