Ninety Three Percent of North Americans CLAIM to be Christian

	Of 284 million Americans: Ninety three percent or 264 million of them are Christians. 249 million Christians belong to an organized church. 15 million are Christians who are not members of an organized church. 7% or 20 million are non-Christians 1.9% or 5.4 million are Muslims. 1.9% or 5.4 million are Jews. 0.6% or 1.7 million are atheists. 0.3% or 0.9 million are Buddhists. 0.3% or 0.9 million are other religionists. 2% or 5.7 million are of other religions or are non-religious.
	70% or 199 million want SPOKEN prayers in public schools.
	28% or 79.5 million are opposed to spoken prayers in public schools.
	2% or 5.7 million have no opinion about it.

Who in the U.S. Are NOT Christians

As of today, June 29, 2008, the population of the US is 304,468,991 of which 7% or 21,312,000 claim NOT to be Christians:

1. 5,120,000 = jew

2. 2,695,000 = black Muslim

3. 7,300,000 = Arab, Iranian

4. 3,045,000 = atheist, agnostic

5. 3,152,000 = Indian

The LAW for the 283,156,991 of us who DO claim to be "Christians" CANNOT ever change, and it is the following:

How are we to "withdraw [our]selves"?  How do we "put away" the wicked and the non-believer?  How do we remove those we are "unequally yoked together" with?  WHO will do this?  Certainly not the 5 million jews, 2 1/2 million black Muslims, 7 million Arabs or Iranians, 3 million atheists, nor 3 million Indians, because it is THEY who must be removed.  Certainly not most of the 54 million Catholics, because they are Hispanics who also must be removed:

Sodomy & women "preachers"

Because so many Protestant denominations have ordained women and homosexuals as "priests", "pastors", and other leaders in the church, the only Godly thing for a Protestant to do today is to avoid with all their heart and condemn with all their might these anti-Christ "churches".  The result is that MOST Protestants no longer belong to or support an organized "church" and thus are no longer counted as members.  But that doesn't mean they're not still Protestants, because if that were the standard, then almost all of our PROTESTANT Founding Fathers, who were 99% of our Founders, could not be counted as Protestants, or even Christians.

jew Weiss IMPOSES judaism on our CHRISTIAN children 

If all non-Christians want spoken prayers in public schools, then of the 199 million, 20 million want non-Christian prayers and 179 million want Christian prayers.  Most jews seem to have the opinion of Dr. Richard Weiss:

"But, if you try to IMPOSE your will and religious idealogies on my children, who are going to public school to receive a secular reducation (I responsibly take care of their religios upbringing personally, according to my own beliefs), I will FIGHT you and your cronies with every fiber of my body".  R. Weiss

Richard C. Weiss <weissrl@vetmed.auburn.edu>, Tuesday, January 25, 2000 10:23 AM

Atheists and agnostics don't want spoken prayers, so if it's assumed that Muslims want Muslim prayer, Buddhists want Buddhist prayer, other religionists want their kind of prayer, and that all Christians want a Christian prayer, then a maximum of 6.6 million of the 199 million who want spoken prayers want a prayer other than a Christian prayer, and 192.4 million want Christian prayers.  This is 72.9% of all Christians and 67.7% of all Americans, enough public support for a Constitutional amendment to exile jews like Weiss.

Furthermore, we as Christians are COMMANDED as follows:

This is from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001484.html

Religious Population of the World, 1996

(in thousands)

http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases/pr990709.asp

	US Population = 284 million
	Total Christians  =  264 million
	Christians who want school prayer = 198.8 million
	Christians who opppose school prayer = 65.2 million
	Others who oppose school prayer = 14.3 million

	US Population = 284 million
	Total Christians  =  264 million
	Christians who want school prayer = 178.8 million
	Christians who oppose school prayer = 85.2 million
	Others who want school prayer = 20 million

Others who oppose school prayer = 0

US population clock http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html

A competing view of of the Christian population in the US is from Mapquest which reports that only 84% or 244 million of Americans are Catholics or Protestants http://go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_htm/usa.htm

***As a percentage*** there are fewer Christians in the US than there are in most Christian nations, AND as an absolute number, there are more Christians in India and China than there are in the US.

Only 84% of Americans are Catholics or Protestants, compared to 100% in Belgium and Ireland, 99% in Italy, Portugal, Monaco, and Spain, 98% in Germany and Denmark, 92% in France and Netherlands, 91% in Iceland, 90% in Finland, and 89% in Sweden and Norway.

Another interesting point about our "ally" in "Israel"--only 2% of its population is now Christians, down from 42% in 1923, which means there are 2,000 times as many Christians in China and 1,040 times as many in India!!!

***As a percentage*** of the population, compared to Israel, there are 20 times as many Christians in Ethiopia, 15 times as many in Lebanon, 5 times as many in Syria, 4 times as many in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, 3 times as many in Sudan, Jordan, and Egypt--AND FIFTY PERCENT MORE IN IRAQ!!!

A very small percentage of jews can pervert an entire once-powerful Christian nation.

Protestants soon to be minority in U.S., study finds

July 21, 2004

BY CATHLEEN FALSANI Religion Reporter

America's Protestant majority is about to disappear, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Chicago.

Since the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock nearly 400 years ago, America has been a largely Protestant nation.

But as early as the end of this year, Protestants likely will make up less than 51 percent of the population for the first time in history, sociologists at the university's National Opinion Research Center surmise in a new report released Tuesday.

