Major religious groups explained

The world's principal religions and spiritual traditions may be classified into a small number of major groups, though this is not a uniform practice. This theory began in the 18th century with the goal of recognizing the relative levels of civility in different societies,^[1] but this practice has since fallen into disrepute in many contemporary cultures.

Religious demographics

See main article: category. One way to define a major religion is by the number of current adherents. The population numbers by religion are computed by a combination of census reports and population surveys (in countries where religion data is not collected in census, for example the United States or France), but results can vary widely depending on the way questions are phrased, the definitions of religion used and the bias of the agencies or organizations conducting the survey. Informal or unorganized religions are especially difficult to count.

There is no consensus among researchers as to the best methodology for determining the religiosity profile of the world's population. A number of fundamental aspects are unresolved:

• Whether to count "historically predominant religious culture[s]"^[2]
• Whether to count only those who actively "practice" a particular religion^[3]
• Whether to count based on a concept of "adherence"^[4]
• Whether to count only those who expressly self-identify with a particular denomination^[5]
• Whether to count only adults, or to include children as well
• Whether to rely only on official government-provided statistics^[6]
• Whether to use multiple sources and ranges or single "best source(s)"

Largest religious groups

Religion	Followers (billions)	Cultural tradition	Founded	References
			Judaea (Middle East)	^[7] ^[8]
		Abrahamic religions	Arabia (Middle East)	^[9] ^[10]
		Regional	Worldwide	^[11]

Medium-sized religions

Religion	data-sort-type="number"	Followers (millions)!	Cultural tradition	Founded	References
	100		Japan, 19th century	^[12] ^[13]
			China, 2nd century CE	^[14]
	60		Dahomey, unknown origin date	^[15]
	25–30		Indian subcontinent, 15th century	^[16]
	14.7		Judah (Middle East), 6th to 5th century BCE	^[17] ^[18]
			France, 19th century	^[19]
			Korea, unknown origin date	^[20]
			China, 6th to 5th century BCE	^[21]
			Persia, 19th century	^[22] ^[23]
			Indian subcontinent, 7th to 9th century BCE	^[24]
			Korea, 19th century	^[25]
			Vietnam, 20th century	^[26]
			Vietnam, 20th century	^[27]
			Japan, 19th century	^[28]
	1		Egypt, 9th century	^[29]

By region

• Religions by country according to The World Factbook – CIA^[30]
• Religion by region
• Religion in Africa
• Religion in Antarctica
• Religion in Asia
  • Religion in the Middle East
  • Muslim world (SW Asia and N Africa)
• Religion in Europe
  • Religion in the European Union
  • Christian world
• Religion in North America
• Religion in Oceania
• Religion in South America

Trends in adherence

Trends in adherence^[31] !!1970–1985 (%)^[32] !1990–2000 (%)^{[33] [34]} !2000–2005 (%)^[35] ! 1970–2010 (%)^[36]

Baháʼí Faith	3.65	2.28	1.70	4.26
Buddhism	1.67	1.09		2.76
Christianity	1.64	1.36	1.32	2.10
Confucianism				0.83
Hinduism	2.34	1.69	1.57	2.62
Islam	2.74	2.13	1.84	4.23
Jainism				2.60
Judaism	1.09			-0.03
Sikhism		1.87	1.62	3.08
Shinto				-0.83
Taoism				9.85
Zoroastrianism				2.5
unaffiliated				0.37

Classification

Religious traditions fall into super-groups in comparative religion, arranged by historical origin and mutual influence. Abrahamic religions originate in the Middle East,^{[37] [38]} Indian religions in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia)^[39] and East Asian religions in East Asia.^[40] Another group with supra-regional influence are Afro-American religion,^[41] which have their origins in Central and West Africa.

