• • the state of a religious
    
    
  • (1): the service and worship of God or the supernatural
    (2): commitment of devotion to religious faith or observance
    
    
• a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs and practices
  
  
• archaic : scruplulous conformity : CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
  
  
• a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
  
  

• Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc. est. 4,200 to 14,000 followers; founded by Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) in Virginia Beach, Virginia (U.S.A.) in 1931. The Association for Research and Enlightenment does not involve a religion, but helps sponsor "Search for God" study groups.
  
  
• Bahá'í est. 4,500,000 to 5,000,000 followers; founded by Bahá'u'lláh (Mirza Husayn-`Alí Nuri) while in exile in Baghdad, Persia (currently, Iraq) in 1863.
  
  
• Buddhism est. 307,000,000 to 350,000,000 followers or Buddhists; founded by Siddhartha Gautama, a prince of the Sakya tribe in Nepal between 551 B.C. and 476 B.C.. and became the Buddha (or the Enlightened One).
  
  
• Christianity est. 1,231,000,000 to 1,346,000,000 total number of Christians or those who believe in Jesus Christ
  
  (Based on an estimated world population 6,409,765,942 by the United States Census Bureau for 1/1/2005, that is 19.20% to 22.25% of all people, making Christianity the largest religion in the world. Some people have estimates as high 33%, but they are very likely to be over-inflated.); founded by numerous associates of Jesus Christ around 30 A.D.. The beginning of the Christian Church is usually considered to have begun at Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus was crucified.
  
  
• Catholicism est. 900,000,000 followers or Roman Catholics; (claimed to be) founded by the apostle Peter.
  
  
• Eastern Orthodox Church est. 158,000,000 to 300,000,000 followers; The formation of the Eastern Orthodox Church was finalized in 1054 with separation of the Patriarch of Constantinople (and later, by other eastern European church leaders in the area of the Byzantine Empire) from the Pope and his western European churches (that formed the Roman Catholic Church with headquarters in Rome, Italy).
  
  
• Protestantism est. 96,000,000 to 288,000,000 followers or Protestants; Protestantism began with the Protestant Reformation in 1517.; Currently, Protestantism is broken into over 200 Protestant church denominations, each having its own founder and history.
  
  
• Adventist est. 12,000,000 to 14,000,000 followers or Seventh-day Adventists (SDA); founded by Baptist preacher William Miller (1782-1849) in upstate New York between 1831 through 1836.
  
  
• Baptist est. 31,000,000 to 80,000,000 followers or Baptists; founded by John Smyth in Holland (the Netherlands) in 1609 (as a separatist from the Church of England) and by Roger Williams in Rhode Island in 1638.
  
  
• Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) est. 100,000 to 400,000 followers or Christian Scientists; founded by Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) in Lynn (a suburb of Boston), Massachusetts (U.S.A.) in 1879.
  
  
• Church of Christ (Disciples) est. 1,300,000 to 1,600,000 followers; founded by Presbyterians in Kentucky in 1804 and in Pennsylvania in 1809.
  
  
• Congregational est. 2,000,000 followers or Congregational worshippers; Congregationalism finds its origins in the Reformation in England and started in the 1700's.
  
  
• Episcopalianism (Anglican) est. 2,700,000 followers or Episcopalians (Anglicans); The Anglican church (a.k.a. Church of England) separated from the Roman Catholic church by King Henry VIII circa 1529-1536. The Episcopal church was founded by followers of the Anglican Church in United States circa 1784.
  
  
• Focalare est. 70,000 members with 1,200,000 friends; Focalare (an Italian word meaning hearth or family fireside) is a religious movement that was founded by Chiara Lubich (born on January 22, 1920) and her friends in Trent, Italy in 1943 (during World War II). In the beginning, it involved only members of the Catholic Church. In 1958, it included all Christians and later, also included members of all religions and those with no religion.
  
  
• Jehovah's Witnesses (Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania) est. 700,000 to 6,400,000 followers; founded by Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916) in the United States, when he organized a Bible study group (that rejected several significant traditional Christian teachings) in Pennsylvania circa 1870-1872. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was incorporated in 1884.
  
  
• Lutheranism est. 8,000,000 followers or Lutherans; based on writings of Martin Luther, who started the Protestant Reformation by nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Roman Catholic Church in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517.
  
  
• Mennonite (Anabaptist) including Amish, Brethren and Hutterites est. 1,300,000 followers or Mennonites (Anabaptists); founded in Switzerland by a group of Protestant reformers on January 21, 1525 (the birth-date of Anabaptism) and later, joined by Menno Simons in 1536.
  
