and ancient faultlines that run across parts of the world, and which have their origins in religious tensions. The violence of the ‘civil war’ in Iraq between Sunni and Shi’a has its roots in conflicts going back to the 7th century, and the opposition by much of ‘Christian’ Europe to the entry of ‘Islamic’ Turkey goes back to the 14th century. The business of religion is also covered here. The dramatic growth in Islamic banking and in ethical investment movements within the religions is recorded – something the wider world has yet to truly awaken to. Likewise, the sheer scale of religious funding and support of those suffering from HIV/AIDS, and the level of development funding from Islam and Christianity are things the world rarely acknowledges. The heart of the atlas remains the fascinating story of what the major religions in the world are, where they are today and how much power they have. The story of which religion is predominant in a given country is told both through numbers in the map ‘Popular Religions’ (pp 14–15) and in the three supporting maps, ‘Arrivals’ (pp 16–17), ‘Roots and Branches’ (pp 18–19) and ‘Origins’ (pp 82–83). These help to fill out a picture of the overall range and spread of faiths culturally, geographically and historically. Supporting this are the maps of specific religions, which introduce us to a shifting and changing religious world – be that Sikhs in the USA, the recovery of Buddhism in Asia or the role and sheer size of Catholicism worldwide. In trying to give a picture of the scale and nature of religious involvement in the world, we touch upon relationships with the state, the role of women, and the decline in many indigenous religions and the corresponding rise of newer forms of religious identity that draw heavily upon traditional and indigenous religions such as Shamanism. The adaptability of religion is one of its key features. Religions are able to convince us that they are unchanging, yet they survive and spread precisely because they are constantly adapting. We have tried to capture something of this dynamic solidity in the maps. Take for example, the place of religions in the environment movement. In the first edition, we explored the rising role of religions as partners in environmental protection. This is recorded again, and illustrates a dramatic rise in the extent and level of
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