According to survey results from more than 43,000 Americans gathered over the last 30 years, the percentage of Protestants in the national population has shrunk from 63 percent in 1993 to 52 percent in 2002.

Surveys defined Protestant as any Christian denomination that was formed at the time of the Reformation or thereafter, including groups such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Tom Smith, director of the NORC's General Social Survey, where most of the data was collected.

"Our projection is that the Protestant percentage in the 2004 survey will probably be somewhere between 50 and 51 percent," Smith said. "It's particularly striking because for 30 years, it was absolutely stable.''

Smith said media have covered "the rise of nontraditional American religions ... and the rise of people without any faith, but what was missing from that story was, OK, the number of people with no faith was rising but nobody was paying attention to where they were coming from."

In the last 30 years, the number of people who say they were brought up with no religion at all has risen from 2 percent to 7 percent, according to the NORC report.

From 1993 to 2002, the number of people who said they had no religion rose from 9 percent to nearly 14 percent, and in that same time period the number of people who said they were raised Protestant fell from 64 percent to about 56 percent.

"There is some evidence that a large portion of this problem is that a fair number of marginal Protestants are not really engaged in their faith and therefore didn't pass it on to their kids," Smith said. "The mom and dad would say, for example, 'Yeah, we're Methodists,' but they never went to church. They'd baptize their kids and that's about it."

If the Protestant majority does indeed disappear, the United States will be a nation of religious minorities. The next largest religious group after Protestant is Roman Catholic, at about 25 percent. The Catholic population has remained stable over the last decade, according to the NORC study.

"The Catholic defection is [also] pretty large, but they are being replaced by immigrants," said R. Stephen Warner, a professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, after reviewing the NORC report. "Christianity is becoming a religion of people of color. Part of this is the decline of the WASP."

The Rev. John Buchanan, pastor of Chicago's 5,200-member Fourth Presbyterian Church, said he welcomes the demise of the Protestant majority.

"I'm not applauding the Protestant decline . . . what I'm applauding is the viability of a truly diverse nation, a nation that opens its arms and heart to different races, different religions," said Buchanan, whose own congregation is bucking trends by doubling its attendance in the last decade.

"I think that's a better place to be than a nation that's dominated by one religion -- whatever it is."

RELIGIOUS TRENDS

PERCENTAGE OF THE U.S. POPULATION

Year	Protestant	Catholic	Jewish	None	Other
1972	62.5	27.4	3.0	5.1	1.9
1982	63.9	25.7	2.1	7.1	1.2
1993	63.1	23.0	2.1	9.0	2.8
2002	52.4	25.5	1.5	13.8	6.9

RELIGION RAISED IN

Year	Protestant	Catholic	Jewish	None	Other
1973	64.3	29.0	2.8	2.3	1.6
1983	62.4	30.8	2.9	3.1	0.7
1993	64.0	27.4	2.2	4.4	2.1
2002	55.7	30.7	1.9	7.2	4.5

Source: National Opinion Research Center/University of Chicago

More articles:

Protestant majority in US shrinking Straits Times, Singapore - 23 hours ago CHICAGO - The Protestant majority in the United States will dip below 50 per cent of the population for the first time in 200 years by mid-decade, if it hasn't ...

Old-time religion on the decline San Francisco Chronicle, CA - Jul 21, 2004 According to the latest number crunching at the National Opinion Research Center, the number of Americans who say they are Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran ...

Study: Protestant majority smaller Chicago Tribune (subscription), IL - Jul 21, 2004 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- The US will likely no longer be a majority Protestant nation in years to come, due to a decline in affiliation with many Protestant ...

Protestants soon to be minority in US, study finds Chicago Sun Times, IL - Jul 21, 2004 America's Protestant majority is about to disappear, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Chicago. Since ...

Number of American Protestants dwindling Detroit Free Press, MI - Jul 20, 2004 BY RACHEL ZOLL. CHICAGO -- The United States will no longer be a nation where a majority of people identify themselves as Protestants ...

Soon, less than 50% of Americans will claim the faith Houston Chronicle, TX - Jul 20, 2004 By RICHARD VARA. For the first time in US history, the number of Protestants soon will slip below 50 percent of the nation's population ...

Survey: USA's Protestant majority might soon be no more USA Today - Jul 20, 2004 By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY. New statistics on religious diversity show the USA's historic Protestant majority has plummeted ...

US religious revolution cutting number of Protestants The Scotsman, UK - Jul 20, 2004 THE United States is undergoing a religious revolution which will soon result in Protestants being outnumbered people of other faiths, other Christian ...

US becoming a nation of minorities Al-Jazeera, Qatar - Jul 20, 2004 Protestants may soon account for less than half of the US population for the first time since the country's founding, according to a new survey. ...

Protestant Majority Waning in US, Associated Press Reports Bloomberg - Jul 20, 2004 July 20 (Bloomberg) -- The US will cease to be a majority Protestant country in years because of a steep drop in membership at many Protestant churches, the ...

Survey Finds Protestants Losing Membership Reuters - Jul 20, 2004 CHICAGO (Reuters) - Protestants may soon account for less than half of the US population for the first time since the country's founding, according to a survey ...

Protestants on decline in US The Globe and Mail, Canada - Jul 20, 2004 The United States will no longer be a majority Protestant nation in years to come, due to a precipitous decline in affiliation with many Protestant churches, a ...

