5000 Years Of Religion in 90 Seconds (animation)

[Troy Spiral (13)]

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[phee]

<object width="600" height="300"><param name="movie" value="http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/Religion.swf"></param><embed src="http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/Religion.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600" height="300"></embed></object>

Thats awesome.

[Destroit]

DAMN...Christianity COMBO BREAKERRRR . I also never realized how small of an area Hinduism was oppressed down to at one point. I knew it fell out of "favor" I suppose for a small time period, but I didn't know the depletion was that widespread.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

And if you notice, Judaism is tiny compared to how we tend to think about it. Its actually not even in the top 10 of world religions, historically its very important (Christianity is a spin-off religion from Judaism) and it also has a large presence in the media/sciences/professional disciplines in the west (a key reason being the WII era persecution and the concentration of jews in the west/America).

Currently:

1. Christianity: 2.1 billion

2. Islam: 1.5 billion

3. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion

4. Hinduism: 900 million

5. Chinese traditional religion: 394 million

6. Buddhism: 376 million

7. primal-indigenous: 300 million

10. African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million

11. Sikhism: 23 million

12. Juche: 19 million

13. Spiritism: 15 million (this includes wicca and such)

14. Judaism: 14 million <--- this includes Non-religious jews.

Source (website looks like crap but Adherents is a widely sited source and has a good academic pedegree)

[Troy Spiral (13)]

DAMN...Christianity COMBO BREAKERRRR . I also never realized how small of an area Hinduism was oppressed down to at one point. I knew it fell out of "favor" I suppose for a small time period, but I didn't know the depletion was that widespread.

Although that area there is extremely densely packed with people so its not quite as small as it looks.

[taysteewonderbunny]

If you put this vid, the one phee posted in Religion ROFL's (entitled "Instruction for Life" or something) and the vid on conformity together, you get some very interesting ideas on this whole religion thing.

Edit to add: what are the numbers on atheists?

Edited July 21, 2011 by taysteewonderbunny

[n0Mad]

Edit to add: what are the numbers on atheists?

They're lumped in #3.

[taysteewonderbunny]

They're lumped in #3.

Oh, duh! I must have been reading with my eyes closed again. Thanks, babe.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

They're lumped in #3.

Oh, duh! I must have been reading with my eyes closed again. Thanks, babe.

That is one i actually spent a few days looking into as i like "global trend" type stuff (Geohive is especially good).

Its really hard to get good estimates of actual "Atheists" as the (large) surveys almost always have them lumped in with "nonbelivers", "Agnostics" and/or "non-religious" which, aren't the same thing.

Despite that the number of "actual atheists" is probably somewhere between 500 million and 800 million from the various estimates I've read. So on the Adherents list that would make it the number 5 "belief system" (awkward term).

Univsersity of Cambridge

So that is 500m - 800m out of a world population of 6.8 - 7 billion. That could mean that it is as high as 10+% globally and something like 20+% in the west (and Israel oddly)

Western countries tend to have more godless heartens probably much higher than most people would expect. Atheism approaches "unheard of" levels in Africa, the middle east and large swaths of Asia. Lending more credence to the "belief is social/geographic" as wonderbunny alludes to. Its actually just a fact that belief is geographic, something I noticed in like 6th grade and though "Seriously? WTF? That can't be right...I smell a rat.".

Atheism globally is on the decline as a percentage. Mainly attributed to massive birthrates in less developed countries that also have near universal belief in some form of the supernatural. Atheism is on the rise in the west, usually attributed to the widespread heathen learning institutions and media.

