A very long time ago, such a wonderful feeling arose in a person as faith in God and higher powers that determine the fate of people and what they will do in the future. There are a huge number of religious denominations , each of which has its own laws, orders, memorable calendar dates, and bans. How old are the religions of the world? - a question that is difficult to give an exact answer.
Ancient signs of the origin of religions
It is known that religious customs in various forms began to exist a huge number of years ago. Previously, people used to sacredly and blindly believe that 4 elements could give life: air, water, earth and the sun. By the way, such a religion exists to this day and is called polytheism. How many religions exist in the world, even basic ones? Today there are no bans on this or that religion. Therefore, more and more religious movements are being created, but there are still major ones, and there are not many of them.
Religion - what is it?
In the concept of religion, it is customary to include a certain sequence of rituals, rites and customs, performed either daily (an example is daily prayer), or periodically, and sometimes even once. This may include wedding, confession, communion, baptism. Any religion, in principle, is aimed at uniting completely different people in large groups. Despite some cultural differences, many religions are similar in message to the faithful. The difference is only in the external design of the rituals. How many major religions in the world exist? This question will be answered in this article.
The most basic religions in the world can be considered Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. The latter religion is practiced more in the countries of the East, and Buddhism is practiced in Asian countries. Each of these religious branches has a history that lasts more than several thousand years, as well as a number of unbreakable traditions that are followed by all deeply religious people.
Geography of religious movements
As for geographical fragmentation, there was an opportunity to trace the predominance of any denomination about 100 years ago, but now this does not exist. For example, earlier more convinced Christians lived in Africa, Europe, South America, the Australian continent.
Muslims could be called the inhabitants of North Africa and the Middle East, and people who settled in the south-eastern part of Eurasia were considered to be believers in Buddha. On the streets of Central Asian towns now more and more often you can see Muslim mosques and churches of the Christian faith standing almost side by side.
How many major religions in the world?
Regarding the issue of knowledge of the founders of world religions, most of them are known to all believers. For example, Jesus Christ became the founder of Christianity (according to another opinion, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit), the founder of Buddhism is Siddhartha Guatama, whose other name is Buddha, and, finally, the foundations of Islam, according to many believers, were laid by the Prophet Muhammad.
An interesting fact is that both Islam and Christianity conditionally derive from one faith, which is called Judaism. The receiver of Jesus in this faith is Isa Ibn Maryama. Other prominent prophets that were mentioned in the Holy Scriptures are related to this branch of faith. Many believers believe that the Prophet Muhammad appeared on earth even before people saw Jesus.
Buddhism
As for Buddhism, this religious denomination is rightfully recognized as the oldest among all that are only known to the human mind. The history of this faith has an average of about two and a half millennia, perhaps even much more. The origin of a religious movement called Buddhism began in India, and Siddhartha Guatama became the founder. Buddha himself achieved faith gradually, step by step moving towards the miracle of enlightenment, which then Buddha began to generously share with himself like sinners. Buddha’s teaching became the basis for writing a holy book called Tripitaka. To date, the most common stages of the Buddhist faith are considered as hinayama, mahayama and vajayama. Adherents of the belief in Buddhism believe that the main condition in a person’s life is a good state of karma, which is achieved only by doing good deeds. Each Buddhist himself goes the path to purification of karma through deprivation and pain.
Many, especially today, are wondering how many religions in the world exist. Number appear every day religious direction refers to them.
Christianity
Christianity is a faith that was founded many thousands of years ago by Jesus Christ. According to scientists, the religion of Christianity was laid back in the 1st century BC. This religious movement appeared in Palestine, and the eternal flame descended to Jerusalem, where it is still burning. Nevertheless, there is an opinion that people learned about this faith even earlier, and for almost a thousand years. There is also an opinion that for the first time people did not meet with Christ, but with the founder of Judaism. Among Christians, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants can be distinguished. In addition, there are huge groups of people who call themselves Christians, but believe in completely different dogmas and visit other public organizations.
Christianity postulates
The main indestructible postulates of Christianity is the belief that God has three guises (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), faith in saving death and in the appearance of reincarnation. In addition, followers of Christianity practice faith in evil and good, represented by angelic and devilish guises.
Unlike Protestants and Catholics, Christians do not believe in the existence of the so-called “purgatory”, where the souls of sinners are selected for heaven or hell. Protestants believe that if faith in salvation is preserved in the soul, then a person is guaranteed to go to heaven. Protestants believe that the meaning of the rituals is not beauty, but sincerity, which is why the rituals do not differ in splendor, and their number is much smaller than in Christianity.
Islam
As for Islam, this religion is considered relatively new, since it appeared only in the 7th century BC. The place of appearance is the Arabian Peninsula, where Turks and Greeks lived. The place of the Orthodox Bible is occupied by the Holy Quran, which contains all the basic laws of religion. In Islam, as in Christianity, there are several directions: Sunitism, Shiitism and Kharijitism. The difference between these directions from each other is that the Sunnis recognize the four caliphs as the “right hand” of the prophet Mohammed, and in addition to the Koran, the collection of the prophet’s instructions is considered to be a holy book for them.
Shiites believe that only the heirs of the blood can be the successors of the prophet's business. Kharijites believe almost the same thing, they only believe that only blood descendants or close associates can inherit the rights of a prophet.
The Muslim faith recognizes the existence of Allah and the Prophet Mohammed, and also hold the opinion that life after death exists, and that a person can be reborn into any living creature or even object. Any Muslim faithfully believes in the power of holy customs, and therefore annually makes a pilgrimage to holy places. Truly a holy city for all Muslims is Jerusalem. Salat is an obligatory rite for every adherent of the Muslim faith, and its main meaning is prayer in the mornings and evenings. The prayer is repeated 5 times, after which the faithful try to keep the fast according to all the rules.
In this faith, during the month of Ramadan, believers are forbidden to have fun, and it is allowed to devote themselves only to prayer to Allah. The main city of pilgrims is considered Mecca.
Unity and differences of major religions
The commonality of all religious faiths is hidden and at the same time simple in that they all teach tolerance, love for God in all manifestations, mercy and kindness towards people. Both Islam and the Christian faith advocate a resurrection after earthly demise, followed by rebirth. In addition, Islam and Christianity together believe that fate is destined for heaven, and only Allah or, as Christians call him, the Lord God can fix it. Although the teachings of Buddhists are strikingly different from Christianity and Islam, these “branches” are united by the fact that a certain morality is sung, in which no one is allowed to stumble.
how many world religions exist in the world. The main thing is that they are all have to the neighbor.