Top 10 Religions of the World

Statistics of the world's religions are only very rough approximations. Aside from Christianity, few religions, if any, attempt to keep statistical records; and even Protestants and Catholics employ different methods of counting members.

Religion	Members	Percentage
Christianity	2.1 billion	33.0%
Islam	1.5 billion	21
Hinduism	900 million	14
Buddhism	376 million	6
Sikhism	23 million	0.36
Judaism	14 million	0.22
Bahaism	7 million	0.1
Confucianism	6.3 million	0.1
Jainism	4.2 million	0.1
Shintoism	4 million	0.0

NOTES: As of 2005. This list includes only organized religions and excludes more loosely defined groups such as Chinese or African traditional religions.

source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, www.adherents.com.

Origin of Major Religions

This table indicates the approximate date each of the twelve major world religions began, along with the traditional dates for the birth and death of its founder (if applicable). You can click on each religions' link to start reading about it.

This list of twelve world religions is, of course, an oversimplification. Also, keep in mind that there are religions (such as the belief systems of Native American and Australian Aborigine peoples) that go back much further than Hinduism, and there have been several large religions that have started since Baha'i.

The 'Common Era' refers to 1 A.D. CE=Common Era, BCE=Before Common Era

date	Near East	India	China/Japan
1000+ BCE	Judaism: Moses 1500-1350 BCE	Hinduism: 2000 BCE
600 BCE	Zoroastrianism: Zoroaster 628-527 BCE	Jainism: Mahavira 599-527 BCE Buddhism: Buddha 563-483 BCE	Taoism: Lao Tse 580-500 BCE Confucianism: Confucius 551-479 BCE
100 CE	Christianity: Jesus 1-33 CE		Shinto: 100 CE
600 CE	Islam: Muhammad 570-632 CE
1500 CE		Sikhism: Guru Nanak 1469-1538 CE
1900 CE	Baha'i: Baha'u'llah 1817-1892 CE

source: sacred-texts.com

Inspirational sayings and quotes from various religions

From Buddhist teachers

Uplifting Buddhist spiritual religious quotes

"My Religion is simple; My Religion is kindness"

-The Dalai Lama

"If I had even a slight awareness, and practiced the Great Way, what I would fear would be deviating from it."

-The Buddha

Christian religious quotes

Inspirational Religious Quotations from the Bible and Christians

"God does not judge."

-John 5

"Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it."

-Blaise Pascal

Muslim religious and spiritual quotes

uplifting Islam Quotes from the Quran and Muslims

"Fear God and he will give you knowledge"

-Quran quote

"Believers, Jews, Sabaeans or Christians - whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right - shall have nothing to fear or regret"

-Quran quote

Jewish Inspirational Religious Quotes and Sayings

Spiritual Sayings from the Torah and Jews

A bird that you set free may be caught again, but a word that escapes your lips will not return.

-Jewish Proverb

A mother understands what a child does not say.

-Jewish Proverb

Hindu quotes and proverbs

Inspirational sayings from the religious tradition of Hinduism

Hinduism is not just a faith. It is the union of reason and intuition that can not be defined but is only to be experienced. Evil and error are not ultimate. There is no Hell, for that means there is a place where God is not, and there are sins which exceed his love.

-Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975), first Vice President of India (1952-1962), and the second President of India (1962-1967).

"We meditate on the transcendental glory of the Deity Supreme,

who is inside the heart of the earth,inside the life of the sky,and inside the soul of the heaven.May He stimulate and illumine our minds. "
-The Gayatri Mantra

source: Short Inspirational Religious Quotes and Saying

Why bad things happen?

"If there is a God, why is there so much suffering in the world?" This is a question most any person has asked at one time, in one form or another.And for centuries, religion has been trying to answer the question of how a loving or just God could allow humans to endure such suffering. 

Read on to see what each of the five major world faiths has to say about why bad things happen to good people.

Buddhism 

According to the first two Noble Truths of Buddhism, all of life is suffering and suffering is caused by attachments to worldly things. This attachment, which can take the form of greed, hatred, and ignorance in this life and past lives, can, unless mitigated, return as more suffering (karma). According to the Dhammapada, "By oneself the evil is done, and it is oneself who suffers: by oneself the evil is not done, and by one's Self one becomes pure." Suffering is not necessarily punishment from a divine being, but rather something that must be transcended by not clinging to material objects or relationships.

According to Lama Surya Das, bad things happen to good people "because there are myriad karmic causes conspiring to bring about any particular event, which then becomes cause for other effects to take place."

Christianity

The question of the unjustified suffering of the innocent is at the heart of Christianity, which holds that a sinless man (Jesus) suffered and died for the sins of humanity. Some Christians see suffering as God's punishment of sinful people or the world as a whole. Others see such suffering as a way a loving God tests the faith and fortitude of survivors. According to St. Paul, Christians should rejoice in suffering because it produces endurance, hope and character (Romans 5:3-5). Still other Christians see innocents' suffering as evidence of the inscrutable will of a God who "works in mysterious ways" toward an ultimate but unknowable good. Some Christians offer no explanation but, like Job, seek to trust in God. In the past, Roman Catholic Christians were taught that they should "offer up" pain, with the idea that through faith, suffering that seems meaningless can be redeemed and transformed.

The fourth-century saint Augustine says, "God would not allow any evil to exist unless out of it he could draw a greater good. This is part of the wisdom and goodness of God."