Protestant majority in America disappearing, study indicates BP News, TN - 1 hour ago By Erin Curry. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--By giving way to secularization and pluralism in recent years, the Protestant majority in the ...

Poll: Protestant numbers shrinking, may lose majority status Raleigh Biblical Recorder, NC - 1 hour ago Protestants could cease to be the majority religious group in the United States within the next year and their numbers already may have dipped below 50 percent ...

Catholic numbers steady despite rising unbelief in USA CathNews, Australia - 23 hours ago A survey in the United States has found that Protestant Churches have been losing numbers at an alarming rate due to an upsurge in those identifying themselves ...   [This, of course, is only due to the massive influx of (nominal) Latin Catholics.]

Protestants May Lose Majority In US Population Local6.com, FL - Jul 21, 2004 A new survey suggests that the United States won't be a majority Protestant nation in years to come, due to a precipitous decline in affiliation with many ...

Protestants on track to lose US majority status, survey says Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription), PA - Jul 21, 2004 By Rachel Zoll. The United States will no longer be a majority Protestant nation in years to come, due to a precipitous decline in ...

 

http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html#gallup

In the above Gallup Poll, had Founding Fathers like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, as well as many of our nation's leaders and politicians today, been asked which church they're affiliated with, they would have been listed in the "no preference" category, indicating that a large percentage if not all in that catetory are Christians who are not members of organized churches.  Conversely, jews and Muslims are identified by the fact that they ARE affiliated with with established organizations.  The fact that Muslims in 1996 and 2002, and agnostics and atheists in 1996 were too few in number to be rounded off to one percent, suggests that their appearance in other years may be due to the extremely small sample size of most Gallup polls, whose margin of error is larger than these figures.   This would mean that as many as 95% of Americans in 1996, 93% in 2001, and 94% in 2002, identified themselves as Christians.

Major Religions of the World
Ranked by Number of Adherents

1. Christianity: 2.1 billion
   
2. Islam: 1.5 billion
   
3. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
   
4. Hinduism: 900 million
   
5. Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
   
6. Buddhism: 376 million
   
7. primal-indigenous: 300 million
   
8. African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
   
9. Sikhism: 23 million
   
10. Juche: 19 million
    
11. Spiritism: 15 million
    
12. Judaism: 14 million
    
13. Baha'i: 7 million
    
14. Jainism: 4.2 million
    
15. Shinto: 4 million
    
16. Cao Dai: 4 million
    
17. Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
    
18. Tenrikyo: 2 million
    
19. Neo-Paganism: 1 million
    
20. Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
    
21. Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
    
22. Scientology: 500 thousand
    

A major source for these estimates is the detailed country-by-country analysis done by David B. Barrett's religious statistics organization, whose data are published in the Encyclopedia Britannica (including annual updates and yearbooks) and also in the World Christian Encyclopedia (the latest edition of which - published in 2001 - has been consulted). Hundreds of additional sources providing more thorough and detailed research about individual religious groups have also been consulted.

This listing is not a comprehensive list of all religions, only the "major" ones (as defined below). There are distinct religions other than the ones listed above. But this list accounts for the religions of over 98% of the world's population. Below are listed some religions which are not in this listing (Mandeans, PL Kyodan, Ch'ondogyo, Vodoun, New Age, Seicho-No-Ie, Falun Dafa/Falun Gong, Taoism, Roma), along with explanations for why they do not qualify as "major world religions" on this list.

This world religions listing is derived from the statistics data in the Adherents.com database. The list was created by the same people who collected and organized this database, in consultation with university professors of comparative religions and scholars from different religions. We invite additional input. The Adherents.com collection of religious adherent statistics now has over 43,000 adherent statistic citations, for over 4,300 different faith groups, covering all countries of the world. This is not an absolutely exhaustive compilation of all such data, but it is by far the largest compilation available on the Internet. Various academic researchers and religious representatives regularly share documented adherent statistics with Adherents.com so that their information can be available in a centralized database.

Statistics and geography citations for religions not on this list, as well as subgroups within these religions (such as Catholics, Protestants, Karaites, Wiccans, Shiites, etc.) can be found in the main Adherents.com database.


This document is divided into the following sections:

	Main list of major religions of the world
	Brief explanation/introduction
	Links to alternative lists of world religions
	The Classical World Religions List
	Parameters of this list
	Parameter 1: What is a religion? (for this list)
	-- Classical World Religions Ranked by Internal Religious Similarity
	Parameter 2: How is size determined? (for this list)
	Brief discussion of how the size and boundaries of specific religions was determined
	Religious groups not included on the main list

Alternative summary listings of major world religions and numbers of adherents:

	Christian Science Monitor (1998): Top 10 Organized Religions in the World
	Encyclopedia Britannica's Adherents of All Religions by Six Continents
	Tigerx.com's Top 10 Religions - A casual but insightful attempt divided along the lines of functional religious cultures rather than classical categorization
	Minnesota State University's "Religions of the World" website lists the "world's six major religions" as: Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Animism, Christianity and Hinduism. Read the site's introduction (from: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/ religion/) here

The Classical World Religions List

	Baha'i
	Buddhism
	Christianity
	Confucianism
	Hinduism
	Islam
	Jainism
	Judaism
	Shinto
	Sikhism
	Taoism
	Zoroastrianism

	Baha'i
	Buddhism
	Confucianism
	Hinduism
	Islam
	Judaism
	Orthodox Eastern Church
	Protestantism
	Catholicism
	Shinto
	Taoism