• Middle Eastern religions:^[42]
  • Abrahamic religions are the largest group, and these consist mainly of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. They are named for the Hebrew patriarch Abraham, and are unified by the practice of monotheism. Today, at least 3.8 billion people are followers of Abrahamic religions^[43] and are spread widely around the world apart from the regions around East and Southeast Asia. Several Abrahamic organizations are vigorous proselytizers.^[44] Abrahamic religions with fewer adherents include the Baháʼí Faith, the Druze faith, Samaritanism, and Rastafari.^[45]
  • Iranian religions, partly of Indo-European origins, include Zoroastrianism, Yazdânism, Uatsdin, Yarsanism, Manichaeism, and Yazidism.^[46]
  • Gnosticism, including historical traditions of Mandaeism, which is still alive in the Middle East and diaspora.^[47]
• Eastern religions:
  • Indian religions, originated in Greater India and they tend to share a number of key concepts, such as dharma, karma, reincarnation among others. They are of the most influence across the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, Southeast Asia, as well as isolated parts of Russia. The main Indian religions are Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism.
  • East Asian religions consist of several East Asian religions which make use of the concept of Tao (in Chinese), Đạo (in Vietnamese) or Dō (in Japanese or Korean). They include many Chinese folk religions, Taoism and Confucianism, as well as Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese religions, which are influenced by Chinese religious thought.
• Indigenous ethnic religions, found on every continent, now marginalized by the major organized faiths in many parts of the world or persisting as undercurrents (folk religions) of major religions. Includes traditional African religions, Asian shamanism, Native American religions, Austronesian and Australian Aboriginal traditions, Chinese folk religions, and postwar Shinto. Under more traditional listings, this has been referred to as "paganism" along with historical polytheism.
  • African religions:
    • The religions of the tribal peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa, but excluding ancient Egyptian religion, which is considered to belong to the ancient Middle East;
    • African diasporic religions practiced in the Americas, imported as a result of the Atlantic slave trade of the 16th to 18th centuries, building on traditional religions of Central and West Africa.
• New religious movement is the term applied to any religious faith which has emerged since the 19th century, often syncretizing, re-interpreting or reviving aspects of older traditions such as Ayyavazhi, Mormonism, Ahmadiyya, Jehovah's Witnesses, polytheistic reconstructionism, and so forth.

History of religious categories

Christian categorizations

Initially, Christians had a simple dichotomy of world beliefs: Christian civility versus foreign heresy or barbarity. In the 18th century, "heresy" was clarified to mean Judaism and Islam;^[48] along with paganism, this created a fourfold classification which spawned such works as John Toland's Nazarenus, or Jewish, Gentile, and Mahometan Christianity,^[49] which represented the three Abrahamic religions as different "nations" or sects within religion itself, the "true monotheism."

Daniel Defoe described the original definition as follows: "Religion is properly the Worship given to God, but 'tis also applied to the Worship of Idols and false Deities."^[50] At the turn of the 19th century, in between 1780 and 1810, the language dramatically changed: instead of "religion" being synonymous with spirituality, authors began using the plural, "religions", to refer to both Christianity and other forms of worship. Therefore, Hannah Adams's early encyclopedia, for example, had its name changed from An Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects... to A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations.^[51]

In 1838, the four-way division of Christianity, Judaism, Mahommedanism (archaic terminology for Islam) and paganism was multiplied considerably by Josiah Conder's Analytical and Comparative View of All Religions Now Extant among Mankind. Conder's work still adhered to the four-way classification, but in his eye for detail he puts together much historical work to create something resembling the modern Western image: he includes Druze, Yazidis, Mandaeans, and Elamites^[52] under a list of possibly monotheistic groups, and under the final category, of "polytheism and pantheism", he listed Zoroastrianism, "Vedas, Puranas, Tantras, Reformed sects" of India as well as "Brahminical idolatry", Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Lamaism, "religion of China and Japan", and "illiterate superstitions" as others.^[53]

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. The Parliament spurred the creation of a dozen privately funded lectures with the intent of informing people of the diversity of religious experience: these lectures funded researchers such as William James, D. T. Suzuki, and Alan Watts, who greatly influenced the public conception of world religions.

