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Jim Hollander / EPA
Franciscan nuns and Nigerian Christians pray inside St. Catherine's Church, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity, traditionally accepted as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Monday.
Roughly one in six people around the world has no religious affiliation, a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life found, making the unaffiliated the third-largest religious group worldwide, behind Christians and Muslims, and about equal in size to the world’s Catholic population.
The religiously unaffiliated population includes atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion in surveys, the study issued Tuesday reads. Many of the religiously unaffiliated, however, hold religious or spiritual beliefs, the study emphasized.
"For example, belief in God or a higher power is shared by 7 percent of Chinese unaffiliated adults, 30 percent of French unaffiliated adults and 68 percent of unaffiliated U.S. adults," it read.
Making up 16.3 percent of the world population, this group comprises a majority of the population in six countries. China's number of religiously unaffiliated is the largest, with a 62 percent share.
The Pew Forum's study is based on self-identification.
Titled "The Global Religious Landscape," the study analyzed data available as of early 2012 from more than 2,500 national censuses and large-scale surveys, and found that Christians are the world's biggest religious group, with 2.2 billion people or 32 percent of the world’s population. The largest share of all Christians live in the United States, followed by Brazil and Mexico.
About half of all Christians are Catholic, while an estimated 37 percent of Christians are Protestant, the study shows. Greek and Russian Orthodox Christians make up 12 percent of Christians.
With 23 percent of the world's population, Muslims represent the second-largest religious group and are a majority in 49 countries, including 19 of the 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
Hindus make up 15 percent of the population, while the nearly 500 million Buddhists add up to 7 percent.
The study also found that the median age of Muslims (23 years) and Hindus (26) is younger than the median age of the world’s overall population (28), and more than 12 years younger than the median age of Jews, which is 36 years old.
"Muslims are going to grow as a share of the world's population, and an important part of that is this young age structure," Pew Forum demographer Conrad Hackett told Reuters.
Judaism has the weakest growth prospects in comparison.
There are about 15 million Jews in the world, or about 0.2 percent of the global population, and about 44 percent of them live in North America, while about 41 percent live mostly in Israel.
The Pew Forum study also shows that an estimated 405 million people practice various folk or traditional religions, including African traditional religions, Chinese folk religions, Native American religions and Australian aboriginal religions. More than 70 percent of the world’s folk religion practitioners live in China.
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I'm a Christian not affiliated with any religious sect or denomination. I guess I'm unaffiliated.
You may want to reconsider calling yourself a Christian - I'm an Atheist who finds the teachings of Jesus and Buddha similar and morally challenging to the tyranny of God and all those who believe they have a divine right or destiny to rule over others. I'm also a naturalist (Bright) and have no beliefs in spiritual beings or life after or before death. I may have a lot of people arguing against my positions during life, but I'm confident that death settles all arguments.
Good, organized religion is borderline criminal. Ordinary people elevating themselves to speakers of whatever God they apparently worship, money being passed around, corruption, cover ups, etc.
Unaffiliated is way too broad of a term. It could mean:
You don't believe in god(s)
You kinda believe in god(s)
you worship tree moss
you just haven't found quite the right southern baptist church: you handle cobras, they handle rattlesnakes.
a pew study.thats funny.
I am a believer in God,a believer in the ever after in a spiritual world and try,sometimes not hard enough, to do what pleases God.I detest organized religion because it was created by human beings, that have used it's teachings since the beginning of time to control people.For every so called good Christian that I've met I can find a dozen agnostics that could teach these Christians a thing a two about kindness,respect,consideration,empathy and love for their fellow man.
Oh, I am so with you
So - organized religion was created by human beings? God (who you believe in) couldn't possibly, in your opinion, be the impetus that MOVED humans to organize religions in the first place? How nice of you to limit what God can do. We humans also organize political systems, relief efforts, schools, hospitals - no human endeavor would succeed if it wasn't for organization. "Organization" can be said to be a gift from God, and organization on earth is mirrored throughout the cosmos. Sometimes organized religion fails or come up short, but that doesn't happen because of organization. If you burn dinner on the stove, is it because you organized your spice rack and your pots and pans? Organized religions founded schools, orphanages, and hospitals. They send relief to victims of wars and natural disasters. None of these things happen without organization.
just a cleaning lady, your post reflects my sentiments precisely. Couldn't agree more.