...there is an overemphasis on certain narrowly defined academic traditions in Religious Studies to the neglect of studies dealing with religion as it actually occurs in the world. In other words academics are happy to study other academics regardless of what is actually happening in everyday life. Thus, for example... I believe that the founder of [the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints], Joseph Smith, is a far more influential figure and deserves as much attention as the father of modern theology, Freidrich Schleiermacher, yet current textbooks and course offerings invariably mention Schleiermacher but rarely pay any attention to Joseph Smith. By recognizing the importance of living religions, popular piety and sociological studies I hope more balance will enter Religious Studies. [Source: Irving Hexham, Concise Dictionary of Religion, 1998.]

	the religions which are not included on the classical list are too new (Scientology, Neo-Paganism)
	they are concentrated in only one country (Cao Dai, Ch'ondogyo, Tenrikyo)
	they lack identifiable central organizations or unifying scriptural literature (Neo-Paganism, New Age, Spiritism)
	their adherents primarily name a different, more established traditional religion as their religious preference (most practitioners of Vodoun are nominal Catholics, practitioners of New Age religions are often nominally Protestant, Catholic or Jewish)
	their religion is still strongly associated with a major religion from which it arose, but no longer wishes to be an official part of (Tenrikyo and many other Japanese New Religious Movements, as well as many religions emerging from Indian/Hindu environments)

Parameters of this List

1. What constitutes a "religion"?
2. How is "size" determined?

	Large - at least 500,000 adherents
	Widespread - appreciable numbers of members live and worship in more than just one country or limited region
	Independent - the religion is clearly independent and distinct from a broader religion

What is a "religion" for the purposes of this list?

Classical World Religions Ranked by Internal Religious Similarity:
Most Unified to Most Diverse

1. Baha'i
2. Zoroastrianism
3. Sikhism
4. Islam
5. Jainism
6. Judaism
7. Taoism
8. Shinto
9. Christianity
10. Buddhism
11. Hinduism

1. 1. Does the faith group consider itself to be part of (or the definitive version of) a larger religion?
2. 2. Does the larger religion consider the faith group to be part of its tradition?

Every human is in certain respects
a. like all other humans.
b. like some other humans.
c. like no other human.

How is the size of a religion determined for the purposes of this list?

How are adherents counted?

1. Organizational reporting: Religious bodies (such as churches or denominations) are asked how many adherents or members they have. This is the simplest and least expensive method, but it can be highly unreliable. Different faith groups measure membership differently. Some count as members only those who are actively attending services or who have passed through a lengthy initiation process. Others groups count all who have been baptized as infants and are thus on the church records, even though some of those people may have joined other faith groups as adults. Some groups over-report membership and others under-report membership. When asked what religion they consider themselves to be a part of, many may name a religion that does not have them on their rolls. In the United States, for instance, three times as many people claim to be Unitarian Universalists than are actually on church records.

2. Census records: Many countries periodically conduct a comprehensive household-by-household census. Religious preference is often a question included in these census counts. This is a highly reliable method for determining the religious self-identification of a given population. But censuses are usually conducted infrequently. The latest census may be too old to indicate recent trends in religious membership. Also, many countries either have no accurate census data, or do not include questions regarding religious affiliation. It has been over fifty years since the United States included such a question in its national census, but Canada, India, New Zealand, Australia and other countries have very thorough, recent census data on the topic.

3. Polls and Surveys: Statistical sampling using surveys and polls are used to determine affiliation based on religious self-identification. The accuracy of these surveys depends largely on the quality of the study and especially the size of the sample population. Rarely are statistical surveys of religious affiliation done with large enough sample sizes to accurately count the adherents of small minority religious groups.

4. Estimates based on indirect data: Many adherent counts are only obtained by estimates based on indirect data rather than direct questioning or directly from membership roles. Wiccan groups have traditionally been secretive and often their numbers can only be estimated based on magazine circulations, attendance at conferences, etc. The counts of many ethnic-based faith groups such as tribal religions are generally based on the size of associated ethnic groups. Adherents of some tribal religions (such as Yoruba) are sometimes counted simply by counting the members of the tribe and assuming everybody in it is an adherent of the religion. Counts of Eastern Orthodox religious bodies are often done the same way. Such estimates may be highly unreliable.

5. Field work: To count some small groups, or to count the number of adherents a larger group has within a specific geographical area, researchers sometimes do "field work" to count adherents. This is often the only way to count members of small tribal groups or semi-secretive, publicity-shy sects. Field work may involve contacting leaders of individual congregations, temples, etc., conducting interviews with adherents, counting living within enclaves of the group, or counting those participating in key activities. There is substantial overlap between "estimates" and "field work."

Notes on the Size of Specific Religions

For statistical purposes: Groups which self-identify as part of Christianity include (but are not limited to): African Independent Churches (AICs), the Aglipayan Church, Amish, Anglicans, Armenian Apostolic, Assemblies of God; Baptists, Calvary Chapel, Catholics, Christadelphians, Christian Science, the Community of Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormons"), Coptic Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches, Ethiopian Orthodox, Evangelicals, Iglesia ni Cristo, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Local Church, Lutherans, Methodists, Monophysites, Nestorians, the New Apostolic Church, Pentecostals, Plymouth Brethren, Presbyterians, the Salvation Army, Seventh-Day Adventists, Shakers, Stone-Campbell churches (Disciples of Christ; Churches of Christ; the "Christian Church and Churches of Christ"; the International Church of Christ); Uniate churches, United Church of Christ/Congregationalists, the Unity Church, Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Vineyard churches and others. These groups exhibit varying degrees of similarity, cooporation, communion, etc. with other groups. None are known to consider all other Chrisian sub-groups to be equally valid. David Barrett, an Evangelical Christian who is the compiler of religion statistics for the Encyclopedia Britannica and the World Christian Encyclopedia, includes all of the groups listed above in the worldwide statistics for Christianity.

