This is pretty nuts. And enlightening.

Lisnaholic · 07-22-2015, 05:22 AM

Thanks, Chula! I wonder what strange Native American ceremonies you' d be up to in California. Probably eating hallucinagenic mushrooms and smoking strange herbs - but wait a minute, you guys do that anyway, right?

**Janszoon** · 07-22-2015, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

Yes, that's very interesting, Chula - a lot of information to take in. I didn't notice anything for atheism in Soviet Russia, so I think I might watch it one more time.

Here are some stats about world religions, a bit old but I don't suppose the proportions have changed much:-

Christianity: 954 million
Islam : 538 million
Hinduism: 524 million
Buddhism: 249 million
Judaism: 14 million

This is the breakdown from Wikipedia:

Christianity: 2.2 billion
Islam: 1.6 billion
Nonreligious/Unaffiliated : 1.1 billion
Hinduism: 1 billion
Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
Buddhism: 376 million
Ethnic religions: 300 million
African traditional religions: 100 million
Sikhism: 23 million
Juche: 19 million
Spiritism: 15 million
Judaism: 14 million

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

So Janszoon is right, statistically Judaism is really small. None the less, as H.G.Wells pointed out, it's very significant in terms of human evolution. According to him it was the first time in world history that a big cultural group were held together, not by the territory they owned, but by an idea. Their god didn't conquer countries, but he was there, in a book and in their heads. Maybe that' s why it's still counted as one of the big five today.

I think Wells is way off base with that claim. It's not like Judaism was the first religion. It wasn't even the first monotheistic religion. I think more likely the reason for its significance in the modern world is that it birthed the two largest religions on the planet.

~~John Wilkes Booth~~ · 07-22-2015, 10:41 PM

the jews are like the little engine that could... no matter what history threw at them, be it persian, roman or greek conquest... or medieval antisemitic purges... or a tyrannical dictator that explicitly seeks to exterminate them... they somehow survive

that's why they're in there

judaism > christianity + islam combined imo

Lisnaholic · 07-23-2015, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Wilkes Booth

the jews are like the little engine that could... no matter what history threw at them, be it persian, roman or greek conquest... or medieval antisemitic purges... or a tyrannical dictator that explicitly seeks to exterminate them... they somehow survive

that's why they're in there

^ That seems to bear out what H.G.Wells was saying, but on mature reflection, as they say, I'm more inclined to agree with Janszoon:-

Quote:

I think Wells is way off base with that claim. It's not like Judaism was the first religion. It wasn't even the first monotheistic religion. I think more likely the reason for its significance in the modern world is that it birthed the two largest religions on the planet

I think H.G.Wells was making a comparison between things like pharaoh worship, which didn't survive outside Egypt and was therefore primitive, and Judaism, which could survive as an intellectual idea anywhere. But it's always risky to make sweeping generalizations about history and I think H.G.Wells was underestimating the significance of early religions. Also, if it comes to cultures surviving without a physical homeland, I suspect that the gypsies moving out of India may predate Judaism.

Thanks for updating the world religion stats:-

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

This is the breakdown from Wikipedia:

Christianity: 2.2 billion
Islam: 1.6 billion
Nonreligious/Unaffiliated : 1.1 billion
Hinduism: 1 billion
Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
Buddhism: 376 million
Ethnic religions: 300 million
African traditional religions: 100 million
Sikhism: 23 million
Juche: 19 million
Spiritism: 15 million
Judaism: 14 million
.

What is "Juche", I wonder!?

07-22-2015, 05:22 AM	#11 (permalink)
Lisnaholic ...here to hear... Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: He lives on Love Street Posts: 4,444	Thanks, Chula! I wonder what strange Native American ceremonies you' d be up to in California. Probably eating hallucinagenic mushrooms and smoking strange herbs - but wait a minute, you guys do that anyway, right? __________________ "Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

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07-22-2015, 10:41 PM	#13 (permalink)
~~John Wilkes Booth~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 2,235	the jews are like the little engine that could... no matter what history threw at them, be it persian, roman or greek conquest... or medieval antisemitic purges... or a tyrannical dictator that explicitly seeks to exterminate them... they somehow survive that's why they're in there judaism > christianity + islam combined imo