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Religion 101

The Buddhist world subdivides into three major branches: Theravada, Mayahana, and Vajrayana. For reasons explained previously, estimates on the total world Buddhist population vary (by large margins). Some sources would put the total at well over a billion, but many more conservative estimates tend to be less than half that. One very conservative source estimates…

The eight-day Jewish holiday known as Hanukkah (or Chanukah) began this year at sunset on Saturday, December 8, and will end at sunset on Sunday, December 16. Like all Jewish holidays (literally “holy days”), Hanukkah begins and ends at sundown. Why? Simply because Judaism regards sunset, rather than midnight, as marking the end of one…

(Note: Part Three of my series on Buddhist Demographics & Denominations will appear in a subsequent entry.) Today (Saturday, December 8, 2012) is Rohatsu, a Japanese Buddhist holiday celebrating the occasion of the attainment of mystical enlightenment and the perfect bliss of nirvana by the Buddha (a title which literally means “the Enlightened One” or…

Buddhism, like the other major religions of the world (such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism), is by no means universally homogeneous and uniform in content, but is instead heterogeneous, highly variegated, and internally diverse. In other words, not all Buddhists believe the same exact things, or practice in exactly the same ways (no more…

Having previously looked at the demographics and “denominations” (major branches, movements, divisions) of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, we turn now to Buddhism. And, just as the other four of the “Big Five” among the world’s major religions are by no means homogeneous and uniform in content but instead heterogeneous and diverse, so is this…

Much like every other major religion, Hinduism is not one thing, but many — not homogeneous and monolithic, but internally diverse and highly variegated. Within the Hindu religious tradition, God or the Divine can be imaged, visualized, conceptualized or comprehended in a number of alternative ways. Among the most popular Hindu forms, manifestations, personalities, or…

Having already addressed, in previous blog entries, the basic breakdown into wings, branches, sects, movements, denominations and similar sorts of internal subdivisions that is found within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, I’d now like to round out the big picture in this manner by looking next at the remaining two religions generally also included among the…

With approximately 1.6 billion followers (about 23% of the global human population), Islam currently ranks as the second largest religion in the world. But Islam, like the rest of the world’s major religions, is not one thing, but many. Islam is not homogeneous and monolithic, but variegated and diverse. For one thing, Islam, like other major…

With approximately 1.6 billion followers (about 23% of the total global human population), Islam currently ranks as the second largest religion in the world. But Islam, like the rest of the world’s religions, is not one thing, but many. Islam is not homogeneous and monolithic, but variegated and diverse. For one thing, Islam, like other…

With approximately 1.6 billion followers (about 23% of the total human population), Islam currently ranks as the second largest religion in the world. Globally, nearly one in four people are Muslim. There are more Muslims than Catholics on the planet. There are more Muslims than Hindus on the planet. There may even be more Muslims…
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