Contemporary sociolgists and religious leaders generally consider pan-denominational classifications based not on historical denominational divisions but on current theological positions, organizational alignments, etc. to be more relevant. Such groupings include: Evangelicals, Pentecostals, "Great Commission Christians", "C. S. Lewis Christians", Liberal Protestants, Conservative Protestants, Fundamentalists, etc.

Many Muslims (and some non-Muslim) observers claim that there are more practicing Muslims than practicing Christians in the world. Adherents.com has no reason to dispute this. It seems likely, but we would point out that there are different opinions on the matter, and a Muslim may define "practicing" differently than a Christian. In any case, the primary criterion for the rankings on this page is self-identification, which has nothing to do with practice.

Smaller groups within Islam include Sufis (although some Sufis regard their practice of Sufism as pan-denominational or non-denominational), Druze, the U.S.-based Nation of Islam (previously known as "Black Muslims"), and Ahmadiyya. As is true with all major religions, there are adherents within all branches of Islam who consider some of or all of the other branches heterodox or not actually part of their religion. But these classifications are based primarily on historical lineage and self-identification. Protestations and disagreements based on exclusivistic internal concepts of belief or practice are normal, but are largely immaterial with regards to historical, taxonomic and statistical classification.

Pitzer College sociologist Phil Zuckerman compiled country-by-country survey, polling and census numbers relating to atheism, agnosticism, disbelief in God and people who state they are non-religious or have no religious preference. These data were published in the chapter titled "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns" in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005). Different type of data collection methodologies using different types of questions showed a consistent pattern: In most countries only a tiny number of people (zero to a fraction of 1 percent) will answer "atheism" or "atheist" when asked an open-ended question about what their religious preference. A slightly larger number of people will answer "yes" if asked pointedly if they are an atheist. A slightly larger number than that will answer "no" when asked if they believe in any type of God, deities, or Higher Power. A slightly larger number answer "no" when asked simply if they "believe in God" (omitting wording indicating more nebulous, less anthropomorphic conceptions of divinity). Finally, a larger number of people answer "none" or "non-religious" when asked asked an open-ended queston about what their religious preference is. Although figures vary for each country, average numbers indicate that roughly half of the people who self-identify as "nonreligious" also answer "yes" when asked if they believe in God or a Higher Power.

One portion of this broad grouping includes those who are best described as "nonreligious," i.e., those who are essentially passive with regards to organized religion, generally affirming neither belief nor disbelief. They may be neither contemplative about philosophy and spirituality nor involved in a religious/faith/philosophical community. Although a certain percentage of people in many countries classify themselves as nonreligious in surveys, there are few data indicating how many of these fit the passive "nonreligious" criteria described above, versus those who actually do contemplate such matters, but simply have their own personal philosophy and no stated affiliation with an organized religion.

For the purposes of this list, this grouping also includes more proactive or well-defined philosophies such as secular humanism, atheism, agnosticism, deism, pantheism, freethought, etc., most of which can be classified as religions in the sociological sense, albeit secular religions. A minority among atheists are quite fervent in their beliefs and actively endeavor to proselytize atheism.

The "Secular/Nonreligious/etc." category is probably the most speculative estimate in this list, as this segment of society is difficult to count. The vast majority in this grouping are not aligned with any kind of membership organization. Most figures come from census and survey data, which most countries conduct only infrequently.

The highest figure we have for "Nonreligious" is 20% of the world population, or about 1.2 billion: "Over 20 percent of the world's population does not claim any allegiance to a religion. Most are agnostics. Others are atheists, who deny the existence of God." (O'Brien, Joanne & Martin Palmer. The State of Religion Atlas. Simon & Schuster: New York (1993). Pg 41.) But such a high figure is difficult to support with current country-by-country statistics, and perhaps reflects Communist-era official government statistics. Most current estimates of the world number of secular/nonreligious/agnostic/atheist/etc. are between 800 and 1 billion.

Estimates for atheism alone (as a primary religious preference) range from 200 to 240 million. But these come primarily from China and former Soviet Union nations (especially Russia). Prior to Communist takeovers of these regions and government attempts to eradicate religion, both places had very high levels of affiliation with organized religions (especially Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Taoism), as well as high levels of participation in and belief in traditional local traditions such as shamanism, ancestor ceremonies, spiritism, etc. Since the fall of Communism in former Soviet nations and the relaxation of anti-religious policies in China, observed religious affiliation and activity has increased dramatically, especially in Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam.

China probably does have the largest number of actual atheists of any country in the world and many Russians clearly remain atheists. But at this point, it is difficult to accurately determine how many of those classified as atheists or nonreligious during Communist-era USSR and by the current Chinese government are actually atheists according to their personal beliefs, and how many are unregistered religious adherents or participants in less-organized traditional systems that are oriented around ancestors, animism, shamanism, etc. Many people are unaware, for instance, that China has one of the largest, most active Christian communities in the world, and that in many former Soviet nations religions such as shamanism, Islam and Russian Orthodoxy remained even while official government reports announced the elimination of religion in these regions.

