The World Religions
Judaism
Judaism is an ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenant that Yahweh established with the Children of Israel. It encompasses a wide body of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. The Torah is part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible, and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth largest religion in the world.
Roman Catholicism
Roman Catholicism is the largest Christian church, with approximately 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2018. As the world’s oldest and largest continuously functioning international institution, it has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The pope, who is the Bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church.
Islam
Islam (“submission [to Allah]”) is a monotheistic religion teaching that Mohammad is a messenger of Allah. It is the world’s second-largest religion with 1.9 billion followers or 24.9% of the world’s population, known as Muslims. Muslims make up a majority of the population in 49 countries.
Orthodoxy
Orthodoxy consists of two main branches: the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Following the 1054 Great Schism, both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church continued to consider themselves to be uniquely orthodox and catholic. Much earlier, the earliest Oriental Orthodox Churches had split from the Western Church after the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451) because of several Christological differences.
Hinduism
Hinduism is an Indian religion and dharma, or way of life. It is the world’s third-largest religion, with over 1.25 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global population, known as Hindus. Hinduism includes a range of philosophies, and is linked by shared concepts, recognizable rituals, and shared textual resources.
New Age
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious beliefs and practices which rapidly grew in the Western world during the 1970s. Precise scholarly definitions of the New Age differ in their emphasis, largely as a result of its highly eclectic structure. As a form of Western esotericism, the New Age drew heavily upon a number of older esoteric traditions, in particular, those that emerged from the occultist current that developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Buddhism
Buddhism is the world’s fourth largest religion with over 520 million followers, or over 7% of the global population, known as Buddhists. Buddhism encompases a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on original teachings attributed to the Buddha and resulting interpreted philosophies.
Mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ultimate or hidden truths, and to human transformation supported by various practices and experiences.
Animism
Animism is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and perhaps even words—as animated and alive.
Satanism and the Occult
Various Authors
Warning! Be a Berean!
This section is designed for the serious reseacher who is looking for understanding and for answers. This topic is not for the merely curious.
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