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Religions

What benefits do people get from religion? Answers to hard questions Direction Community Comfort

General Religious Categories Polytheism: belief in multiple gods Monotheism: Belief in one god Pantheism: belief that all things are an aspect of god Agnosticism: uncertainty or indifference to the nature of god Atheism: belief that there is no god or higher power

The earliest religions Dates are controversial Probably between 300,000 and 40,000BC Most were either or both: Animal Worship Ancestor Worship These were probably polytheistic.

Modern Religions Over 90% of people belong to one of 4 primary schools of religious thought. Abrahamic Irreligious Vedic Sramanic

How many people follow each? Abrahamic: about 55% of the world’s population Irreligious: about 16% of the world’s population Vedic: about 15% of the world’s population Sramanic: about 5% of the world’s population

Abrahamic Faiths More people follow an Abrahamic faith than all other faiths combined. Which faiths are Abrahamic? Judaism Bahai’i Christianity Rastafari Islam Druze Mormonism

Vedic Faiths Vedic faiths originate from India and have spread only very slowly. Most who follow a Vedic Faith still live in India. Hinduism. Almost all Vedic traditions have been adopted into Hinduism.

Sramanic Faiths Sramanic faiths also originated from India. Developed from Vedic thought. Distinct enough from Vedic thought to be considered their own school. Which faiths are Sramanic? Buddhism Jainism

Irreligious Faiths Irreligious faiths are ones which: Do not believe in gods Are not certain if there are gods Do not care if there are gods They have no single origin. Atheists Agnostics