In the Western world, Europe is by far the place with the most self-avowed nonreligious, atheists and agnostics, with the nonreligious proportion of the population particularly high in Scandinavia. The Encyclopedia Britannica reports approximately 41 million atheists in Europe. The self-described nonreligious segment of society in Australia and New Zealand is also high, at around 15%. In Australia less than a tenth of one percent described themselves as atheists in the latest national census (1996). In the U.S. about 13.2% of the population describe themselves as nonreligious, 0.5% describe themselves as agnostic, and a smaller number describe themselves as atheist (Kosmin, ARIS/American Religious Identification Survey, City University of New York, 2001).

Zuckerman (2005) compiled numbers of people who don't believe in God, based primarily on polling and survey data, for every country in the world. He totaled the survey-based and poll-based estimates of non-believers from the top 50 countries with the highest proportion of people who do not believe in God, and added to this number the non-believers from highly populous countries (Mexico, Poland, Moldova Romania, Georgia, Uzbekistan, India, Ireland, and Chile). The remaining countries had proportionately miniscule populations of atheists/agnostics/non-believers. Zuckerman concluded, "the grand total worldwide number of atheists, agnostics, and non-believers in God is somewhere between 504,962,830 and 749,247,571. These minimum/maximum numbers are conservative estimates; were one to factor in a mere .25% of such highly populated countries as Egypt, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, Burma, Tanzania, and Iran, as non-believers in God, estimates would be significantly larger. Also, these numbers are only for non-believers of God, specifically. Were one to include all 'non-religious' people in general, the numbers would nearly double... nonbelievers in God as a group come in fourth place after Christianity (2 billion), Islam (1.2 billion), and Hinduism (900 million) in terms of global ranking of commonly-held belief systems."

Zuckerman states that adding the "non-religious" segment of the world population would to his calculated maximum of 749,247,571 (about 750 million) atheists, agnostic and non-believers in God would yield a number nearly twice as large -- just under 1.5 billion. This number is not, however, the number of people who should be classified in the "Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist" category, because half of this larger number is based solely on belief in a single theological proposition (belief/non-belief in God), rather than on a person's religious affiliation/religious preference. A large proportion of people in the surveys Zuckerman combined to arrive at this total expressly are adherents of named religions (such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Chinese traditional religion, Unitarianism and Christianity). Many of these people who do not believe in God, deities, or a Higher Power are nevertheless devout adherents of their various faiths, or even clergy. They are enumerated in the list above as adherents of those faiths, and not counted among nonreligious, atheists or agnostics because their primary religious identity is not atheism or agnosticism. It should be remembered that not all strains of all religions entail belief in God, a Higher Power or deities.

It can not be said based on Zuckerman's analysis that "1.5 billion people do not believe in God." A large proportion of the people classified as "non-religious" expressly do believe in God or a Higher Power. The 750 million figure is already an attempt to estimate the total population of people who do not believe in God.

For the year 2000, David B. Barrett (Encyclopedia Britannica and World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001) classified 150,089,508 (2.5% of world's population) as atheists, and 768,158,954 people as "Nonreligious" (12.7% of the world) for a total of 918,248,462 (15.2% of the world). These calculations by Barrett include all agnostics and others in our "Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist" category. Our figure of 1.1 billion in this category is considerably higher, and takes into consideration Zuckerman's analysis as well. Of the people in this grouping, it is estimated that 40 to 50% have a stated traditionally "theistic" belief in God, deities or a Higher Power.

A country-by-country breakdown of statistics atheists, agnostics, people who do not believe in God, and self-described non-religious people, with figures based mostly on surveys and polling data, can be found online in the Adherents.com main database. A summary page shows data for the 50 countries with the most atheists.

All those who profess religious belief are not necessarily registered members of a church or denomination, but in the U.S. the majority of professed Christians and adherents of other religions are also officially affiliated with an organization. The majority of agnostics, atheists and of course nonreligious are not members of an organization associated with their position.

It may also be noted that the estimated figures presented in this particular "Major Religions" summary list are based on self-identification. Among all groups there exists a proportion (sometimes significant and sometimes small) which are only nominal adherents. This segment may identify themselves as members of a certain religion and accept the religion as their primary philosophical system, yet not actively practice the religion in the normative sense. This segment may be thought of as being functionally nonreligious or "secularized," but this segment is not what is meant by the "nonreligious" category on this Major Religious list. Accurate estimates of the size of this group are difficult to obtain because national government censuses only ask about preferred affiliation, not about religious practice. There are data available from non-census sampling surveys that ask about practice and belief, but these are usually limited in scope to narrow questions such as church attendance, and do not entirely reveal the proportion of society which is non-attending, but nevertheless privately practicing and/or believing. In many countries (Germany is a good example) there is also segment of the population which is counted as adherents of a religion, but which do not personally profess belief in that religion. (Adherents.com has some such data in its main list under "attendance" and under "poll".)

