Distribution of Other Religions

Ten religions are briefly described in this section in order of the estimated numbers of adherents. The adherents of 9 of these 10 religions are highly clustered in one or two countries. The exception is Bahá'í.

Clustered Religions With At Least 2 Million Adherents

Religions with 14 to 23 Million Adherents

Four religions have an estimated 14 to 23 million adherents: Sikhism, Juche, Spiritism, and Judaism.

Sikhism

All but 3 million of the world’s 23 million Sikhs are clustered in the Punjab region of India. The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak (1469–1538), lived in a village near the city of Lahore, in present-day Pakistan. God was revealed to Nanak as The One Supreme Being, or Creator, who rules the universe by divine will. Nanak traveled widely through South Asia around 500 years ago, preaching his new faith, and his many followers became known as Sikhs (Hindu for “disciples”). Nine other gurus succeeded Guru Nanak. In 1604, Arjan, the fifth guru, compiled and edited the Guru Granth Sa-hib (the Holy Granth of Enlightenment), which became the book of Sikh holy scriptures.

Juche

Most North Koreans are classified by Adherents.com as following Juche, which is Korean for “self-reliance.” Juche was organized by Kim Il-sung, who ruled North Korea between 1948 and his death in 1994. Other sources regard Juche as a government ideology or philosophy rather than a religion. For example, Pew classifies 71 percent of North Koreans as unaffiliated, 12 percent as folk religionists, and 13 percent as other.

Spiritism

Spiritism is the belief that the human personality continues to exist after death and can communicate with the living through the agency of a medium or psychic. Most Spiritists reside in Brazil.

Judaism

The name Judaism derives from Judah, one of the patriarch Jacob’s 12 sons; Israel is another biblical name for Jacob. The Tanakh recounts the ancient history of the Jewish people and the laws of the Jewish faith (Figure 6-21). Tanakh is an acronym for Torah (also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi’im (“Prophets”) and Ketuvim (“Writings”).

Judaism plays a more substantial role in Western civilization than its number of adherents would suggest. Judaism is the first recorded religion to espouse monotheism, which is belief that there is only one God. Fundamental to Judaism is belief in one all-powerful God. Judaism offered a sharp contrast to the polytheism practiced by neighboring people, who worshipped a collection of gods. The world’s two most widely practiced religions—Christianity and Islam—find some of their roots in Judaism. Roughly two-fifths of the world’s 14 million Jews live in the United States and another two-fifths in Israel

Distribution of Jews

Religions with 2 to 10 Million Adherents

Six religions have an estimated 2 to 10 million adherents: Bahá'í, Tenrikyo, Jainism, Shinto, Cao Dai, and Zoroastrianism.

Bahá'í

Roughly equal numbers of Bahá'ís are found in India, other Asian countries, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere. A universalizing religion, Bahá'í was established in Shíráz, Iran, in 1844. It grew out of the Bábi faith, under the leadership of Siyyid 'Ali Muhammad, known as the Báb (Persian for “gateway”). Bahá'í provoked strong opposition from Shiite Muslims, and the Báb was executed in 1850, as were 20,000 of his followers. Bahá'ís believe that one of the Báb’s disciples, Husayn 'Ali Nuri, known as Bahá'u'lláh (Arabic for “Glory of God”), was the prophet and messenger of God. Bahá'u'lláh’s function was to overcome the disunity of religions and establish a universal faith through abolition of racial, class, and religious prejudices. Bahá'u'lláh was arrested and then exiled. In 1863, his claim that he was the messenger of God anticipated by the Báb was accepted by other followers. Before he died in 1892, Bahá'u'lláh appointed his eldest son, ‘Abdu'l-Bahá (1844–1921), to be the leader of the Bahá'í community and the authorized interpreter of his teachings.

Distribution of BAHÁ'ÍS

Tenrikyo

Originally regarded as a branch of Shinto, Tenrikyo was organized as a separate religion in 1854 by a woman named Nakayama Miki (1798–1887). Followers of Tenrikyo believe that God expressed the divine will through Nakayama’s role as the Shrine of God. Adherents.com reports 2 million adherents around the world, 95 percent of whom are in Japan.

Jainism

Jainism originated in South Asia around 2,500 years ago. Its importance declined with the spread in importance of Buddhism and Hinduism in the region, especially since the eighth century C.E. Jains believe that nonviolence and self-control are the means to achieve liberation. India is the home to 95 percent of the world’s 4 million Jains, although Jain centers are located in 25 of the 50 U.S. states.

Shinto

Shinto, Japan’s ethnic religion, is strongly rooted in the cultural history of the country. Japanese government statistics report around 100 million Shintos, or 78 percent of the country’s population. However, in opinion polls only 4 million Japanese, or 3 percent of the population, identify themselves as Shinto. The large discrepancy stems in part from the fact that a seventeenth-century law in Japan assigns Shinto organizations with the task of maintaining records on Japanese citizens. The discrepancy also stems from the perception by some Japanese people that Shinto is a cultural feature rather than a religion.

Cao Dai

Cao Dai was founded in Vietnam during the 1920s. The name refers to belief in God as the Supreme Being, Creator, and Ultimate Reality of the Universe. The religion found itself in opposition to a succession of rulers of Vietnam, including the French colonial administration and the Communists. Since Vietnam’s Communist government granted Cao Dai legal status in 1997, the number of adherents has increased to an estimated 4 million, nearly all of whom live in Vietnam.

Zoroastrianism

The Prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra) founded the religion that bears his name around 3,500 years ago. The religion was more formally organized around 1,500 years ago in the Persian Empire (present-day Iran) and was the state religion for several ancient empires in Central Asia. The number of adherents declined after Islam came to dominate Central Asia. Current records show 70,000 Zoroastrians in India, 25,000 in Iran, and 20,000 in the United States. However, Adherents.com says that a more realistic worldwide count is between 2 and 3 million because Zoroastrians are said to be reticent about identifying themselves.

Pause & Reflect 6.1.6

Most of the religions with at least 2 million adherents are clustered in which continent?