[Nevar (5)]

Pretty crazy

[darknight1]

It's the truth though, Pestilence. That entire map is a documentation of the spread of the world's dominant religions through the use of war, cultural exchanges and proselytation by members of each different religion. I recently had a long discussion about this exact topic in my comparative religion class. And as far as atheism is concerned, I wouldn't say it's on the decline as many people seem to think. With the exception of our own nation (where religion as a whole is on the rise - just look at the unwritten but almost mandatory requirement to hold elected office or be elected into office - you have to state your religion - usually Christianity for most candidates), much of Europe and a good part of Africa and the Middle East is turning towards atheism. Europe I can understand - in recent decades they've shown to be more civilized than we are. They're more secular, if you will. Look at Europe's history alone - more wars have been waged in the name of religion than on any other continent throughout history. The hundreds upon hundreds of so-called "brushfire" conflicts in the immediate aftermath of the rise of Protestantism in the 16th century are a good example. Or if you wish, you could throw in the Crusades, which extended into the Middle East. In one instance, Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) was sacked several times by armies under the direction of the Church (a direct result of the Great Schism of 1066 - it's a known fact that the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church didn't see eye to eye over some really, how do you say, ridiculous things. Africa and the Middle East is easy to explain. Look at how many civil wars have broken out in both regions, and look at how many brutal dictators have ruled various African nations and Middle Eastern nations with an iron fist. If you're living in a country like that, under a brutal thug of a dictator for decades on end, and praying for an end to it...yet never have your prayers answered, it's easy to see why many "believers" are turning to atheism. The same especially could be applied to Sudan, where a massive conflict waged in the south for the better part of 40 years. Only now is South Sudan finally becoming the world's newest nation. But the entire map and the "progress" of religion makes sense, at least to me.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

It's the truth though, Pestilence. That entire map is a documentation of the spread of the world's dominant religions through the use of war, cultural exchanges and proselytation by members of each different religion. I recently had a long discussion about this exact topic in my comparative religion class. And as far as atheism is concerned, I wouldn't say it's on the decline as many people seem to think. With the exception of our own nation (where religion as a whole is on the rise - just look at the unwritten but almost mandatory requirement to hold elected office or be elected into office - you have to state your religion - usually Christianity for most candidates), much of Europe and a good part of Africa and the Middle East is turning towards atheism. Europe I can understand - in recent decades they've shown to be more civilized than we are. They're more secular, if you will. Look at Europe's history alone - more wars have been waged in the name of religion than on any other continent throughout history. The hundreds upon hundreds of so-called "brushfire" conflicts in the immediate aftermath of the rise of Protestantism in the 16th century are a good example. Or if you wish, you could throw in the Crusades, which extended into the Middle East. In one instance, Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) was sacked several times by armies under the direction of the Church (a direct result of the Great Schism of 1066 - it's a known fact that the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church didn't see eye to eye over some really, how do you say, ridiculous things. Africa and the Middle East is easy to explain. Look at how many civil wars have broken out in both regions, and look at how many brutal dictators have ruled various African nations and Middle Eastern nations with an iron fist. If you're living in a country like that, under a brutal thug of a dictator for decades on end, and praying for an end to it...yet never have your prayers answered, it's easy to see why many "believers" are turning to atheism. The same especially could be applied to Sudan, where a massive conflict waged in the south for the better part of 40 years. Only now is South Sudan finally becoming the world's newest nation. But the entire map and the "progress" of religion makes sense, at least to me.

You can hold public office in the US being an atheist, its just nearly impossible to get elected that way as the majority of Americans assume a religious person is more trustworthy.

Atheism / nonrelgious is on the rise in the USA, the number of people identifying themselves since as such since 1990 has doubled.

Atheism is on the decline globally though. It might "feel" like it is on the upswing due to the media attention its been getting lately. There is a huge population growth in the less educated countries around the globe. Even though atheism is on the rise in the sense, that its more acceptable to be "openly atheist" than it once was(mostly in the west), just due to the sheer numbers we are talking about, and the vast VAST majority of people in the middle east/Africa/Asia being religious of one form or another "on balance" you end up with a decline in atheism. There is a rise of awareness in the west and globally too but its more in academia in africa/the middle least than the actual population at large, so when you factor in all the billions of people we in the west never think about, it leads to an overall decline.

Now that is just due to the way belief is geogrpahic and were the babies are being born. In general, over the long haul, I'd guess it will (eventually) be "ACTUALLY" on the rise, rather than just on the rise in more educated regions as it is now.

Not that I LIKE that , its just a demographic.