In the latter half of the 20th century, the category of "world religion" fell into serious question, especially for drawing parallels between vastly different cultures, and thereby creating an arbitrary separation between the religious and the secular.^[54]

Islam categorizations

In Islam, the Quran mentions three categories: Muslims, the People of the Book, and idol worshipers.

See also

• Irreligion
• List of religions and spiritual traditions
• List of religious populations
• World religions
• Numinous
• Religious conversion
• State religion

Notes

1. Book: Masuzawa, Tomoko . The Invention of World Religions . . 2005 . 978-0-226-50989-1 . Chicago.
2. Book: Pippa Norris . Sacred and Secular, Religion and Politics Worldwide . Ronald Inglehart . 2007-01-06 . Cambridge University Press . 43–44 . 2006-12-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210512183400/https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/comparative-politics/sacred-and-secular-religion-and-politics-worldwide-2nd-edition?format=HB&isbn=9781107648371 . 12 May 2021 . live.
3. Web site: Pew Research Center . 2002-12-19 . Among Wealthy Nations U.S. Stands Alone in its Embrace of Religion . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20110822083255/http://pewglobal.org/2002/12/19/among-wealthy-nations/ . 22 August 2011 . 2006-10-12 . Pew Research Center.
4. Web site: adherents.com . 2005-08-28 . Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents . usurped . https://web.archive.org/web/20080615140203/http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html . 15 June 2008 . 2006-10-12 . adherents.com.
5. Web site: worldvaluessurvey.org . 2005-06-28 . World Values Survey . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140414075015/http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/ . 14 April 2014 . 2006-10-12 . worldvaluessurvey.org.
6. Web site: unstats.un.org . 2007-01-06 . United Nations Statistics Division - Demographic and Social Statistics . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20070110203016/http://unstats.un.org/unsd/Demographic/sconcerns/popchar/popcharMeta.aspx . 10 January 2007 . 2007-01-06 . United Nations Statistics Division.
7. Web site: . 18 December 2012 . The Global Religious Landscape . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20181225045352/http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-exec/ . 25 December 2018 . 18 March 2013 . The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life . Pew Research center.
8. Web site: January 2015 . Christianity 2015: Religious Diversity and Personal Contact . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170525141543/http://www.gordonconwell.edu/resources/documents/1IBMR2015.pdf . 25 May 2017 . 2015-05-29 . gordonconwell.edu.
9. Web site: January 2015 . Christianity 2015: Religious Diversity and Personal Contact . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170525141543/http://www.gordonconwell.edu/resources/documents/1IBMR2015.pdf . 25 May 2017 . 2015-05-29 . gordonconwell.edu.
10. News: 2017-04-06 . Why Muslims are the world's fastest-growing religious group . en-US . Pew Research Center . live . 2017-05-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170823093024/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/06/why-muslims-are-the-worlds-fastest-growing-religious-group/ . 23 August 2017.
11. Web site: 2012-12-18 . Folk Religionists . 2023-06-02 . Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project . en-US.
12. Web site: Major Religions Ranked by Size . usurped . https://web.archive.org/web/20080615140203/http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html#Shinto . 15 June 2008 . 24 June 2010 . Adherents.com.
13. Web site: 15 September 2006 . Japan: International Religious Freedom Report 2006 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210512183410/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71342.htm . 12 May 2021 . 24 June 2010 . Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; U.S. Department of State.
14. Wenzel-Teuber . Katharina . 2012 . Translated by David Streit . People's Republic of China: Religions and Churches Statistical Overview 2011 . dead . Religions & Christianity in Today's China . 2 . 3 . 34 . 2192-9289 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184353/http://www.china-zentrum.de/fileadmin/redaktion/RCTC_2012-3.29-54_Wenzel-Teuber_Statistical_Overview_2011.pdf . 3 March 2016 . 2023-10-03.
15. Web site: 2004-07-07 . Inside the Voodoo Rituals of Haiti . https://web.archive.org/web/20210221190819/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/haiti-ancient-traditions-voodoo . dead . 21 February 2021 . 2022-03-12 . Culture . en.
16. Web site: Sikhism . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20191229115017/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sikhism . 29 December 2019 . 7 August 2017 . Encyclopædia Britannica.
17. Web site: Jewish Population of the World . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170124080447/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html . 24 January 2017 . 2018-12-18 . www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
18. Book: Mindell, David P. . The Evolving World: Evolution in Everyday Life . Harvard University Press . 2009 . 978-0-674-04108-0 . 6 June 2024 . 224.
