Most Influential Religons in the World

The Most Influential Religions of the World

Religion has a strong influence in every country in which it is practiced. All around the globe, there are many religions that people have independently chosen to follow. Religion influences the way of life and has an invisible hand that dictates much control in the course of the history of the country and the development of its culture. While it is true in some countries religion is imposed on their citizens, in other cultures exists freedom to choose whichever religion their heart chooses to follow.

However, if we reviewed all these religions, this paper would not be able to provide adequate information to explain everything. That is why I would like to delimit this essay in just exploring the main religions, or rather, the most influential ones, that exists across the world.

Let us begin with Hinduism, which is a pluralistic religion in most of its existence. The term Hindu was originally sindhuÑ' which was the Sanskrit word for river. Sindhu was mispronounced by the Persians as Hindu, the Muslims in A.D. 712 also used the term Hindu to distinguish the people who do not hold the same religion as theirs, and the Christians termed Hindu those whom they thought were native pagan people in that place. This delineation became the beginning of calling the land Hindustan, and likewise, the religion was called `Hinduism. Although we can see that the origin of the word Hindu was quite negative and given by foreign people, through the influence of Basham, Buitenen, and Doniger cultures, it has become one of the most influential religions especially in South East Asia.

There was no specific founder and place of origin and historians have not found any adequate explanations for its existence. This was mainly because Hinduism was concerned more about the things beyond this world than historical accounts (Bass, 2004). Because of its wonderful belief and origin, as of the moment, there are many countries that adhere to Hinduism as either their main or minor religion.

According to the survey done by Russell Ash (1997), the countries with the highest proportion of Hindu practicing citizens are Nepal with 89% of their population, India with 79%, Mauritius with 52%, Guyana with 40%, Fiji with 38%, Suriname with 30%, Bhutan with 25%, Trinidad and Tobago with 24%, Sri Lanka with 15%, and Bangladesh with 11%. Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, USA, South Africa, and United Kingdom, also contribute a large amount to the number of Hindus in the world. Buddhism, another well known eastern religion is also considered as an offspring of the Hindu religion. Buddhism was originally founded by Siddharta Gautama, also known as Buddha, in India.

There are only speculations and mythical explanations about the life of Buddha but nothing accurate was written about his life story. Buddha was supposedly born around 560 B.C., in northern India, as a son of a wealthy ruler Suddhodana. Knowing that his son was destined to live the life of a monk in the near future to do powerful things, he sheltered him from the outside world and kept him inside their palace, so that Siddharta would be his successor, just like as he wanted. But when Siddharta got the chance to go out, destiny took its course and the four signs unfolded before him: an old man, a dying man, a funeral, and a beggar. These signed moved him to live a contemplative life, leaving his family behind, he was lead to a Bodhi tree and he swore to not leave his position until he has found the true wisdom. He then was enlightened through the help of the gods and attained nirvana. He then opted to teach people about the way to enlightenment, and his efforts paid off because of the creation of the Buddhist tradition.

Now, Buddhism is the largest religion in the East, influencing countries such as India, Japan, Korea, China, and other South East Asian nations. Buddhism is also continually becoming influential in Western countries such as United States, which has been adhered to by many celebrities and popular personalities (Zukeran, 1994).

Judaism originated 3000 years ago, mainly influenced by an ancient religion in Israel called Yahwism. Judaism's name was derived from Judah, a place in Israel from where varieties of Judaism, namely Sadducees, Essenes, Scribes, Pharisees, Zealots and Herodians, had also originated. Judaism was established outside Palestine especially Egypt and Babylonia in about 400 BCE. Most influential of the kinds of Judaism was the Pharisees, from where Christianity and Talmudical Judaism both originated from. The spread of Judaism is mainly because of the Diaspora that the Jews had experienced with the persecution of the Jews by the Roman in 70 CE, which lead to the Jews settling in different communities, some had even survived until today. The biggest communities which practice Judaism can be found in Israel, but there are also a big number of Judaists that can be found in Europe counting about 4 million and in the United States with a number reaching up to approximately 6 million up-to-date (Sawyer N.d.).

Christianity is also one of the most practiced religions of the world. Much of the origins of Christian religion are rooted upon the Jewish tradition, a proof of this is the belief of Christianity with the coming of a Messiah. The followers of this religion believe that it is crafted by God himself. Christianity developed amongst the Roman culture which was originally quite opposite the religion because it started as the religion of the poor and not the elite. But nonetheless, Christianity's impact on the Roman culture was incomparable through the course of history.

The founder of this religion was said to be Jesus of Nazareth, believed to be the Son of God who came down to take human form; Jewish in his human roots is considered as the greatest teacher by the Christians. Jesus together with his disciples, preached the gospel of God and imparted to the people teachings based on love, charity, and humility. His life had not been easy. He had been persecuted and crucified approximately in A.D. 30 but was said to be resurrected three days after his death. After this, his disciples and other followers continued the spread of the gospel, converting many believers along the way. The Christians eventually became of different classes and not only poor. And up until today, this religion had continued to be practiced, by basically following the lessons from the word of God, also known as the Bible (Guisepi, 1995). As of now, the countries with the most number of Christian citizens are the United States, Mexico, Brazil, China, Philippines, Germany, Nigeria, Italy, France, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (CIA World Fact book, 2007).

Islam also originated in the Arabian Peninsula like Judaism and Christianity. The founder of Islam