The Big Religion Comparison Chart
The Big Religion Comparison Chart
The Big Religion Comparison Chart
The ReligionFacts "Big Religion Chart" is an attempt to summarize all the complexities of religions and belief systems into tiny little boxes on a single, quick-reference comparison chart. Yes, of course this is impossible. As we always warn with our comparison charts, this is no substitute for reading about religions in greater detail, talking with religious adherents, etc. But this religion comparison chart can (hopefully) be a useful and accessible way to "get the gist" of some unfamiliar groups and compare basic beliefs and practices of the world's religions and belief systems. Despite the chart's simplistic title, we have been very inclusive with what is regarded as a "religion" for purposes of this comparison chart. Basically, the grounds for a group's inclusion are that it provides a set of teachings and/or rituals that deal with the traditionally "religious" issues of ultimate reality, the meaning of life, and/or how to find fulfillment, spiritual health or salvation. Also, all the groups listed below can be found in dictionaries of religion. Inclusion of a group on this list does not mean that the group is a "religion" per se (note that atheism is listed) or a "true religion" or that "[one listed group] is just as much a religion as [another listed group]." Similarly, if a group does not appear on this chart it doesn't mean it's not a religion or doesn't matter; the chart is not comprehensive and is continually growing. In addition, listing groups separately does not mean they are mutually exclusive, nor does grouping them together mean that they are basically the same thing. This is not an authoritative list of religions, simply a resource on some worldviews and ways of life that hopefully some will find useful. Links in the left column go to ReligionFacts articles where available (see also the A-Z Religion Index). For more information on numbers of adherents, please see Adherents.com, from which most of the stats are taken. Last updated: 12/4/07.
Human Situation and Life's Purpose Strong emphasis on healing and salvation in this life through prayer, fasting and other rituals.
Afterlife
Practices
Texts
More Info
Aladura
Generally monotheistic; a mix of Anglican, Pentecostal and traditional African beliefs. Polytheistic, Norse gods and goddesses, Norse creation myths.
Spiritual healing is central. Mix of Anglican and African rituals; a prophet plays a prominent role.
None
ReligionFacts article
Asatru
unknown
Valhalla (heaven) for death in battle; Hel (peaceful place) for most; Hifhel (hell) for the very evil.
Sacrifice of food or drink, toast to the gods, shamanism (less frequently), celebration of solstice holidays. Nine Noble Virtues is moral code. none
Atheism
1.1 billion (this figure includes agnostic and non-religious, which tend to be grouped on surveys)
There is no God or divine being. Beliefs about the universe generally based on latest scientific
Only humans can help themselves and each other solve the world's problems.
none
findings. Baha'i Faith Founded by Bah'u'llh, 1863, Tehran, Iran. 5-7 million One God, who has revealed himself progressively through major world religions. The soul is eternal and essentially good. Purpose of life is to develop spiritually and draw closer to God. Soul separates from the body and begins a journey towards or away from God. Heaven and hell are states of being. Reincarnation until gain enlightenment Daily prayer, avoidance of intoxicants, scripture reading, hard work, education, work for social justice and equality. Writings of Bah'u'llh and other Bah' leaders ReligionFacts section The Baha'i World
Bn
100,000
Nontheistic Buddhism, but meditation on peaceful and wrathful deities. Varies: Theravada atheistic; Mahayana more polytheistic. Buddha taught nothing is permanent. God(s) and Universe
Bonpo canon
Buddhism
360 million
Purpose is to avoid suffering and gain enlightenment and release from cycle of rebirth, or at least attain a better rebirth by gaining merit. Human Situation and Life's Purpose Goal is peace and harmony in each person and in the world. Salvation by "cultivating self and finding God in self."
Reincarnation (understood differently than in Hinduism, with no surviving soul) until gain enlightenment
Tripitaka (Pali Canon); Mahayana sutras like the Lotus Sutra; others.
Afterlife
Practices
Texts
More Info
Cao Dai
Founded in 1926, Vietnam by Ngo Van Chieu and others based on a sance.
God represented by Divine Eye. Founders of Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity venerated, and saints including Victor Hugo. Dualistic yin and yang; mythological beings and folk deities.