19. Web site: Tabela 2102: População residente por situação do domicílio, religião e sexo . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210227074647/https://sidra.ibge.gov.br/Tabela/2102 . 27 February 2021 . 22 May 2020 . sidra.ibge.gov.br.
20. Book: Chryssides, George D. . The A to Z of new religious movements . 2006 . Scarecrow Press . 978-0-8108-5588-5 . The A to Z guide series . Lanham, Maryland.
21. Book: Johnson . Todd M. . The World's Religions in Figures: An Introduction to International Religious Demography . Grim . Brian J. . Wiley-Blackwell . 2013 . Hoboken, NJ . 10 . 24 November 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131020100448/http://media.johnwiley.com.au/product_data/excerpt/47/04706745/0470674547-196.pdf . 20 October 2013 . dead.
22. Other Religions . Lugo . Luis . Cooperman . Alan . 2012-12-18 . Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project . 9 . en-US . 2023-10-03.
23. Historically, the Baháʼí Faith arose in 19th-century Persia, in the context of Shia Islam, and thus may be classed on this basis as a divergent strand of Islam, placing it in the Abrahamic tradition. However, the Baháʼí Faith considers itself an independent religious tradition, which draws from Islam but also other traditions. The Baháʼí Faith may also be classed as a new religious movement, due to its comparatively recent origin, or may be considered sufficiently old and established for such classification to not be applicable.
24. Web site: Jainism . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170726185611/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jainism . 26 July 2017 . 7 August 2017 . Encyclopædia Britannica.
25. Self-reported figures from North Korea (South Korean followers are minimal according to census): Web site: Religious Intelligence UK report . https://web.archive.org/web/20071013201130/http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/country/?CountryID=37 . 13 October 2007 . 4 July 2009 . Religious Intelligence.
26. Web site: Hoskins . Janet Alison . February 2012 . What Are Vietnam's Indigenous Religions? . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181944/http://www.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/edit/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/NL643-6.pdf . 3 March 2016 . Center for Southeast Asian Studies . Kyoto University.
27. Religion vs Restrictions and Persecution . Blagov . Sergei . International Association for Religious Freedom World Congress . Vancouver . 31 July 1999 . 2023-10-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111009035436/http://lecaodaisme.free.fr/caodainet/English/Htm/Caodai_inVN_SB.htm . 9 October 2011 . dead.
28. Web site: 2019 . 宗教年鑑 . Yearly Report on Religion . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20201225124108/https://www.bunka.go.jp/tokei_hakusho_shuppan/hakusho_nenjihokokusho/shukyo_nenkan/pdf/r01nenkan.pdf#page=100 . 25 December 2020 . 2 December 2020 . Agency for Cultural Affairs . Japanese.
29. Web site: Druze . 2021-06-16 . Encyclopedia Britannica . en.
30. Web site: The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20161212175800/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html . 12 December 2016 . 2016-11-08 . www.cia.gov.
31. The results have been studied and found "highly correlated with other sources of data", but "consistently gave a higher estimate for percent Christian in comparison to other cross-national data sets." Hsu . Becky . Reynolds . Amy . Hackett . Conrad . Gibbon . James . 2008-07-09 . Estimating the Religious Composition of All Nations . Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion . 47 . 4 . 678 . 10.1111/j.1468-5906.2008.00435.x.
32. News: International Community . Baháʼí . Baháʼí International Community . 1992 . How many Baháʼís are there? . 14 . The Baháʼís . live . 10 August 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110522031634/http://www.bahai.com/thebahais/pg14.htm . 22 May 2011.
33. Book: Barrett, David A. . World Christian Encyclopedia . 2001 . 978-0-19-507963-0 . 4 . 12 October 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171020054455/http://www.bible.ca/global-religion-statistics-world-christian-encyclopedia.htm . 20 October 2017 . live.
34. Web site: Barrett . David . Johnson, Todd . 2001 . Global adherents of the World's 19 distinct major religions . https://web.archive.org/web/20080228224811/http://www.gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/globalchristianity/gd/wct-1-2.pdf . 2008-02-28 . 2006-10-12 . William Carey Library.
35. News: Staff . May 2007 . The List: The World's Fastest-Growing Religions . . . live . 2013-12-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100125105653/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3835 . 25 January 2010.
36. Grim . Brian J . 2012 . Rising restrictions on religion . dead . International Journal of Religious Freedom . 5 . 1 . 17–33 . 2070-5484 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130728185506/http://www.iirf.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/Journal/IJRF_Vol5-1.pdf#page=19 . 28 July 2013 . April 25, 2013.
37. Book: Salem . Mohamed Omar . Spirituality and psychiatry . Foskett . John . January 2018 . Royal College of Psychiatrists . 9781108609074 . Cook . Chris . Cambridge . 236 . Religion and religious experiences . 2023-10-03 . Published in print in 2009 . Powell . Andrew . Sims . Andrew.
