Lausanne World Pulse – A Glance at Religions around the World
As we draw near the upcoming Ethne09 global gathering, 1-5 November 2009, we are thankful for what God has already done among the more than 6,700 least-reached peoples, assessing the status of work among these groups, and accelerating the movement of the gospel among them.
The least-evangelized groups of people with the highest populations in the world still get the least number of missionaries. Just over twenty-five percent of Protestant foreign missionaries are focused on the two-thirds of the world which is predominately non-Christian—and most of them are ministering among already-reached groups! Over twenty-seven percent of the world’s population is part of people groups who have no or very little access to the gospel. Furthermore, in terms of finances, less than one percent of U.S. church giving goes to support mission work among these least-served groups.
According to www.adherents.com (2005), the world’s top ten religions are:
|
Religion |
# of Followers |
Founder |
View of God |
Means to God |
View of the Afterlife |
| Christianity | 2 billion (33%) | Jesus Christ | Monotheism | Atonement/Substitution | Heaven |
| Islam | 1.3 billion (21%) | Mohammed between AD 610-632 | Monotheism, Allah |
The Five Pillars of Islam: 1. The profession of faith in the one God and in Muhammad as his Prophet. 2. Prayer five times a day. 3. The giving of alms to the poor. 4. Fasting during the month of Ramadan. 5. The hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in the lifetime. |
Paradise |
| Secularism/Non-religious/ Agnostic/Atheist |
1.1 billion (16%; nonreligious westerners, agnostics, and atheists in current and formerly-communist countries) | None | None | ||
| Hinduism | 900 million (14%) | 1800-1000 BC | Pantheism (belief that the whole of reality is divine or god) | Reincarnation until achieving Nirvana (“snuffed out like a candle”) | The Transmigration of Souls/ Reincarnation/
Karma |
| Chinese Traditional Religion | 394 million (6%); mostly in China and where Chinese live | Lao-Tse (604-531 BC) and Confucius (551-479 BC) | No particular deity/impersonal force (though Lao-Tse did become venerated generations later) | Not stressed, more of an ethical system than a religious one | |
| Buddhism | 376 million (6%) | Siddharta Gautama (563-483 BC) | No belief in personal creator God |
The Four Noble Truths: 1. Life means suffering. 2. The origin of suffering is attachment. 3. The cessation of suffering is attainable. 4. The Eightfold Path to the cessation of suffering. |
Reincarnation based on karma until achieving Nirvana (“snuffed out like a candle”) |
| Primal Indigenous Religions | 300 million (6%), including shamans (Siberia) and pagans (in Asia and India) and smaller, pre-literate tribal belief systems | Animism/ Polytheism |
Sacrifices | ||
| African Traditional Religions | 100 million (6%), in Africa plus places where Africans were enslaved | Animism/ Polytheism |
Sacrifices | ||
| Sikhism | 23 million (0.36%); chiefly in Punjab, India | Guru Nanak, 1469 | Monotheism |
The Five “K’s”: 1. Kesa (“long hair”) 2. Kangha (“comb”) 3. Kacha (“short pants”) 4. Kachu (“metal bracelet”) 5. Kirpan (“weapon”) |
Transmigration of the soul (reincarnation) and eventual merging with the divine |
| Juche (self-reliance) | 19 million | Kim Il Sung; 1950s | None |
*Note: Total adds up to more than 100% due to rounding and because upper bound estimates were used for each group.