Atheism and happiness

Top Ten Religions July 25, 2008

Apparently, a third of the world is now Christian. Followed by Islam (20.1%), Hinduism (13.3%), and Buddhism (5.9%).

A few things are really suprising with this list. First, whoa, one in three people are Christians. But second, whoa, one in five people are muslims.

You might be thinking Judaism is next after Buddhism on this list. It’s not. Sikhism is. Once a frontrunner in the race for souls, god’s people have seemingly not shown the endurance necessary to outpace some of the younger religions. Here’s the complete list (Numbers are estimated, of course):

Religion Members Percentage
Christianity 2.1 billion 33.0%
Islam 1.3 billion 20.1
Hinduism 851 million 13.3
Buddhism 375 million 5.9
Sikhism 25 million 0.4
Judaism 15 million 0.2%
Baha’ism 7.5 million 0.1
Confucianism 6.4 million 0.1
Jainism 4.5 million 0.1
Shintoism 2.8 million 0.0

In my ignorance, I didn’t even know what Baha’ism was until I saw this list and looked it up, and I must say that it looks like a pretty solid religion, if that’s what you’re into. I could definately see myself becoming a Baha’ist (?) before most of the religions on this list, with the exception possibly of Buddhism (Rebirth(Sorry Ichxian!) sounds pretty cool).

As for the movers on the list, Islam is growing the fastest, followed by Baha’ism, Sikhism, Jainism, Hinduism, and then Christianity. (Percentage growths)