38. Web site: Abraham, Father of the Middle East . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160316013146/http://www.dangoor.com/74064.html . 16 March 2016 . 2016-11-08 . www.dangoor.com.
39. News: The Religions of the Indian Subcontinent Stretch Back for Millennia . About.com Education . live . 2016-11-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161025003609/http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/indusvalleyrel/tp/Religions-Of-Ancient-India.htm . 25 October 2016.
40. Book: Neusner, Jacob . World Religions in America, Fourth Edition: An Introduction . 2009-10-07 . Westminster John Knox Press . 9781611640472 . en . 27 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210512183342/https://books.google.com/books?id=34vGv_HDGG8C&q=East+Asian+religions&pg=PA216 . 12 May 2021 . live.
41. Book: Neusner, Jacob . World Religions in America, Fourth Edition: An Introduction . 2009-10-07 . Westminster John Knox Press . 9781611640472 . en . 27 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210512183355/https://books.google.com/books?id=34vGv_HDGG8C&q=+African+american+religion&pg=PA216 . 12 May 2021 . live.
42. Web site: Classification of religions . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20071214003036/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-38030/classification-of-religions . 14 December 2007 . 22 May 2020 . Encyclopedia Britannica.
43. Web site: Statistician . Howard Steven Friedman . Teacher . health economist for the United Nations . University . Columbia . 2011-04-25 . 5 Religions with the Most Followers . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20161208123701/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-steven-friedman/5-religions-with-the-most_b_853000.html . 8 December 2016 . 2016-11-08 . The Huffington Post.
44. Book: Brodd, Jeffrey . World Religions . Saint Mary's Press . 2003 . 978-0-88489-725-5 . Winona, Minnesota.
45. Web site: Abulafia . Anna Sapir . Anna Abulafia . 23 September 2019 . The Abrahamic religions . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20200712150432/https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-abrahamic-religions . 12 July 2020 . 9 March 2021 . www.bl.uk . . London.
46. Encyclopedia: YAZIDIS i. GENERAL . . . . 9 January 2022 . Allison . Christine . 20 September 2016 . 20 July 2004 . 10.1163/2330-4804_EIRO_COM_1252 . 2330-4804 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161117105537/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/yazidis-i-general-1 . 17 November 2016 . live . free.
47. Web site: Sly . Liz . 16 November 2008 . 'This is one of the world's oldest religions, and it is going to die.' . 5 November 2021 . Chicago Tribune . en-US.
48. Book: Glaser . Daryl . Twentieth-Century Marxism: A Global Introduction . Walker . David M. . 2007-09-12 . Routledge . 9781135979744 . en . 8 November 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191217033701/https://books.google.com/books?id=MwuUAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 . 17 December 2019 . live.
49. Book: Toland . John . Nazarenus, or, Jewish, gentile, and Mahometan Christianity : containing the history of the antient Gospel of Barnabas, and the modern Gospel of the Mahometans ... also the original plan of Christianity explain'd in the history of the Nazarens ... with the relation of an Irish manuscript of the four Gospels, as likewise a summary of the antient Irish Christianity . La Monnoye . Bernard de . 1718-01-01 . London : J. Brotherton, J. Roberts and A. Dodd.
50. Book: Masuzawa, Tomoko . The Invention of World Religions: Or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism . 2012-04-26 . University of Chicago Press . 9780226922621 . en . 27 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210512183415/https://books.google.com/books?id=Quu3VvTFnnAC&q=Religion+is+properly+the+Worship+given+to+God%2C+but+%27tis+also+applied+to+the+Worship+of+Idols+and+false+Deities&pg=PA60 . 12 May 2021 . live.
51. Book: Masuzawa, Tomoko . The Invention of World Religions: Or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism . 2012-04-26 . University of Chicago Press . 9780226922621 . en . 27 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210512183342/https://books.google.com/books?id=Quu3VvTFnnAC&q=hannah+adams&pg=PA60 . 12 May 2021 . live.
52. Book: Masuzawa, Tomoko . The Invention of World Religions: Or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism . 2012-04-26 . University of Chicago Press . 9780226922621 . en . 27 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210512183348/https://books.google.com/books?id=Quu3VvTFnnAC&q=+Josiah+Conder%27s+Analytical+and+Comparative+View+of+All+Religions+Now+Extant+among+Mankind&pg=PA60 . 12 May 2021 . live.
53. Book: Masuzawa, Tomoko . The Invention of World Religions: Or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism . 2012-04-26 . University of Chicago Press . 9780226922621 . en . 27 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210512183359/https://books.google.com/books?id=Quu3VvTFnnAC&q=+Josiah+Conder+illiterate+superstitions&pg=PA60 . 12 May 2021 . live.
54. Clark . Stephen R. L. . 1990 . World Religions and World Orders . . 26 . 1 . 43–57 . 10.1017/S0034412500020199 . 20019386 . 170963021 . 0034-4125.