Reincarnation. Bad karma can lead to rebirth on a darker planet; good karma to better life on earth. Eventual attainment of nirvana or heaven.
Hierarchy similar to Roman Catholicism. Daily prayer. Meditation. Communication with spirit world (now outlawed in Vietnam).
Caodai canon
Chinese Religion
394 million
Purpose is a favorable life and peaceful afterlife, attained through rituals and honoring of ancestors.
Ancestor worship, prayer, longevity practices , divination, prophecy and astrology, feng shui. Yoga, meditation, massage, nutrition, mindfulness, detox sessions, positive thinking.
None
Chopra Center
unknown
Humans have limitless potential, but do not recognize this. Health and success can be had by focusing on whole self (mind, body, spirit). All have sinned and are thereby separated from God. Salvation is through faith in Christ and, for some, sacraments and good works. Salvation is "Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over
Reincarnation
Deepak Chopra's many books, such as the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
2 billion
Christian Science
150,000 400,000
One God. No Trinity (in traditional sense). Matter and evil do not exist.
Heaven is "not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations
Spiritual healing through prayer and knowledge, Sunday services, daily Bible and Science & Health
reading.
Confucianism
5-6 million
Not addressed
Purpose of life is to fulfill one's role in society with propriety, honor, and loyalty.
Not addressed
Honesty, politeness, propriety, humaneness, perform correct role in society, loyalty to family, nation Practices
Analects
Afterlife
Texts
More Info
Deism
Especially popularized in the 18th-cent. Enlightenment under Kant, Voltaire, Paine, Jefferson, and others
One Creator God who is uninterested in the world. Reason is basis for all knowledge.
Not addressed
Druze
Al-Darazi in 11th century, Cairo, Egypt. Roots in the Isma'iliyya sect of Shia Islam.
500,000
Universal Intelligence (alAql al-Kulli) or Divine Essence (akin to Neoplatonism), of which alHakim is believed to be an incarnation.
Live a good life for a favorable reincarnation. Await the reappearance of al-Hakim (a Fatimid caliph who disappeared in 1021), who will usher in a Golden Age for true believers. "Each of us is Soul, a spark of God sent to this world to gain spiritual experience." Salvation is liberation and God-realization. Materialism: everything is made of atoms, including gods and the soul.
Reincarnation. Heaven is a spiritual existence when one has escaped reincarnation. Hell is distance from God in lifetime after lifetime.
Modest lifestyles, fasting before Eid al-Adha. Beliefs and practices are hidden for protection from persecution. Special group of initiates called uqqal.
Wikipedia Lexicorient
Eckankar
50-500,000
Reincarnation. The Soul is eternal by nature and on a spiritual journey. Liberation possible in a single lifetime. No afterlife. The soul dissolves when the body dies.
Spiritual Exercises of ECK: mantras, meditation, and dreams. These enable Soul travel and spiritual growth.
Epicureanism
unknown
A deistic sort of polytheism: the gods exist, but take no notice of humans.
Pursue the highest pleasures (friendship and tranquility) and avoid pain.
Falun Gong
10 million
The Falun (wheel) is an energy source located in the navel. Goal is spritual transcendence, achieved by practicing Falun Gong. Humans can return to the spiritual world through secret knowledge of the universe.
Not addressed
Five exercises to strengthen the Falun. Cultivation of truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance. Meat eating discouraged.
Gnosticism
The supreme God is unknowable; the creator god is evil and matter is evil.
Asceticism, celibacy
Wikipedia Gnosis.org
Greek Religion
Olympic pantheon (Zeus, etc.) mixed with eastern deities like Isis and Cybele
Human life is subject to the whim of the gods and to Fate; these can be controlled through sacrifice and divination.
Beliefs varied from no afterlife to shadowy existence in the underworld to a paradiselike afterlife (mainly in mystery religions). Afterlife
Animal sacrifice, harvest offerings, festivals, games, processions, dance, plays, in honor of the gods. Secret initiations and rituals in mystery religions.
Human Situation and Life's Purpose Salvation from this Age of Kali is by a return to Godhead, accomplished through KrishnaConsciousness.
