Outline of Lesson 1
1. Introduction to a List of All Religions and Belief Systems of the currently 80 most identifiable religions in the world at the present time, always subject to change.
2. Color May of the main 10 religions consisting of the most adherents to the religion principles/theology.
3. Definitions of the most common terms of identifying the various religions regarding the belief system of God, Gods, or no gods.
4. Religious symbols of the most prominent religions in the world.
5. Listing of the religions to be discussed in the fellowship lessons in the coming weeks are as follows: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Folk Religion, Taoism, Shinto, Falun Gong, Sikhism, Judaism, Korean Shamanism, Caodaism, Bahá ‘I Faith, Tenrikyo Jainism, Cheondoism, and Hòa Háo.
6. In world cultures, there have traditionally been many different groupings of religious beliefs.
7. In Islam, the Quran mentions three different categories: Muslims, the People of the Book, and idol worshipers.
8. Daniel Defoe described the original definition of religion as follows: “Religion is properly the Worship given to God, but ‘tis also applied to the Worship of Idols and false Deities.”
9. The modern meaning of the phrase “world religion,” putting non-Christians at the same level as Christians, began with the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago.
10. Religions are classified into super-groups:
a) Middle Eastern religions: called Abrahamic and include Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Bahá ‘I Faith. They are named for Abraham and practice monotheism. There are about 3.8 billion adherents.
b) Iranian religions: include Zoroastrianism, Yazdanism, AEtsaeg Din, Ahl-e Haqq and historical traditions of Gnosticism (Mandaeism, Manichaeism).
c) Indian religions: sharing key concepts, such as dharma, karma, reincarnation among others. These include Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism.
d) East Asian religions: these make use of the concept of Tao (in Chinese) or Do (in Japanese or Korean). They include many Chinese folk religions, Taoism and Confucianism, as well as Korean and Japanese religion influenced by Chinese thought.
e) African religions: Sub-Saharan Africa except ancient Egyptian religion.
f) Indigenous ethnic religions: Found everywhere and includes traditional African religions, Asian shamanism, Native American religions, Austronesian and Australian Aboriginal tradition, Chinese folk religions and postwar Shinto.
g) New religious movements: those religions arising since the 19th century, generally reviving or re-interpreting older traditions such as Ayyavazhi, Mormonism, Ahmadiyya, Pentecostalism, polytheistic reconstructionist, etc.
11. Largest religions (approximate adherents): Christianity 2.2 billion; Islam 1.8 billion; Hinduism 1.1 billion; Buddhism 488 million; Folk religion 400 million; Taoism 12-173 million; Shinto 100 million; Falun Gong 80-100 million; Sikhism 30 million; Judaism 17 million; Korean shamanism 5-15 million; Caodaism 5-9 million; Bahá ‘I Faith 5-7 million; Tenriism 5 million; Jainism 4 million; Cheondoism 3-4 million; and Hoahaoism 1-3 million.
