Religion Facts
Christianity is still the largest religion on earth, boasting over 2.1 billion members. Islam is closing in fast though with a total count of 1.5 billion people. Agnostic and atheists are the third largest group at 1.1 billion people. Hinduism comes up fourth at 900 million chill folks. Chinese traditional religions host 394 million people. The world contains 376 million Buddhists who are all about Big Bellied Buddha. Primal/tribal beliefs are still 300 million strong even in our supposedly advanced world. African Traditional and Diasporic religions host 100 million people in the 8th place. Sikhism has the 9th most people with 23 million members- What the hell is Sikhism?!? Juche, another unfamiliar religion has 14 million members. Judaism ranks in at the 12th position with 14 million members. Others of interest include Rastafarians (600,000) and Scientology (500,000).
Statistics have shown that the more educated an individual is, the less likely he or she is to be religious or to believe in a God. Fully three quarters of the members of the National Academy of Science member have a “personal disbelief in god” and twenty percent more claim to be “agnostic or have doubt”. That’s a whopping 92%. An interesting comparison is that less than 1% of the United States prison population is atheist. Hmmm….
Many religious people defend religion by saying that even if it isn’t true, it leads to better morals and better lives. Is that true? The facts say no: the divorce rate among atheists and agnostics is 21%, vs 30% for Jews, 27% for born again Christians. You might want to go back to the last paragraph and check out the religious affiliations of the prison populations as well. It seems that intelligent, well educated people are atheists who generally are more committed to their relationships and less likely to engage in criminal behavior. Agnostics and atheists are significantly less likely to be bad people than are religious folks. Why is this? Religion places all sorts of restrictions on people’s relationships, sexual behaviors, thoughts and even the foods they are supposed to eat and drink. All of this additional pressure causes people to allow anger, sexual frustration and hate to build up over time till it gets out of control and explodes, causing pain and suffering in themselves and the people around them.
Below I have attached the religious beliefs of the current candidates for the 2008 presidential election in the United States of America:
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Democrats |
Republicans |
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|
Hillary Clinton |
John Edwards |
Barack Obama |
Mike Huckabee |
John McCain |
Mitt Romney |
|
| Religious beliefs |
United Methodist | Raised Southern Baptist, now a United Methodist | Raised nonreligious, now United Church of Christ member | Former Baptist minister, Souther Baptist affiliate | Episcopalian, considering joining Souther Baptists | Mormon, has been a Mormon bishop |
| Abortion | Pro-choice, but no late-term abortions | Pro-choice. | Pro-choice. Opposed ban on late-term abortions. | Pro-life. Wants Constitutional Amendment to ban abortions | Pro-life.Overturn Roe v. Wade, then let states decide. | Pro-life, used to be pro-choice |
| Church and State | Likes faith based initiatives, opposes posting of ten Commandments in schools. | Supports faith based initiatives, basically government sponsored religion. Violates the Constitution. | Separation is very important but should be governed by “a sense of proportion.” Supports faith-based initiatives. | “The First Amendment requires that expressions of faith be neither prohibited nor preferred.” Has said constitution should be amended to follow God’s principles. Supports faith-based initiatives. | USA founded as a Christian nation. “Under God” should be kept. Supports faith-based initiatives. He is retarded, USA was founded as the lone place in the world where religion couldn’t influence gov. | Separation important. Supports reference to God in pledge, on money and in public places. Supports faith-based initiatives. |
| Death Penalty | Supports. Cosponsored a bill to improve DNA evidence for death row suspects. | Supports. But “we need reforms… to ensure that defendants receive fair trials… with full access to DNA testing.” | Supports only in cases of very heinous crimes. Voted for death penalty reforms. Another retarded belief. | Supports. Has carried it out as governor of Arkansas. “Some crimes deserve it, but that does not mean I like it.” Kill dem crimies! | Supports, including for acts of terrorism, and would consider expansion for other crimes. | Supports for deadly acts of terrorism, killing sprees, murders involving torture and the killing of law enforcement authorities. Proposed reforms. |