For what it's worth here's an old adage:
When it was first implemented by Christ, Christianity was intended as a personal relationship with GOD. When Christianity spread to Greece it became a philosophy. When it reached Rome it became dogma. When it permeated Europe it became a culture (e.g. Bibles in law courts). And when it finally reached America it became big business.
Yes. Organized religion is created by human beings. G*D gave us HIS divine inspiration. Humans made that inspiration into FLESH and bone. Today I heard a pastor practically creaming in this pants preying, in detail, for the speedy demise of this sinful world. G*d, through his messenger for the Aquarian age, Jesus, said, love is all there is. Humans said, not so fast, we have a few thousand conditions that proceed that.
I believe in a higher power. I don't believe in religion.
Does that "higher power" exist within your own mind (consciousness) or outside your mind ?
corona -
think bridge between Theory of Everything and Incompleteness
So apparently, one in six of us actually have our heads on straight.
AzDrummer89,Your comments sum that up very nicely.I agree.
Pretty naive statement there. And very egotistical too. But, you, like everyone else, is free to believe in the superiority of your BELIEFS.
This number will keep growing in size. Organized religion simply offers less in the way of answers and hope in our modern times than it has in the past. If it weren't for the social and networking aspects of going to church, the current number would probably at least double.
Religion is no longer relevant to a growing number of people. Perhaps organized religions will expand on the social club aspects and offer membership discount cards, bulk deals on auto insurance, door prizes, and other member benefits to keep their current members in the fold.
As an atheist, I hate being lumped in with agnostics or anyone that actually has a belief in a god or gods of any type.
Atheism and agnosticism are two different traits. I'm both, as are many other atheists.
I don't mind being counted with agnostics. I highly doubt there are any supreme beings and am more atheist than agnostic, but no one can say for sure.
What I don't like though, is being counted with believers who are simply not affiliated with an organized religion. There is obviously a huge difference between being atheist or even agnostic, and simply being unaffiliated.
I agree KC,
Lumping me (Atheist, Bright) in with people who believe in a magic man in the sky is an insult to me.
I don't like being grouped with agnostics because they say we can't prove theres no god or gods. Sorry, its not up to me to disprove something thats never been proven. Look up Flying spaghetti monster or Russell's teapot.
Shogun69,
You would do well to call yourself antitheist instead of atheist. You seem to be hellbent on denying the existence of god/gods, and I'm okay with that, but you should understand that your antitheism falls outside the description of "atheist." I'm a non-theist who just wants to be left alone, and I am perfectly happy to leave others to their beliefs.
Atheism is simply not believing. Taking action on those beliefs to challenge others, state their beliefs are wrong, using words like "hate" do describe your dislike of theist groups (or your inclusion with them) shows how dead set you are against the concept and practice of belief in a god. That is clear antitheism, and it goes beyond simple atheism.
Jim38245,
Well put.
Theist, Atheist, Agnostic Theist, Agnostic Atheist. There are your filters shrekk
Me too. It really doesn't give an honest breakdown of each group.
I believe in god, but I also believe in Santa, the tooth fairy and the boogie man. Hope that doesn't make me weird.
Apparently, you found a good way of earning a living.
As I understand them, the 'boogie' man dances very well, but the 'bogey' man shoots a lousy game of golf. That's about as important a distinction as that between 'atheist' and 'non-theist'. Split hairs much?
Eric, that was absolute gold...that gave me a pretty good laugh. :)
I'm not sure what I am. I know for sure I'm an optimist and believe anything is possible, even God. I'm probably agnostic in my beliefs, IF there is a God, he/she is unknown and unknowable and has little if anything to do with our day to day lives. The choices we make determine the paths our lives take.
This is why I don't want to be lumped with agnostics.