  
• Methodist est. 9,000,000 to 13,500,000 followers or Methodists; offshoot of Church of England started by Reverend John Wesley (1703-1791), his younger brother Charles Wesley and George Whitefield between 1729-1735.
  
  
• Mormonism (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) est. 2,800,000 to 11,000,000 followers or Mormons or Latter Day Saints (LDS); founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805-1844) at Fayette, New York on April 6, 1830 and shortly afterwards, migrated to Missouri and then, to Ohio.
  
  
• Pentecostalism est. 3,500,000 to 20,000,000 followers or Pentecostalists; Modern Pentecostalism was founded by Charles Fox Parham (1873-1929) at his Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas in 1901, when a woman named Agnes Ozman spoke "in tongues" or fluently in a number of foreign languages that she has no training in (also known as "glossolalia").
  
  
• Presbyterianism est. 3,200,000 to 18,000,000 followers or Presbyterians; Presbyterian churches were originally known as the Reformed churches, that originated in Switzerland through the work of John Calvin. However, the modern founder of Presbyterianism is generally considered to be John Knox (1505-1572), who was a student of John Calvin, with the founding of the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland in Scotland in 1557.
  
  
• Quakerism (Religious Society of Friends) est. 113,000 followers or Quakers; founded by George Fox (1624-1691) in England circa 1647-1660.
  
  
• Unitarianism (Unitarian Universalist Asscociation) est. 171,000 to 180,000 followers or Unitarians; the Unitarian Universalist Association was formed by merger of the Universalist Church of America (founded circa 1779) and the American Unitarian Association (founded in 1825) in the United States in 1961.
  
  
• United Church of Christ est. 1,700,000 followers; formed by unification of the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Churches in 1957.
  
  
• Christian Television Ministries (Parts 1, 2 & 3 Combined)
  est. 53,000,000 viewers with overlap (i.e., some viewers are members of particular Christian denominations). Also, some viewers watch multiple Christian programs.
  
  
• Other Gospels
  est. 2,000 followers; There are several other Gospels besides the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament of the Holy Bible. They include the Gospels of Thomas, Peter and Matthias.
  
  
• Confucianism est. 5,600,000 to 6,000,000 followers or Confucians; founded by K'ung Fu Tzu or Confucius (Latin version of his name) in China between 551 B.C. and 478 B.C..
  
  
• Dead Sea Scrolls (manuscripts) est. 42,000 followers
  
  The first seven Dead Sea Scrolls were founded by Muhammad edh-Dhib, a Bedouin shepherd, in 1947 in a cave on a cliff overlooking the north-western shore of Israel's Dead Sea. The Arabic name for the area is Qumran, which is about 13 miles East of Jerusalem. (Note that this is desert area.)
  
  
• Beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians
  
  
• Encryption of Holy Scriptures (Christian, Judaic, Hindu, Buddhist and more)
  
  
• Fasting
  
  
• *** UPDATED *** Healing A countless number of people seek God and religion when they are sick.
  
  
• Hell
  
  
• Hinduism est. 648,000,000 to 762,000,000 followers or Hindus
  
  (Based on an estimated world population 6,409,765,942 by the United States Census Bureau for 1/1/2005, that is 10.11% to 11.88% of all people, making Hinduism the third largest religion behind Christianity and Islam.); developed in India from other various religions several centuries B.C..
  
  
• Islam (Islamism) est. 700,000,000 to 1,200,000,000 followers or Islamists
  
  (Based on an estimated world population 6,409,765,942 by the United States Census Bureau for 1/1/2005, that is 10.92% to 18.72% of all people, making Islam the second largest religion behind Christianity.); founded by the prophet Muhammad (born in 570 A.D. in region that is now Saudi Arabia) in Arab territory between 610 and 622 A.D..
  
  
• Jainism (a.k.a. Jain Dharma) est. 4,300,000 followers or Jainas; Jainism is an ancient religion, that claims to have had 24 tirthankaras (a.k.a. jinas), who were equivalent to spiritual masters, prophets or teachers in India during the present age (or era of the world).
  
  
• Juche (a.k.a. Chuch'e and Kimilsungism) est. 22,000,000 followers; Juche is a Communist government sponsored mixture of ideology, philosophy and religion for the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). It was created by North Korea's President Kim Il-Sung (April 15, 1912-July 8, 1994) in 1955.
  