The use of the term "nonreligious" or "secular" here refers to belief or participation in systems which are not traditionally labeled "religions." Of course, in the absence of traditional religions, society exhibits the same behavioral, social and psychological phenomena associated with religious cultures, but in association with secular, political, ethnic, commercial or other systems. Marxism and Maoism, for instance, had their scriptures, authority, symbolism, liturgy, clergy, prophets, proselyting, etc. Sports, art, patriotism, music, drugs, mass media and social causes have all been observed to fulfill roles similar to religion in the lives of individuals -- capturing the imagination and serving as a source of values, beliefs and social interaction. In a broader sense, sociologists point out that there are no truly "secular societies," and that the word "nonreligious" is a misnomer. Sociologically speaking, "nonreligious" people are simply those who derive their worldview and value system primarily from alternative, secular, cultural or otherwise nonrevealed systems ("religions") rather than traditional religious systems. Like traditional religions, secular systems (such as Communism, Platonism, Freudian psychology, Nazism, pantheism, atheism, nationalism, etc.) typically have favored spokespeople and typically claim to present a universally valid and applicable Truth. Like traditional religions, secular systems are subject to both rapid and gradual changes in popularity, modification, and extinction.

These are some of the factors which make estimating the size of the secular (nonreligious, agnostic, atheist, etc.) segment of society difficult.

Detailed statistics on atheism can be found in papers by Phil Zuckerman (Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns) and Andrew Greeley and Wolfgang Jagodzinski (The Demand for Religion: Hard Core Atheism and "Supply Side" Theory).

Previously, adherents of African traditional religion were grouped here, and many religious statisticians would continue to do so. But adherents of African traditional religions and diasporic derivatives are currently listed ennumerated separately on this page. [See below.] Most remaining primal-indigenous religionists are in Asia (including India).

I would make only a few changes. Instead of the term "Santerian" perhaps the term "ab'orisha," which refers to both initiated and uninitiated devotees, would be more acceptable. Some practitioners don't like the term Santeria at all because it implies that the tradition is a minor, heretical sect of Catholicism.

Vodoun is more properly classified as Dahomean and Fon in origin, not Yoruba. It does not appear in Brazil in the Haitian form, to my admittedly limited knowledge of this tradition. However, some Candomble houses may identify as Dahomean nation.

A critical component of the spiritist influence upon the Yoruba traditions as practiced in the Western hemisphere is the pervasive influence of the BaKongo tradition, known as Palo Monte and Umbanda. What I have seen in practice has a lot of Kardecian influence, but I expect to see what I observed with the Santeria tradition: that as one becomes more immersed into the actual tradition, that the outer layer of Catholicism peels away to reveal a tradition that, in reality, is very much unsyncretized. (See Wande Abimbola's discussion in Ifa Will Mend Our Broken World.)

The latest edition of the organization's publication What Is Scientology? lists 373 churches and missions (plus hundreds of "related organizations" which are not directly comparable to congregations) in 129 countries. (Four new countries, for a total of 133, have been opened since the publication of the book, according to a church spokesperson.) According to church officials, this publication states that in 1997 the number of people who participated in Scientology services for the first time was 642,596 internationally and that the circulation of internal Church magazines which are sent to their members was 6,630,000. Hartley Patterson, a critic of Scientology, has speculated that the circulation figure may be based on the total press run for three publications.

Adherents.com has no argument with Scientology statistics, but for the purposes of this list of "Major Religions of the World Ranked by Size," we use a different standard of counting adherents than they have used to arrive at their 8 million figure. (Figures presented here are generally estimates of primary, self-identified religious affiliation.) There are not 8 million people who, if taking a survey, would name Scientology as their religious preference. One might generously estimate up to one million worldwide, but the actual number who would fit this criterion is probably under a half million. Adding up organizationally-reported membership on a state-by-state, country-by-country basis would yield a current membership figure of about 750,000, according to a church critic. As with all religions, the complete body of adherents represent a spectrum of participation, including fully active members as well as non-attending or disengaged sympathizers.

Realistically, a figure lower than 750,000 seems be more reasonable for this page's listing. Some documents suggest that even the tabulation of 750,000 based on country-by-country/state-by-state organizationally-provided data is quite out of date. Internal documents suggest 100,000 active members -- which would easily yield an estimate of a total of 600,000 or more, including one-time members, lapsed members, and strong supporters.

This might cause some people to think the church's figures are inaccurate, or it might seem like we are being harsh to ignore their figure and estimate such a low one. To put these figures into perspective, compare them to those of other major religions. There is no reason to believe that less than 8 million people have willingly participated in Scientology activities and actively studied at least some of its teachings. Large numbers of people have derived benefit from participation in church activities and church-sponsored programs. But people rarely call themselves Scientologists mainly because their parents don't call themselves Scientologists. Membership in the Church of Scientology does not necessarily preclude membership in another religious organization. A percentage of the claimed members will indeed affirm membership in the organization, while at the same time citing another religion as their primary religious preference.

If one eliminated from the total number of Christians in the world all those who are counted as Christians only because they identify themselves as such in a survey or census, even though they never actually attend Christian services, study Christian literature, or make behavioral changes based on Christian teachings beyond general societal norms, one might obtain a similar downgrade in actual number of effective adherents.

Despite such a "downgrade" from official Church of Scientology estimates, it may be noted that in a recent large-scale independent survey of religious identification (NSRI, Barry Kosmin et al, City University of New York 1990), enough people in the United States named Scientology as religion that it was among the top 10 largest religions in the country, with more members than the Baha'i Faith, Sikhism or Neo-Pagan/Wiccan groups. Independent sources indicate that the strongest communities of Scientologists are in California and the United Kingdom, as well as in Clearwater, Florida (where the main training center is located).