To most 'religious' people,regardless of sect, you might as well be atheist, since you don't follow their dogma and therefore "don't believe". Look at Mitt Romney and how many Christians didn't believe he was a Christian because Mormon beliefs are not 100 percent in line with theirs (I wonder if LDS is back on Billy Grahams list of cults...) Yet these same "Christians" will embrace Judaism and followers of the Jewish faith, which specifically says that Jesus was not "the Christ" and was nothing but a blasphemer and false prophet, an old school David Koresh if you will. Meanwhile they demonize Islam despite the fact that it holds Jesus up as an important prophet.
At least as an atheist I am consistent and thinks its all BS...
I find it impossible to turn my brain over to an organization that tells me to accept its dogma or suffer the "consequences."
That is how governments operate as well.
By definition, I guess I'm an agnostic, since I can't say either way whether a god or gods exist because no proof of its/her/his/their existence or lack thereof is there for me to see. However, as I'm getting older, I am leaning towards an atheist viewpoint - in that, I don't see any proof that a deity or deities exist(s), but I see plenty of proof they/it/she/he don't/doesn't exist.
All I know is what is there that can be proven experimentally via the scientific method and/or mathematically. I don't have to see electricity to know it exists, because electricity has been proven via the scientific method. Same thing goes for gravity or evolution or plasma or quarks or atoms, etc.
Society has a long way to go to accept those who are not affiliated or do not have any beliefs or are atheists or agnostics.
Case in point: major corporate event yesterday. A lot of it revolved around the concepts of diversity and inclusion of all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, beliefs, politics, appearance, and so on. And the speaker concluded with: "Can you say amen?" I turned to my coworker and said: "Apparently, religious discrimination is ok, however."
All sane people are agnostics (including both theists and atheists), since despite the complete absence of evidence for any imaginary friends it's impossible to disprove them.
And all rational people are atheists.
How can you disprove something that is completely lacking of evidence of its existence?... This is the kind of distorted logic used by religions to "prove" the divine
After I come to the conclusion that evidence for an imaginary friends is non-existent, I then proceed to rationality.
Being avid in Physics helps.(to an extent) But how can one find that a preexisting-more-complex than this universe 'being' already exist? How do you go from "The universe can't come from nothing. To, 'god is always there."? That helps me get over the fact that yeah, agnosticism just seems a little lazy to me.
I've watch the development of scientific knowledge, and it is ever increasing in the ability for us to explain our world using fathomable material. I came up with "false time" when I was in high school before I even started studying Hawkins. I don't find it reasonable that we will never be able to know.
If there is a God (I doubt it) I'm sure he/she/it would want me to be well rested for work on Monady morning. Sunday mornings were made for sleeping in.
Good, one sixth of the human race can opt out of the next round of religious wars. Our currency motto will be "In reason we trust". Hopefully, we'll have an inhabitable planet to start life over again.
I enjoy hearing that the stranglehold religion holds over humanity is weakening.
Wow, isn't this inspiring!? The election and now this..? Reason and enlightenment are indeed taking root. In fact, I can think of no better evidence of evolution than the dwindling numbers of those who rail against it.
I stand in awe of you, human mind, capable of such greatness and yet, such evil.
To the future!
Salut!
I swear to God i'm an atheist.
I'd have been an atheist until I found out that they had no holidays.
You do not have to sign off holidays to be an Atheist. Just take the religious hypocrisy out of the holiday and you are good to go. For example, Christmas is not about the birth of Christ but about doing something nice for your friends and family.
Anyway the "Christian" definition of Christmas is a lie anyway so no need to worry about it. Christmas was originally a Pagan holiday that the founders of the Bible decided to co-opt and make up some stupid, but slightly believe-able, story to go with the narrative of the Bible.
We're number three! We're number three!
We're number three! We're number three!
So Christians are Hertz and Muslims are Avis? We'll really have to try harder.
I'm all religions, because that way I can get paid holidays for religious observation and if they try not to pay me or fire me, I can sue for discrimination. America, F- Yeah!
The most disturbing thing about this survey,
So 68 % of Americans who are not affiliated with any religion still believe in god.
Come on people......you made that first step, keep reading, learning, observing.......just a logical next step will free you from the shackles of man-made control.
Meh, I don't begrudge the believers. If it helps them get through their day, it's not hurting me. Now, if it's hurting me, then yeah knock that sh*t off.
