Spread Of Religion Over 2000 Years
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Religion, The World
Can you guess which color is which religion?
Shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 and is filed under Religion, The World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 13th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
blue is christianty
green is islam
orange is buddhism
yellow is hinduism
just my guesses.
February 14th, 2007 at 9:42 am
I don’t have a better guess than what “shift” wrote, although I thought Buddhists and Hindus were one in the same? Shows how much I know.
Please — unvell the mystery! The suspense is killing me.
February 14th, 2007 at 10:34 am
I like how quickly the green appears. I wonder how that happened.
February 14th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
On slide 19 or so Buddhism seems to pop up in Palestine. Anybody know the story on this?
February 14th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Nor too hard to figure out. But did anyone else notice that Hinduism, with its caste system built in seems to be dying? Or that Christianity, with its unofficial class system , is stagnant? Or the the poorest of the poor choose Buddhism & Islam? Could it have something to do with the hypocrisy of Christian practitioners? After all, Christ was the champion of the poor, while today, Christianity is choice of the rich nations.
The Americas are not included, but perhaps should be. I believe they would show Christianity may be losing ground here also, with a fifth color representing non-believers gaining ground. Actually, the same might be true of Europe.
February 14th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
██ Christianity
██
Islam
██
Hinduism
██
Buddhism
██
Judaism
February 14th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Oops! Colors didn’t come thru!!
Blue: Christianity
Green: Islam
Yellow: Hinduism
Red: Buddhism
Pink: Judaism
February 14th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Bob in fl
“Christ was the champion of the poor, while today, Christianity is choice of the rich nations.”
Agreed, and it’s unfortunate.
Though I also think that you will not see much movement in christianity in many of the majority muslim regions. Proselytizing in the name of Christ could be dangerous in many areas, where the converse is not really true.
February 14th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Well, in terms of property value no question the Christians have the edge.
If you could show intensities the green would be bright, much of the blue would be faded as would the Buddhist orange. Then overlay economic and intellectual advancement and you’d find the faded regions were largely coterminous with advancement.
February 14th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
Rob: That’s Judaism, in Israel.
The map is cool, except that it appears to only reflect the dominant religion in a region, or the religion of a given area’s rulers. That’s one reason both Christianity and Islam are shown spreading so fast. If you were to actually try to show the true religious mix of inhabitants, it would be a rather hopeless mess. Take Lebanon, for example, identified as a Muslim country even though 40% of the population is Christian.
M. Takhallus: Agreed.
March 15th, 2007 at 10:59 am
@bob: It’s is not true that Christianity is dominantly a rich man’s religion. Did you notice Africa? When was the last time you went there? Sub Saharan Africa (mostly Christian-religious) is a very poor area. and Europe today is mostly post-Christian. The large majority of those practising the “religious system” of Christianity would also not be considered “true Christians” by Bible believers. Since Christianity was never meant to be a “religion” but rather a lifestyle of relationship with the Creator God, in Christ Jesus. the religious system that has taken hold of modern Christianity is not what is reflected in the New Testament. China today is atheists, while 10% of it’s population is actually Christian, and it’s the fastest growing rated at 10000 converts per day. Since China’s true Christian movement has no religious system, it is also the most effective in transforming communities.
March 25th, 2007 at 7:05 am
blue-christianity
yellow-judaism
green-islamic
red-buddhist
April 20th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
hey, what’s up, i have no idea about this subject i just wanted to write something so i did. by the way, your a rich religion biotch
May 23rd, 2007 at 3:50 am
This is flawed. North-East India is no longer Hindu. It is christian.
And Islam is not a dominant religion in any part of India except Lakshadweep islands and Kashmir valley.