Hinduism

Many Hindus view suffering as punishment for misdeeds committed in this lifetime or past lives. Even a seemingly innocent person who has not eradicated bad karma from past lives through charitable deeds is susceptible to such payback. Individuals' suffering should be placed in the broader context of a cosmic cycle of birth, life, destruction and rebirth. Hindus believe victims will be reincarnated and may be happier in their next life.

Islam

The very word "Islam" means "submission." Many Muslims understand that to include suffering--enduring pain or loss is a way of submitting to the will of Allah. Some suffering is Satan's doing or is the work of his cohorts in the spirit world (the "jinn") and is allowed by Allah as a test of humility and faith. Many Muslims believe suffering and adversity strengthen one's faith, as pain often leads to repentance and prayer and good deeds.

Judaism

Sometimes it is believed that suffering is caused by a weakness in one's devotion to God. Generally, it is believed that God gave humans free will to feel pleasure and pain, and His purpose in allowing deep suffering of the innocent must be good even if mysterious. God suffers along with the sufferer. Many believe that God's sense of justice, and therefore the reasons for human suffering, are unknowable. To some Jews, knowing why God allows suffering is not as important as knowing that God will punish the perpetrators. All Jews place high importance on working to help those in need; the concept of tikkun olam, or repairing the world, will help allay undeserved suffering. Interestingly, suffering is the only issue listed in the Talmud that could lead a person to lose faith in God.

source: beliefnet.com

Religious views about Love

Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtuerepresenting all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels. Love may also be described as actions towards others (or oneself) based on compassion, or as actions towards others based on affection.

In English, love refers to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from pleasure ("I loved that meal") to interpersonal attraction ("I love my partner"). "Love" may refer specifically to the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love, to the sexual love of eros, to the emotional closeness of familial love, or the platonic love that defines friendship, to the profound oneness or devotion of religious love. This diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states.

Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts.

Love may be understood a part of the survival instinct, a function keep human beings together against menaces and to facilitate the continuation of the species.

The Bible speaks of love as a set of attitudes and actions that are far broader than the concept of love as an emotional attachment. Love is seen as a set of behaviours that humankind is encouraged to act out. One is encouraged not just to love one's partner, or even one's friends but also to love one's enemies. The Bible describes this type of active love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8:

“

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

”

Romantic love is also present in the Bible, particularly the Song of Songs. Traditionally, this book has been interpreted allegorically as a picture of God's love for Israel and the Church.

“

Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealously unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.

The passage dodi li v'ani lo, i.e. "my beloved is mine and I am my beloved", from Song of Songs 2:16, is an example of a biblical quote commonly engraved on wedding bands.

Also, the Bible defines love as being God himself. I John 4:8 states "God is Love". In essence, God is the epitomy of love - in action and relation. It is God that first loved mankind and desired a relationship. (John 3:16-17) Love is the underlying drive in most people. The search for love seems endless within the human race, throughout the ages. The Bible defines God as being the completeness of love. Love, as being defined by him, is demonstrated in his character and personality. Another way of defining this type of love is "godly love", a love shown through the example of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. However, this "sacrificial" love can also be expressed by humans. For example, the love of a mother for her child. It is one one of the strongest bonds of love known to Man. The mother would sacrifice anything for the child. It is this type of love that the Bible teaches us to follow and to share with one another. Love, in the end, is truly a sacrifice. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, defines Love as one of 7 synonyms for God. This indicates that Diety is more than a being that has benevolent concerns for mankind, but rather that God is Love itself. Love is also synonymous with Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Life, and Truth and indicate the depth and wholeness of Love.The Bhagavad Gita, India's ageless Hindu scripture, helps devotees to see that love conquers all. It says, "Sattva—pure, luminous, and free from sorrow—binds us to happiness and wisdom translated as purity, helps one to see that love evolves from selflessness.

source: All about Love, Wikipedia, Bible verses

         

            

Buddhist Religious Symbol

In the earliest centuries of Buddhism, statues of the Buddha were not used. Instead, Buddhist art consisted of images symbolizing the Buddha and his teachings, such as the lotus, the Wheel of the Law, the Bodhi tree and the Buddha's footprints.

Eventually, the Buddha image became one of the most popular representations in Buddhism, but these early symbols remain important and are frequently used to this day. They are especially important in Theravada Buddhistcountries like Sri Lanka and Thailand.

As Buddhism spread, Buddhist symbolism was enriched by the cultures it came into contact with. This is especially true of Buddhism in Tibet, which has developed a rich symbolic tradition. The central symbols of Tibetan Buddhismare the Eight Auspicious Symbols, known in Sanskrit as Ashtamangala (ashta meaning eight and mangalameaning auspicious). The Eight Auspicious Symbols are printed on Tibetan prayer flags, incorporated into mandalas and thangkas, and used in other forms of ritual art. Another important symbol is the Wheel of Life, a symbolic representation of the universe as understood by Tibetan Buddhists.

Other important types of symbolism in Buddhism include colors, especially the five colors of white, yellow, red, blue and green, and symbolic hand gestures called mudras. The articles in this section explore these Buddhist symbols, providing information on their history, meaning and use in Buddhism today. (For an introduction and quick guide to Buddhist colors, see our Chart of Buddhist Color Symbolism.)

source: Buddhist Symbol