Since when is "unaffilliated" a religion? More lib-speak from lib-central designed to divide and conquer.
It's sad that the people here are debating whether or not God exists, when they should really be debating why lib-central is running this article. See, it's working already - divide and conquer. Keep the masses fighting with each other and they won't even notice what is being stolen from us. Life, liberty, happiness, rights? Divide and conquer. Sheep.
catlover589
Keep replying to your own posts and you will get all the answers you want to hear.
Cat lover,
unaffiliated are those with a true religion and not one that tells them what they should believe. Religious beliefs should only ever be determined by the individual, religious communal belief systems are just a means of control over the blinded masses. Look at what Catholicism has done to Republicans and even some Democrats, that is all the proof anyone will ever need.
Looks like catlover finally found someone dumb enough to answer one of his leading and incendiary questions.
Shogun and corona - those are just typical lib-speak responses. Congratulations for proving many of my beliefs about the typical lib-tards here at lib-central.
Geo - I am fairly well acquainted with religion and beliefs. My point is valid; unaffilliated is not a religion, but a statement of whether a person considers himself to belong to an organized "religion." Hence the term "unaffilliated." Unaffiliated is not a religion, but unaffilliated persons may and do hold spiritual beliefs.
See, everyone, divide and conquer is easily accomplished.
As it should be. Organized Religion is nothing but a corrupt pyramid scheme based on preying off of people too weak minded to create their own set of beliefs. They also are a mecha for discrimination and prejudice. No one in the world cared if you were Gay until Religion (any that has anti-Gay terminology in their texts) was created.
Kinda like the Denocratic party with their lib-agenda, huh? Preying on the weak-minded. They have made liberalism into a religion.
And you cons brought stupid to a new level.
HAHA good to see you again SoCal. Nice to see you've brought that exquisite wit with you. Is that mud in your eye? No? Eeww. HAHAHA.
HAHAHAHAHAHA Is that supposed to mean something? Are you the only one that laughs at your jokes?
So you ask if HAHAHAHAHA means anything, then you admit that you understand it means I'm laughing. That's brilliant. HAHAHAHA - I love stoopid lib-tards. Is that mud in your eye? No? Eeww. HAHAHAHA
So, only the stupid get your stupid jokes? Do you always act like an idiot?
So you're admitting you're stoopid because you got my joke? Awesome, dude! Or should I say "Dudette"? HAHAHAHAHA I love stoopid lib-tards. This is fun!! Let's play again!!
At least I know how to spell it. Sing me another sad song about liberals, and don't forget to vote for and laugh at yourself, I won't.
Thanks, dudette!! I forgot to vote. Yer awesome!! I luv lib-tards. Thank you. Come again, because I won't. It's been a fun game, boy, but I have to poop. And that's not a sexual thing for me. Ooh, ooh, I have to vote for myself. HAHAHAHA
I'm unaffiliated, although have a very strong spiritual life - striving every day to be someone G*D can rely on and thankful for any opportunity to be used to carry out HIS plan. I'm unaffiliated because I know so, so many who give whole hearted lip service while their lives are testaments to their half ass efforts. I don't want to be associated with any organized group. I blame these hypocrites for people turning from G*D. Understanding HIS plan is impossible because of these people. I wonder if other G*D loving "unaffiliateds" feel the same way.
http://www.washingtonguardian.com/washingtons-school-security-failure
"Beneath the expressions of grief, sorrow and disbelief over the Connecticut school massacre lies an uneasy truth in Washington: over the last few years the Obama administration and Congress quietly let federal funding for several key school security programs lapse in the name of budget savings."
If this had been Bush, Libs would be calling for his head. Where's the outrage now?
There is no such thing as lib outrage here at lib-central against King Hussein. He can do no wrong. It's Bush's fault.
Piss off con.
SoCal - HAHAHA go figure. No wonder you libs win all your arguments. With such thoughtful eloquence it's a wonder there are any conservatives left. You'd think they'd all just come running to SoCal to join the Movement of the Sun. Bowel Movement, that is. Here's mud in your eye. Wait that's not mud. Eeww, I'm in SoCal!! HAHAHAHA
Did you not understand? Losers are funny. Do you think you make sense? Must be a Willard fan.