| Gay Issues | Opposes gay marriage. Opposes constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Supports civil unions. Clarified she does not believe homosexuality is immoral. Supports homosexuals serving in the military. | Opposes gay marriage. Supports civil unions. States should decide policy. It is “the single hardest social issue for me personally.” Opposes “don’t ask, don’t tell.” How is this a hard social issue? What happened to FREEDOM! I love Braveheart | Opposes gay marriage. Wrote that his opposition “may be misguided.” Supports civil unions. Clarified he does not believe homosexuality is immoral. | Opposes gay marriage. Opposes civil unions. Doesn’t agree with homosexuality. “People have a right to decide how they live their lives [but] they have to respect not changing the definition of marriage.” | Opposes gay marriage. Opposes constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. States should decide policy. Why does no one support gay marriage? | Opposes gay marriage. Supports civil unions. Supports constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Previously said states should decide policy. |
| Medical Ethics | Supports federal funding for stem cell research. Cosponsored the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005. Calls the ethics of it “a delicate balancing act.” | Supports federal funding for stem cell research. | Supports federal funding for stem cell research. Voted for the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005. | Supports research only on existing stem cell lines and not “creating life for the sole purpose of destroying it.” | Opposes stem cell research using cloned human embryos, but supports using embryos left over from fertility treatments. | Opposes stem cell research using cloned human embryos. Opposes federal funding. |
|
Hillary Clinton |
John Edwards |
Barack Obama |
Mike Huckabee |
John McCain |
Mitt Romney |
|
|
Democrats |
Republicans |
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Wow, most of these candidates are pretty ridiculous. We have Barack Obama who is probably faking his belief in religion to try to win the presidential election, Mike Huckabee the wacko Southern preacher and Mitt Romney the scary Mormon bishop. I say throw a dart at a dartboard if you are going to vote, or better yet don’t vote!
Studying how religion has influence world history and the goods and ills that it has caused mankind is a very valuable exercise in better understanding your own religious beliefs and I strongly recommend that everyone do so. Does anyone have any thoughts on religion beyond what I have listed here?
Great Religion Quotes...
Religion & Science in the Dark…...
Facts on Joel’s Blog...
Gotta love Religion!...
Religion is BS- Funny George Carlin Video...
What is Human?...
King of America Speaks out for Voluntary Polygamy/Polyamory...
Saudi Arabia… Place of Wonders...
Message from Josh… Never been as proud of one of my bros...
Reason versus Faith...
People Being Screwed Globally...
Marriage...
Like my cheesy pic? :)
January 31st, 2008 at 5:05 pm
VOTE ARNOLD….If we all vote for him then they have to change the constitution and let him at least run. If he gets like a ridiculous aount of votes then they have to make him president. everyone who is voting, please just write ARNIE on your ballots and it will happen.
January 31st, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Ahnold would be ze gweatest pwesidant in ze histories of man. I love Ahnold…
We should all write in Arnie, it’ll be more effective than participating in the silly voting game.
February 1st, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Change the Constitution and let him run. Why not?
I’m a pretty staunch conservative on a couple of platforms but have had to repeatedly express my enormous distaste for choices on either ballots.
I like the idea of a small government who regulates trade and defends the borders. And does little beyond that. I also firmly support the notion that most major social issues need to be decided at the state level. Smaller groups of populations tend to have more in common and it would be easier for you (if your extreme right or left) to relocate to a different state, rather than a different country.
One interesting side note is that Barack has a huge international following. There was book published in Germany calling him the “Black Kennedy” that made the best seller list. He also supposedly is popular in China and several other major economic powers. As we can see lately, giving your middle finger to the international community won’t do us any favors. And with America’s economic and military power becoming less impressive (see Joel’s earlier NY Times article reference) we need to keep our friends abroad as close as possible.
