Theism/Atheism/Agnosticism around the world? - lets discuss

[Kumar_Das]

Namaste brethren,

I wanted to have a wider understanding of religious(or lack of thereof) beliefs around the world. And compare them with mine, to see where I stand.

I find that as I learn about other religions, I constantly keep finding myself to be more Hindu than anything.

So in this thread, I want to post about different views of religion globally.

The key questions are;

~ How many people in this world believe in the possiblity/sure of the existence in some type of a "God/Gods/any sort divine entity"?

~ what is their belief system regarding the existence of a God/Gods/any sort of divine entity

Also the discussion can include politics, history etc

[Ramakrishna]

Namaste brethren,

I wanted to have a wider understanding of religious(or lack of thereof) beliefs around the world. And compare them with mine, to see where I stand.

I find that as I learn about other religions, I constantly keep finding myself to be more Hindu than anything.

Namaste Kumar_Das,

I totally understand what you are saying. I live in the so-called "Bible Belt" of the United States and it is filled with fundamentalist evangelical Christians. This past year one of them actively tried to convert me. I got a really good glimpse into what he believed in, and it actually ended up drawing me deeper into Sanatana Dharma!

He told me how he believes the earth is 6,000 years old, humans were created at that time, and humans and dinosaurs coexisted. All of that nonsense is ridiculous, but the worse of all is his belief that all you have to do is accept Jesus Christ as your savior and you're going to heaven, and anybody who doesn't is damned to hell forever. Not all Christians believe in this stuff, but a good amount of them do, especially where I live. He thought all this stuff would lead me to convert, but it ended up drawing me closer to Hinduism and all the beauty that it has to offer.

Jai Sri Krishna

[sanjaya]

I've heard a statistic that around 10% of the world is atheist. As for the theistic world, Christianity comes in first place with 2 billion adherants, Islam second with 1 billion, and Hinduism third with 800 million or so.

Personally I have many doubts as to whether God exists or not. In a way I'm "religious but not spiritual." This is probably a failing on my part, and I am always trying to have greater faith in God.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam Kumar Das:

Your question would make for interesting travel and study. Geography and language create a lot of differences. I believe that the Catholics of Italy, Brazil, Phillippines, and Kerala just to state a few examples are really quite different. So in a sense you are taking the idea of Hinduism and India and the vastness you find there linguistically, sectarian etc., and expanding it outward to the world. Indeed a vast topic. All you can get here is the opinions of people who live in a wide variety of places, and of those who have traveled.

In my country, (Canada) the official government stance in education is secular humanism, which in itself is a belief system. But the city I live in is a mini-world. There are Jewish, Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Somalian etc. enclaves throughout the city. Within the council of Indian Societies, there are some 15 smaller groups. In the particular part of town I live in, within an average school classroom, there may be 6 or more different ethnic groups.

Religiously, the city has 7 Hindu temples, at least 5 mosques, a couple of large synagogues, at least 3 Buddhist temples, at least 4 Gurdwaras, and countless versions of Christianity. Many Christian Churches are ethnic based, like the Korean, or Chinese congregations, where sermons are in mother languages. Fortunately there is no Tamil church here yet, but there is a Malayalee one. But when you travel out of town to smaller towns, its pretty much like the Bible Belt others on here talk about.

Because I am so used to this diversity, when I go somewhere where there is much less of it, my subconscious mind is 'on the look' for variety. My son had a tropical wedding in Dominican Republic in the Caribbean. It's 90% Catholic, but the buildings, street condition, and climate really felt a bit like Maurtiius, so I was constantly looking for that small Hindu temple poking out from somewhere like in Mauritius. No luck.

I know I've learned a lot about India on here that I never knew before, so I think this thread can be a place where we can all expand our awareness of other places on the planet.

Aum Namasivaya

[Ekanta]

I live in Sweden which is christian, but its very hard to find a christian here, they are like 95% atheists, or they believe in "something" but cant define it. At least thats my experience based on all the people I have met the last 38 years. The churches here are falling into ruins and nobody wants to pay for the repair. OK, they keep some as decorations and for wedding the princess recently. What they hail to the sky here is democracy, human rights, womens rights and welfare for everyone etc. But religion... there's hardly a word about it and if someone were to talk about religion they would be considered a nutcase.

[mradam83]

I've heard a statistic that around 10% of the world is atheist. As for the theistic world, Christianity comes in first place with 2 billion adherants, Islam second with 1 billion, and Hinduism third with 800 million or so.

Personally I have many doubts as to whether God exists or not. In a way I'm "religious but not spiritual." This is probably a failing on my part, and I am always trying to have greater faith in God.

Namaste,

I would be willing to take the figure of 2 billion Christians with a pinch of salt, as I bet a vast majority of European Christians are only nominally Christian and a lot less actually believe in it.

I know in the UK, it has been said that approximately 70-80% of the population are Christian. However, a survey was done and when it went deeper in depth on what people believed then it turned out that a much lower number actually worship and in reality lots call themselves Christian as an identity measure ie parents, ancestors are Christian so people use it in that way.

If that's the case here in Britain, I'd be willing to say that it would be very similar in Europe too.

I bet the true number of practising Christians is closer to say 1.5 Billion.