Some people have commented on the fact that this page lists an estimate of 500,000 (previously 750,000) Scientologists worldwide, while the Religion in the U.S. web page refers to 45,000 Scientologists in the U.S. Some people have mistakenly concluded that this means the overwhelming majority of Scientologists live outside the U.S., or that one of the figures is simply "wrong." The two figures are not directly comparable. Simply put, these two figures are from different sources and are based on different methodologies and critera. The U.S. figure of 45,000 comes directly from the Kosmin NSRI survey of 1990. The worldwide figure is as a conglomerate figure, using different criteria (as explained elsewhere on this page), based on official organizational as well as critical sources. The larger figure would include lapsed members, as well as people who are are adherents of Scientology, but also identify with another religious group, and name that group in a survey or census.

Only recently has Neo-Paganism become a movement of any significant size and visibility. Solid statistics on Neo-Paganism on a worldwide scale are essentially non-existent, but it is a rapidly growing religion/religious category. Estimates regarding its worldwide size range widely--from under one hundred thousand to over four million. Independent surveys and government-based figures are not indicative of the higher estimates provided by Neo-Pagan and Wiccan organizations, but there may be a variety of reasons for this.

There are two reasons why some might argue that Neo-Paganism should not be listed as a major religion on this page: 1) It might be said that Neo-Paganism is not a single religion, but an umbrella term for many disparate religions. But upon closer examination of the movement, one finds that despite drawing upon such disparate sources as European witchcraft, Norse mythology, Druidism, and Egyptian, Greek, and Native American ancient religions, Neo-Pagans as a whole have a remarkably cohesive, identifiable culture and generally shared value set, even more so than religions such as Christianity, Islam or Judaism when taken as a whole. 2) It could also be said that Neo-Paganism could be classified as a subset of primal-indigenous religion. Though it has roots in primal ethnic religions, Neo-Paganism is something distinct, clearly drawing much of its identity from Gardnerian principles introduced in the 1930s. Neo-Paganism is distinct from the primal ethnic religions of ancient pre-industrial societies just as Buddhism has roots in, but is distinct from, Hinduism. So we are including Neo-Paganism on this list because the most recent sociological work in the field indicates it is a distinct religion, and because it is increasingly significant.

There were 768,400 Neo-pagans (largest subset were Wiccans) in the U.S. in the year 2000, according to the Wiccan/Pagan Poll, conducted by the Covenant of the Goddess (CoG) beginning in late July, 1999. [Online source: http://www.cog.org/cogpoll_final.html] Researchers may also be interested in Isaac Bonewits' succinct web page, How Many "Pagans" Are There? Bonewits identifies reasons for enumeration, difficulties in doing so, and concludes by estimating the Neopagan population at "from half a million to several million people in the USA and Canada."

Groups Not Included in This List of World Religions

	They are not a distinct, independent religion, but a branch of a broader religion/category.
	They lack appreciable communities of adherents outside their home country.
	They are too small (even smaller than Rastafarianism).

	Science of Identity Foundation
	Jagad Guru on identity
	Batesville Caskets
	Caskets
	The Watchman's Post
	Medifast Coupons
	church chairs
	Christian T-Shirts

Major Religions of the World
Ranked by Number of Adherents

1. Christianity: 2.1 billion
   
2. Islam: 1.5 billion
   
3. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
   
4. Hinduism: 900 million
   
5. Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
   
6. Buddhism: 376 million
   
7. primal-indigenous: 300 million
   
8. African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
   
9. Sikhism: 23 million
   
10. Juche: 19 million
    
11. Spiritism: 15 million
    
12. Judaism: 14 million
    
13. Baha'i: 7 million
    
14. Jainism: 4.2 million
    
15. Shinto: 4 million
    
16. Cao Dai: 4 million
    
17. Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
    
18. Tenrikyo: 2 million
    
19. Neo-Paganism: 1 million
    
20. Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
    
21. Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
    
22. Scientology: 500 thousand
    

A major source for these estimates is the detailed country-by-country analysis done by David B. Barrett's religious statistics organization, whose data are published in the Encyclopedia Britannica (including annual updates and yearbooks) and also in the World Christian Encyclopedia (the latest edition of which - published in 2001 - has been consulted). Hundreds of additional sources providing more thorough and detailed research about individual religious groups have also been consulted.

This listing is not a comprehensive list of all religions, only the "major" ones (as defined below). There are distinct religions other than the ones listed above. But this list accounts for the religions of over 98% of the world's population. Below are listed some religions which are not in this listing (Mandeans, PL Kyodan, Ch'ondogyo, Vodoun, New Age, Seicho-No-Ie, Falun Dafa/Falun Gong, Taoism, Roma), along with explanations for why they do not qualify as "major world religions" on this list.

This world religions listing is derived from the statistics data in the Adherents.com database. The list was created by the same people who collected and organized this database, in consultation with university professors of comparative religions and scholars from different religions. We invite additional input. The Adherents.com collection of religious adherent statistics now has over 43,000 adherent statistic citations, for over 4,300 different faith groups, covering all countries of the world. This is not an absolutely exhaustive compilation of all such data, but it is by far the largest compilation available on the Internet. Various academic researchers and religious representatives regularly share documented adherent statistics with Adherents.com so that their information can be available in a centralized database.

Statistics and geography citations for religions not on this list, as well as subgroups within these religions (such as Catholics, Protestants, Karaites, Wiccans, Shiites, etc.) can be found in the main Adherents.com database.


This document is divided into the following sections:

	Main list of major religions of the world
	Brief explanation/introduction
	Links to alternative lists of world religions
	The Classical World Religions List
	Parameters of this list
	Parameter 1: What is a religion? (for this list)
	-- Classical World Religions Ranked by Intern