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 |
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| 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?
Religion Demotivational Picture
Religion Discussion Between Mark & I
Does Religion Support Evolutions Goals?
Debate: Religion Vs. Evolution
Average Big 3 Automanufacturer Worker Earns $70/ hour
Facts on Joel’s Blog
American Economy Getting Hammered: What Should You Do?
Video of Monkeys Discussing Evolution vs Religion
Religulous Movie Review
President of the United States of America Barack Hussein Obama
Sarah Palin Scandals
My United States Traffic
Like my cheesy pic? :) 
June 15th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
I am writing a speech on religion and I found this very helpful. Thank You!
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Thank you for finally stating the facts!!! I am an atheist and have been all my life and there is no doubt in my mind that there is a “god”. I do not very often express my opinions with people because I don’t want to be looked at differently from nutcase christians! I don’t express my opinions but I am always preached to from different people that I work with and I am extremely tired of this. Why is it that religious people can go up to anyone and start preaching about the bible and jesus walking and all other nonscense b.s. It is like they assume that everyone has no knowledge like they do. When someone asked me if I have ever read the bible I said no, and I never intend to and their reply was “how sad” Now why is that sad? I have better things to do with my time than read the bible and worry about if I am “sinning” or not. I have more important things to worry about than to waste my life worrying about pointless things like that.
January 15th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
I feel sorry for you. Sounds like you have a problem with religion so you are making up “facts”, otherwise known a lies to sell to people. Your Pie chart adds up to more than 100%, you might want to tweak your “facts” to make that work. Scientist are no the only intelligent people and if you did any research you would know that the more they try to disprove a GOD, the more they prove one may exist. This is why, in all of their infinite wisdom, their physics and mathematic breakdown at the point of the Big Bang. They cant explaing this unless there is a god and the is the point in which mathematics and physics were given to us. Also, if you did any real research you would find that most prisoners were without religion prior to incarceration. I SUGGEST ANYONE WANT REAL FACTS SHOULD GO TO REAL WEBSITE. Nice try though and I will pray for you. I would rather believe in a GOD and be wrong than to Not believe in One and be wrong. the consequences are eternal. God Bless and I will Pray for you. Sounds like you desperately need it.
January 1st, 2009 at 8:49 am
your chart percentage is greater than 100% which is mathamatically impossible…. unless God has changed the laws of mathmatics on this one!!!???
December 25th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
God is like Santa Claus, or the Tooth Fairy, or the Easter Bunny. Yeah, they’re all somehow related to Jesus and all that shiz but didn’t you all stop believing in them at some point. What’s the difference in God. How can you really belive that there is some place we go and chill in the clouds or the “after life”. I just don’t understand how you can be ignorant like a little kid and believe that there is actually some guy or spirit watching you and running your entire life. We’re not video games, there isn’t someone holding a remote on the other end. I just don’t see it.
November 17th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
im writing a speech adn this kinda confused me didn’t really help