Sources

• Book: Anthony, David W. . The Horse, the Wheel and Language: how Bronze-Age riders from the Eurasian Steppes shaped the modern world . Princeton University Press . 2007.
• Encyclopedia: 2006 . [{{Google books|IDsk47MeksAC|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} Britannica Encyclopedia of World Religions ]. . Doniger . Wendy . Wendy Doniger . 978-1593392666.
• Book: Samuel, Geoffrey . The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century . Cambridge University Press . 2010 . Geoffrey Samuel.
• Book: Voorst, Robert E. Van . [{{Google books|mD8aCgAAQBAJ|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} RELG: World ]. 2014 . . 978-1-285-43468-1 . 2 . Robert E. Van Voorst.

Further reading

• Encyclopedia: 2006 . [{{Google books|id=IDsk47MeksAC|plainurl=y|page=|keywords=|text=}} Britannica Encyclopedia of World Religions ]. . Doniger . Wendy . Wendy Doniger . 978-1593392666 . none.
• Encyclopedia: 2012 . [{{Google books|id=B105DQAAQBAJ|plainurl=y|page=|keywords=|text=}} Encyclopedia of Global Religion ]. SAGE Publications . Los Angeles . Juergensmeyer . Mark . Mark Juergensmeyer . 1 . 978-0-7619-2729-7 . none . Roof . Wade Clark.
• Encyclopedia: 1999 . [{{Google books|id=ZP_f9icf2roC|plainurl=y|page=|keywords=|text=}} Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions ]. Merriam-Webster . Springfield, Massachusetts . 0-87779-044-2 . none.

External links

• Animated history of World Religions—from the "Religion & Ethics" part of the BBC website, interactive animated view of the spread of world religions (requires Flash plug-in).
• BBC A-Z of Religions and Beliefs
• Major World Religions
• International Council for Inter-Religious Cooperation