Practices
Texts
More Info
Hare Krishna
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, 1966, USA (with roots in 15th-century Hindu movement)
The BhagavadGita As It Is
Hinduism
900 million
Humans are in bondage to ignorance and illusion, but are able to escape. Purpose is to gain release from rebirth, or at least a better rebirth. Humans must submit (islam) to the will of God to gain Paradise after death.
Yoga, meditation, worship (puja), devotion to a god or goddess, pilgrimage to holy cities, live according to one's dharma (purpose/ role).
Islam
Paradise or Hell.
Five Pillars: Faith, Prayer, Alms, Pilgrimage, Fasting. Mosque services on Fridays. Ablutions before prayer. No alcohol or pork. Holidays related to the pilgrimage and fast of Ramadan. Monasticism under the Five Great Vows (NonViolence, Truth, Celibacy, NonStealing, NonPossessiveness); worship at temples and at home. Meditation and mantras.
Jainism
4 million
The universe is eternal; many gods exist. Gods, humans and all living things are classified in a complex hierarchy.
The soul is uncreated and eternal and can attain perfect divinity. Purpose is to gain liberation from cycle of rebirth, by avoiding all bad karma, especially by causing no harm to any sentient being. Salvation is through faith in Christ and obeying Jehovah's laws. The End of the World is soon.
Jehovah's Witnesses
6.5 million
One God, Jehovah. No Trinity - Christ is the first creation of God; the Holy Spirit is a force.
Heaven for 144,000 chosen Witnesses, eternity on new earth for other Witnesses. All others annihilated. No hell.
No blood transfusions, no celebration of holidays, no use of crosses or religious images. Baptism, Sunday service at Kingdom Hall, strong emphasis on evangelism. Practices
Afterlife
Texts
More Info
Judaism
The religion of
One God,
Not historically
Circumcision at
Bible
ReligionFacts
the Hebrews (c. 1300 BC), especially after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD.
Yahweh.
commandments, live ethically. Focus is more on this life than the next.
emphasized. Beliefs vary from no afterlife to shadowy existence to the World to Come (similar to heaven).
birth, bar/bat mitzvah at adulthood. Synagogue services on Saturdays. No pork or other nonkosher foods. Holidays related to historical events. Astronomy, divination, human sacrifice, elaborate burial for royalty, worship in stone pyramid-temples
(Tanakh), Talmud
Mayan Religion
Appease and nourish the gods; determine luckiest dates for various activities.
The soul journeys through dark and threatening underworld; but sacrificial victims and women who die in childbirth go to heaven. All return to spirit world for period of instruction before resurrection. Mormons to heaven with God and families; others rewarded but not with God; hell for those who reject God after death. Reincarnation based on karma
Dresden, Madrid, and Paris codices; Books of Chilam Balam; Popol Vuh; The Ritual of the Bacabs
ReligionFacts article
Mormonism (LDS)
12.2 million
God the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate individual beings
Humans existed as spirits before this life, salvation is returning to God. Salvation by faith in Christ, good works, ordinances, and evangelism.
Abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, coffee and tea; baptism for the dead; eternal marriage; temple garments under daily clothes; active evangelism.
Christian Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price
New Age
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Annie Besant in the 19th C, Alice A. Bailey (1880-1949), flourished in 1970s and 80s
Dawning of a New Age of heightened consciousness and international peace. Individuals can obtain a foretaste of the New Age through spiritual transformation ("Ascension"). More emphasis on the latter now. Evil comes from ignorance. Man is divine, essentially spirit, and has infinite possibility. Mind can control the body. Sin and sickness caused by incorrect thinking. Man can live in oneness with God in love, truth, peace, health, and prosperity. Human Situation and Life's Purpose Humans are temples of Jah. Salvation is primarily in this world and
Astrology; mysticism; use of crystals; yoga; tarot readings; holistic medicine; psychic abilities; angelic communications; channeling; amulets; fortunetelling
New Thought
Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (180266) and others, late 19th century, USA.
160,000
Generally monism (all is One), but members might be theists, pantheists or panentheists. God is immanent; the universe is essentially spiritual.
