What the religions of the world have in common

There are approximately 6.5 billion people living on our planet.

That number is expected to surpass 9 billion in the next 50 years and 10 billion by the turn of the next century. Of the people living now, approximately 5.4 billion express a religious affiliation.

The largest category is Christianity. Some 2.1 billion people say they are Christians, about one third of the world's inhabitants.

The following represents a breakdown of the remaining religious/nonreligious adherents:

Islam: 1.3 billion; nonreligious: 1.1 billion; Hinduism: 900 million; Chinese traditional religion: 394 million; Buddhism: 376 million; primal-indigenous: 300 million; African Traditional and Diasporic: 100 million; Sikhism: 23 million; Juche: 19 million; Spiritism: 15 million; Judaism: 14 million; Baha'I: 7 million; Jainism: 4.2 million; Shinto: 4 million; Cao Dai: 4 million; Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million; Tenrikyo: 2 million; Neo-Paganism: 1 million; Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand; Rastafariansim: 600 thousand, and Scientology: 500 thousand. There are many other groups that don't fall into any of these categories with smaller numbers of adherents.

Some religions believe in one god (monotheism) while other religions believe in many gods (polytheism). There are actually more polytheistic religions in the world than monotheistic religions, although monotheistic religions have more adherents.

For example, if there are 20 polytheistic religions in the world with two billion adherents and 15 monotheistic religions in the world with three billion adherents, there would be more polytheistic religions than monotheistic religions but more monotheistic adherents than polytheistic adherents. Some religions don't worship gods at all but rather what are considered to be the sacred principles of thought and conduct (Buddhism and other transcendent idealism religions).

The United States is the most religiously diverse country in the history of the world. In most societies here are only a handful of significant religious organizations. In Canada, for example, 90 percent of the population is Christian; half of them are Catholic and half are Protestant. Three quarters of the Protestants belong to two denominations, the Anglican Church and the United Church of Canada. The United States is also about 90 percent Christian, but the largest denomination, the Catholic Church, has only about 28 percent of total church membership. About 57 percent of Americans are Protestant, but they are fragmented into so many denominations and sects that none of them can claim even a tenth of the total religiously affiliated population. In fact, there are currently more than 1,300 different denominations, sects, and cults existing in the United States today.

Each individual religious entity has its own set of beliefs, practices, and rituals. Some Christian groups for example, believe in a hereafter and believe there are certain things that must be done to get there, but there is widespread disagreement on what those things are. Some groups define baptism as sprinkling while others define it as immersion. Some churches are open for anyone to join, others requires being "saved" before baptism can take place. Some churches believe in "speaking in tongues" while others don't.

Some church services emphasize emotion, spontaneity and extensive congregational participation while others do not. Some groups believe in a literal interpretation of the scriptures contained in the Bible while others see the scriptures as parables or examples of desired conduct and thought.

For example, those who take the Bible literally interpret the verse that admonishes believers to "be fruitful and multiply" to be as legitimate today as it was when it was written. Others believe, because of the world's population explosion, that having too many children today is, in fact, immoral.

The latter group contends that when that particular verse was written, the important thing, as it is for any new group, is to "grow the group" to ensure its survival. Those claiming that verse is no longer relevant suggest that that the survival of the group was assured long ago and that continuing to have as many children as one can goes against the spirit of the Scriptures.

Certain religious groups, primarily Christian, believe that God made man. Nonreligious groups believe that man made God in an attempt to explain the unexplainable.

Despite the tremendous religious diversity that exists all over the world, there is one thing and perhaps only one thing that all groups, both religious and nonreligious have in common.

The all believe they're right.