I’m voting Ron Paul, Arnold, or Bloomberg if he runs.
February 1st, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Oh and Sikhism is the religion where men where turbans, grow long beards, and wear metal bracelets. They had to deal with a lot crap following 9/11 even though they come from Punjab region of India.
Its a fairly new take on an old belief system. It had its big take off following the martyrdom of the fifth Guru in the 1600’s. There are some very cool aspects to the belief-
Sikh followers wear identifying features or styles to identify with one of five major tenets. One, the Kirpan, carry a sword strapped to them at all times.
Sikhs believe that they are called to be saint soldiers (kind of like Poet Warriors from Braveheart), who are willing to fight, if necessary and circumstances allow, to lay his or her life down to protect the poor and weak, regardless of race, religion, sex or creed.
Alot of the turbaned taxi drivers are Sikh. (Not another ethnic groub).
February 1st, 2008 at 9:38 pm
The Sikh sound pretty cool… I want to carry a sword and be a Robin Hood type of guy.
February 1st, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Yeah- You just have to be Kirpan. One of them has a specialty underwear as their signifier and some other funny stuff.
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I have brown streaked underwear as my special religious signifier.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Seems you guys have quite a wrong notion about religions..
Request you not to deal with such a sensitive subject in such an unprofessional manner.
Here is an insight of what actually Sikhism is..
Sikhism , founded on the teachings of Nanak and nine successive gurus in fifteenth century Northern India, is the fifth-largest organised religion in the world.[1] This system of religious philosophy and expression has been traditionally known as the Gurmat (literally the counsel of the gurus) or the Sikh Dharma. Sikhism originated from the word Sikh, which in turn comes from the Sanskrit root śiṣya meaning “disciple” or “learner”, or śikṣa meaning “instruction.”
The principal belief of Sikhism is faith in Vāhigurū—represented using the sacred symbol of ēk ōaṅkār, the Universal God. Sikhism advocates the pursuit of salvation through disciplined, personal meditation on the name and message of God. A key distinctive feature of Sikhism is a non-anthropomorphic concept of God, to the extent that one can interpret God as the Universe itself. The followers of Sikhism are ordained to follow the teachings of the ten Sikh gurus, or enlightened leaders, as well as the holy scripture entitled the Gurū Granth Sāhib, which includes selected works of many devotees from diverse socio-economic and religious backgrounds. The text was decreed by Gobind Singh, the tenth guru, as the final guru of the Khalsa Panth. Sikhism’s traditions and teachings are distinctively associated with the history, society and culture of the Punjab. Adherents of Sikhism are known as Sikhs (students or disciples) and number over 23 million across the world. Most Sikhs live in the state of Punjab in India and, prior to the country’s partition, millions of Sikhs lived in what is now known as the Punjab province of Pakistan.
Additional Info :
Sikhs have lived in America for over 100 years
People who wear turbans in the US are Sikhs
26 million Sikhs worldwide
Sikhs are living in America since 1897
Early Sikhs built railroads, and worked in lumber mills and on farms
83,000 Sikh soldiers died during 2 World wars
One million Sikhs live in North America, including 15,000 in the Greater Sacramento area
7 Sikh Temples in Capital area
First US Sikh Temple in Stockton, 1912
Hope that satisfies….
Anindya Chatterjee
India.
May 23rd, 2008 at 8:27 am
Thank you for the interesting contribution Anindya. I had no idea what Sikh’s believed and now I understand better.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:26 pm
You have an interesting website. I found it while doing some research about Christian ethics in America. Anyway some of it was helpful like what the candidates believe. I didn’t like your sarcastic statements about some people of faith, like Huckabee or omney. I believe either of these guys would make an acceptable leader-maybe president. I wouldn’t describe them as wacko or scary.
Anyway have fun with what you do and let God make a difference in you and others-Pete