Religious activities around the world

"Religious" redirects here. For a member of a Catholic religious institute, see Religious (Catholicism).

Page semi-protected

Religious activities around the world

Religions by country

Africa[show]

Asia[show]

Europe[show]

Middle East[show]

North America[show]

Oceania[show]

South America[show]

Religion Portal v t e

Part of a series on

Spirituality

Spirituality

Outline of spirituality

Religion[show]

Traditional spirituality[show]

Modern spirituality[show]

Influences on modern spirituality[show]

Practices & experience[show]

Category:Spirituality

v t e

Religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.[note 1] Many religions have narratives, symbols, and sacred histories that are intended to explain the meaning of life and/or to explain the origin of life or the Universe. From their beliefs about the cosmos and human nature, people derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle. According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world.[1]

Many religions may have organized behaviors, clergy, a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership, holy places, and scriptures. The practice of a religion may also include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration of a deity, gods or goddesses, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trance, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service or other aspects of human culture. Religions may also contain mythology.[2]

The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith, belief system or sometimes set of duties;[3] however, in the words of Émile Durkheim, religion differs from private belief in that it is "something eminently social".[4] A global 2012 poll reports that 59% of the world's population is religious, and 36% are not religious, including 13% who are atheists, with a 9 percent decrease in religious belief from 2005.[5] On average, women are more religious than men.[6] Some people follow multiple religions or multiple religious principles at the same time, regardless of whether or not the religious principles they follow traditionally allow for syncretism.[7][8][9]

Contents [hide]

1 Etymology

2 Definitions

3 Theories of religion

3.1 Origins and development

3.2 Social constructionism

3.3 Comparative religion

4 Types of religion

4.1 Categories

4.2 Interfaith cooperation

5 Religious groups

5.1 Abrahamic

5.2 Iranian

5.3 Indian

5.4 African traditional

5.5 Folk

5.6 New

6 Issues in religion

...