Christianity originated in the Middle East and was contained there initially, but has since spread globally and is now most populous in Central/North America and parts of Asia. Buddhism originated in India and is now predominantly located in Asia, especially East Asia, though growing in the West. Hinduism began in India and remains most prominent there and neighboring countries. Islam emerged in the Arabian Peninsula and spread rapidly throughout Africa, Asia, and parts of Europe. Judaism originated among Bronze Age peoples in the Middle East and today has global communities due to migration.

1. the global distribution of the
five major religious traditions

2. Students will:
investigate statistical data of the
current global distribution of the five
major religious traditions

3. Investigate

4. Investigate
Plan, inquire into
and draw
conclusions about

5. Instructions

6. Instructions
Summarising Activity
•Where from originally
•Where located now
•Numbers world wide
•Other??

9. Global distribution
of Buddhism today

11. The global Buddhist
population is located
predominantly in Asia,
although today Buddhism
is steadily growing in the
Western countries.

13. Current distribution of
Buddhism

15. Today, Mahayana
Buddhism is located
mainly in Japan, Korea,
Mongolia, and Tibet,
Vietnam and in some
parts of India and Russia.

16. The major centres of
Theravada Buddhism are
Burma, Cambodia, Laos,
Sri Lanka and Thailand.

17. The origins of
Christianity

19. Christianity, founded by
Jesus of Nazareth, began
in what is known today as
the Middle Eastern region.
During the life of Jesus,
Christianity was entirely
contained in this region.

21. Initially, the followers of Jesus
regarded themselves as
belonging to a sect within
Palestinian Judaism and the
religion remained concentrated
in the Roman province of
Palestine and the immediate
surrounding areas.

23. Current distribution of
Christianity

25. Today, the Central and
North America is home to
the largest Christian
populations in the world.
China and South-east Asia
is the second most
populous region in the
world for Christianity.

26. There is clear trend in the
recent development of
Christianity which points
to its steady decline in
the Western world and its
rapid growth in Asia,
Africa and Latin America.

27. Origins of Hinduism

29. Hinduism was the first of
the major Eastern religious
traditions to emerge.
Hinduism began in the
Punjab region of north-
west India, approximately
4000 years ago.

31. Current distribution of
Hinduism

33. The vast majority of the
Hindu's of the world are found
in India and while not
significant in numbers, the
population of Fiji is
approximately 50% Hindu in
line with its Indian population.

34. Neighbouring countries in
the Indian sub-continent,
Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri
Lanka have large Hindu
populations, as does
Indonesia.

35. The origins of Islam

37. Within a century of the death
of the Prophet Muhammad ,
the founder of Islam in 632CE,
it had spread to Palestine,
Persia, Egypt, Syria, North
Africa and even as far as
Spain, which Islam dominated
until the Middle Ages.

39. Prior to the death of the
Prophet Muhammad who
founded the religion in
622 in Madinah, Islam
was gathering strength
in the Arabian Peninsula.

40. In the following centuries,
Islam continued to grow in
the Middle East, then into
China, and finally through
China Islam was also
brought to the people of
South East Asia.

41. Current distribution
Islam

43. Islam is the second
largest religion in the
world today and is the
fastest growing of the
five major world
religions.

44. While remaining strong
is its traditional areas
such as Asia, Africa and
the Middle East, Islam is
also growing steadily in
Western countries.

45. In Western countries, Islam
seems to appeal particularly
to poor and marginalised
groups such as African
Americans and migrant
communities in Europe and
the United Kingdom.

46. Origins of Judaism

48. Judaism originated in the
beliefs of the Bronze Age
people, who roamed the
deserts of the Middle
East.

50. Current distribution of
Judaism

52. Significant Jewish
communities exist today in
many parts of the world as a
result of Jewish migration to
many of the countries which
comprised the allied forces in
the Second World War.

54. It is often difficult to be sure of
the exact number of Jews living
in any given area as Jewish
people are often sensitive about
disclosing their religious identity
to public authorities for fear that
they may be persecuted (present
time or in the future).

55. Questions/Tasks

56. Discuss the relationship
between materialism,
secularism and the
trends in the global
distribution of the five
major religious
traditions.

57. Use current figures and
trends to project the
likely situation in the
global distribution of the
five major religious
traditions over the next
25 years.

58. ๏ end