  
• Judaism est. 18,000,000 followers; founded by Abraham (born in Ur of the Chaldees) circa 2000 B.C.. Jews regard Abraham as founder of the Hebrew people through his son Issac (whose mother was Sarah).
  
  
• Beliefs of the Kogi Indians   - The Kogi Indians have been living in the mountains (Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta) of Columbia, South America for the last five centuries.
  
  
• Order of Melchizedek est. 5,500 followers; Melchizedek was one of the most important and interesting Biblical persons in the Judaic Tanakh (or Hebrew Bible) and Christian Holy Bible
  
  
• The Qatsi Trilogy Made up of three movies including Koyaanisqatsi (1983), Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002).
  
  
• Religious Sites to Visit
  
  
• Rosicrucianism (AMORC - Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crusis) est. 400,000 to 700,000 followers or Rosicrucians; Rosicrucianism claims ties to a number of older movements including some of ancient Egyptian origin as far back as 1500 B.C.. Rosicrucians traditionally regards Akhnaton (1355 B.C.) as their first Grand Master. The most popular and largest Rosicrucian organization in the United States was incorporated as the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis (AMORC) in the state of California, U.S.A. as an educational institution (not a religion) in 1915 and ever since.
  
  
• Shamanism est. 8,000,000 followers or Shamanists; Modern reference sources state that Shamanism was founded by Siberians (or northern Europeans), in the 1700's. Also, Shamanism is still being practiced by natives of Siberia. The term 'Shaman' comes from the Tungus language of Siberia via Russian. However, Shamanism is very likely to be of much older, ancient origin.
  
  
• Shinto (Shintoism) est. 3,500,000 followers or Shintoists (all or most are of Japanese heritage)
  
  (NOTE: In a very loose way, most Japanese can be considered as joint followers of Shinto, Buddhism and Confucianism. If that was the case, the number of (full-fledged and half-hearted) Shintoists could be estimated at 120,000,000.); founded in Japan about 500 B.C. or earlier.
  
  
• Sikhism est. 18,000,000 to 21,000,000 followers; founded by Guru Nanak Of the Punjab state in Northwest India in 1400's.
  
  
• Spiritualism (Spiritism, Spiritualist Church) est. 13,000,000 followers or Spiritualists; of ancient origin; The modern origin of Spiritualism can be traced back to either scientist and medium Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) of Sweden in 1744 -or- Catherine and Margaretta Fox a.k.a. thhe Fox sisters (fraudulent mediums) in Hydesville, New York in 1848.
  
  
• Taoism est. 20,000,000 followers or Taoists; founded by philosopher Lao-tzu in China circa 580 B.C..
  
  
• Ten Commandments   - were given by God to Moses at Mount Sinai and form the basic component of God's covenant with Israel.
  
  
• Theosophy est. 80,000 followers or Theosophists; modern movement was founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (a.k.a. Madame Blavatsky, 1831-1891), Henry Steel Olcott and William Quan Judge with the formation of the Theosophical Society in New York City in 1875. Theosophy is NOT a religion, although it could easily be one. Instead, it is a philosophy that encompasses the world's greatest religions, philosophies and sciences.
  
  
• Yoga , which involves various methods used to unite individual human consciousness with cosmic consciousness (or the Divine). Also, Yoga Nidra
  
  
• Zionism worldwide movement that was originally formed to establish a Jewish national or religious community in the country Palestine and later for the support of modern Israel formed by the United Nations in 1947; see Judaism.
  
  
• Zoroastrianism est. 1,300,000 followers or Zoroastrians; founded by Zarathushtra, Zartosht or Zoroaster (Greek version of his name) circa 900 B.C. in Persia (currently, Iran and Iraq).
  
  

• There are many religions to choose from. This is natural, just as there are many continents, races of people and nationalities.
  
  
• Unfortunately, all religions are not equivalent. It is a fact that there are important differences among the various religions. There are even significant differences among the various sects of each major religion. Furthermore, some religions are clearly better or more advanced than others.
  
  
• Most (if not all) religions contain some inaccurate, incorrect, misguided or tainted teachings. This is all due to blunders, mistakes and shortcomings by religious authors, editors, leaders and teachers. All human beings, including religious ones, are prone to error.
  
  There is only one Truth, one God, who created all of us. It can only be hoped that all religious paths lead us back to the same, true Creator.
  
  
• The right religion(s) for you will bring you into direct contact with your soul and God. If your current religion is not doing this for you, then it may be better to try another religion. In searching, it is wise to choose to follow the religion(s) that works best for you.
  
  

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