such involvement. But alongside this we have the map ‘Holy Natural’ (pp 84–85), which demonstrates that many of the world’s most significant national parks, wilderness areas and protected environments are also sacred sites, and that this sacredness has helped protect them for centuries, if not millennia. Undertaking a task such as this has been tough, but we have been guided by one of the world’s leading religious statisticians, Dr David B Barrett, whose encyclopedic knowledge and vast database have been invaluable, as have his insights into the significance of much of the data. We have called upon the services of many researchers, from bodies as diverse as, for example, INFORM, the World Bank, WWF and specialists in religious education around the world, and owe a huge debt of gratitude to those who have given so much of their time and knowledge to make this as good a production as possible. Any inadequacies are the responsibility solely of the authors. In the years since the first edition the internet has arisen – itself a tool of considerable significance to the workings of religion. For the first edition, we had to rely on hunting down books and articles. For this edition we have had to ensure that the thousands of fascinating websites we have visited had some authority – and alongside printed reference works we have also used these internet resources. We believe that, as the ‘Future’ map (pp 78–79) indicates, the role of religion will continue to grow and to have increased influence upon other aspects of society. Some will view this with alarm, others with a sense of success. From our perspective, we can but note that the religions are the world’s oldest human institutions. They have lasted for millennia because they understand what it is to be human and they know how to help us through the stages of life. Without them our world is a duller, greyer and less joyful place for many. With them we encounter not just the grace of religion but also at times the curse of religion. Religion is not going to wither and die. It is up to us to ensure that it contributes to a wider, pluralistic society rather than a narrower one. And this is a challenge that most religions welcome and embrace. Joanne O’Brien Martin Palmer
12
Part One
BEGINNINGS
Religions arise in a diversity of ways. Some, such as Daoism, emerge from the lifestyles and beliefs, environment and landscape of the people. Some, such as Zoroastrianism, are believed to have been revealed. Yet others develop from the spiritual and philosophical experiences of the founder, such as happened in the case of Buddhism. Some remain rooted in a given location – such as Shinto in Japan. Others have spread around the world. The rise of missionary religions (starting with Buddhism in the 3rd century BCE), followed by Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are the best-known examples. Some religions have only recently started to move beyond their homelands. Hinduism and Daoism are the best-known examples of this. Yet others have to all intents and purposes been reinvented – Shamanism, for example, is now a term used to describe a vast plethora of different practices around the world. Within each major religion, differences of opinion, often over issues of authority and power, led to splits. These traditions themselves then frequently gave rise to further schisms. For example, Anglicanism split away from the Catholic Church and then Baptists and Methodists split from the Anglican Church. Religions also spawn new religions, as Judaism has in relation to Christianity. Although Islam established itself as an independent religious tradition, for several centuries some Christians viewed it as a schism within Christianity. To this day, Jains sometimes find themselves viewed as Hindus by Hindu organizations. While occasionally religious traditions reunite, usually it is the other way round and the number and range of diverse traditions within each religion keeps growing. While the religious maps of Europe and Asia have remained almost unchanged for centuries, those of the Americas, Africa and much of the Pacific have been radically transformed in the last 200 years, and are still in a state of flux. They bear witness to the trade winds, and to the rise of Europe as a spiritual as well as economic and military power. As that power wanes, newer branches of Christianity in particular are taking on an autonomy that is often challenging to the theologies and ideas of the older European Churches. Similar trends can be seen in other missionary religions, such as Islam, and in particular Buddhism as it spreads into the Western world.
Lotus flower, symbol of wisdom and clarity, arising out of the cloudy waters of ignorance
While 80 percent of people worldwide profess some religious allegiance, what this means differs from country to country and even from religion to religion. In Islam, the notion that religion is separate from daily life is unthinkable: it is a way of life rather than a faith. Similarly, Hindus see what they believe as being how they live. There is no sense of one set of beliefs for everyday life and another for religious life. In fact, Hinduism as a term of reference to a ‘religion’ is an external creation: the name was introduced by the Persians to describe all beliefs in India – across the River Indus. Judaism is also particular, since it is both a way of life and an ethnic identity – though not always linked to religious belief or practice. For many people, religious identity goes hand in hand with ethnic, social and cultural identity. Thus, questions about how much a religion is practised are not appropriate to Indonesia, for example, nor to large swathes of Africa,
South America or even China. For many people, religion is not a choice. They are born into a given set of values and beliefs. Unless some major trauma shakes them or they move right away from their own culture, the religion of their birth remains lifelong. This pattern can be disturbed. Certain religions and new religious movements are committed to conversion, and the arrival of missionaries can change religious allegiance. In areas where religions are expanding quickly – notably in Eastern Europe and Africa – religious commitment often carries with it powerful social, political and ethnic identity.
Popular Religions
Allegiance to a single religion is professed by at least two-thirds of the population in more than 80% of the world’s states.