Emphasis on spiritual and mental healing, but without rejection of modern medicine. Worship services; prayer for the sick; discussion of New Thought authors and ideas.
Writings of Quimby (such as the The Quimby Manuscripts) and other New Thought authors
Afterlife
Practices
Texts
More Info
Rastafari
God is Jah, who became incarnate in Jesus (who was black) and
Many practices based on Jewish biblical Law. Abstinence from most or all meat,
Haile Selassie.
artificial foods, and alcohol. Use of marijuana in religious rituals and for medicine. Wearing of dreadlocks. Auditing, progressing up various levels until "clear". Focus on education and drug recovery programs.
Jamaicans.com
Scientology
Human consists of body, mind and thetan; capable of great things. Gain spiritual freedom by ridding mind of engrams. Second Coming of Christ is imminent; salvation is by faith in Christ; emphasis on quality of life both now and in afterlife Humans are pure by nature and can keep away evil through purification rituals and attain good things by calling on the kami. Human Situation and Life's Purpose Overcome the self, align life with will of God, and become a "saint soldier," fighting for good.
Reincarnation
Seventh-day Adventists
Rooted in Millerite movement; Ellen White was main leader; founded 1863 in New England
10 million [source]
A "peaceful pause" after death until the coming of Christ, then resurrection to judgment and eternity in heaven or hell Death is bad and impure. Some humans become kami after death.
Bible only; but later prophets like Ellen White are authoritative when tested against Scriptures Important texts are Kojiki or 'Records of Ancient Matters' and Nihon-gi or 'Chronicles of Japan'
Shinto
3-4 million
Afterlife
Practices
Texts
More Info
Sikhism
Prayer and meditation on God's name, services at temple (gurdwara), turban and five Ks. Balance work, worship, and charity. No monasticism or asceticism. Ethical and philosophical training, selfreflection, careful judgment and inner calm.
Stoicism
unknown
Fragments of founders plus later writers like Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius. Tao Te Ching, Chuang-Tzu
Taoism
Purpose is inner harmony, peace, and longevity. Acheived by living in accordance with the Tao.
Revert back to state of nonbeing, which is simply the other side of being.
General attitude of detachment and non-struggle, "go with the flow" of the Tao. Taichi, acupuncture, and alchemy to help longevity. Blessing Ceremony
Unification Church
Monotheism, with the duality of God (esp. masculine and feminine) emphasized. No Trinity doctrine.
Purpose is true love and world peace instead of selfish love. True love and the kingdom of God on earth will be restored by the creation of "true
families." Unitarian Universalism Formal merger of Unitarians and Universalists in 1961, USA. 800,000 Not specified. Members might believe in one God, many gods, or no God. Salvation is "spiritual health or wholeness." Members seek "inner and outer peace," insight, health, compassion and strength. Not specified. Some believe in an afterlife, some do not. Very few believe in hell "Universalism" indicates the belief that all will be saved. Ceremonies for marriages, funerals, etc. Church services have elements from various religions. Emphasis on civil rights, social justice, equality and environment. Most UUs are anti-death penalty and pro-gay rights. Prayer, casting a circle, Drawing Down the Moon, reciting spells, dancing, singing, sharing cakes and wine or beer Many sacred texts are revered by various members; some none at all. The Bible is the most commonly used text. ReligionFacts article UUA.org
Wicca
Based on ancient pagan beliefs, but modern form founded early 1900s. Founder generally said to be Gerald Gardner.
1-3 million
Polytheism, centered on the Goddess and God, each in various forms; also a belief in a Supreme Being over all
No sacred text; foundational texts include The Witch Cult in Western Europe and The God of the Witches Zend Avesta
Zoroastrianism
Zoroaster in c.6th cent. BC, Persia. Official religion of ancient Persia. May have influenced Judaism and Vedic religion. Origins & History
c. 200,000
One God, Ahura Mazda, but a dualistic worldview in which an evil spirit, Angra Mainyu, is almost as powerful. God(s) and Universe
Humans are free to do good or evil, must choose the side of good.
Judgement followed by heaven or hell. Hell is temporary until final purgation and return to Ahura Mazda.
Afterlife
Practices
Texts
More Info
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