Opiate of the masses

Martin Scorsese once said that the cinema fulfills an “ancient quest for the common unconsciousness” and that it fills “a spiritual need that people have to share a common memory”. Kind of like Myspace. And religion.

The Japanese have a saying. “Born a Shinto, married a Christian and die as a Buddist”. The Christian part allows them to have a white wedding with all the trimmings. This adherence to no single deity is a wonderful and open minded aspect of Japanese society.

With all the recent Danish cartoon unrest, I began to wonder about the distribution of religion throughout our society. I wanted to understand the magnitude of the situation.

And so I searched:

Major Religions of the World – Ranked by the number of adherents

1. Christianity: 2.1 billion
2. Islam: 1.3 billion
3. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
4. Hinduism: 900 million
5. Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
6. Buddhism: 376 million
7. primal-indigenous: 300 million
8. African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
9. Sikhism: 23 million
10. Juche: 19 million
11. Spiritism: 15 million
12. Judaism: 14 million
13. Baha'i: 7 million
14. Jainism: 4.2 million
15. Shinto: 4 million
16. Cao Dai: 4 million
17. Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
18. Tenrikyo: 2 million
19. Neo-Paganism: 1 million
20. Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
21. Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
22. Scientology: 500 thousand

And there are a couple of interesting religions in this list that require further explanation:

Shinto-ism:

Shinto is an ancient Japanese religion. Starting about 500 BCE (or earlier) it was originally "an amorphous mix of nature worship, fertility cults, divination techniques, hero worship, and shamanism." Its name was derived from the Chinese words "shin tao" ("The Way of the Gods").

Shinto creation stories tell of the history and lives of the "Kami" (deities). Among them was a divine couple, who gave birth to the Japanese islands. Their children became the deities of the various Japanese clans. The Sun Goddess was one of their daughters. Her descendants unified the country. Her brother, Susano came down from heaven and roamed throughout the earth. He is famous for killing a great evil serpent.

Jainism definitely needs more global practitioners:

Jainism stresses the spiritual independence and equality of all life with a particular emphasis on non-violence.

Juche: Another idiosyncratic point I found in this list is that the “religion” of Juche (also known as Kimilsungism for its founder, Kim il Sung), and practiced primarily in North Korea, has these important and obviously disregarded tenants:

The people must have independence (Chajusong) in thought and politics, economic self-sufficiency, and self-reliance in defence.

Policy must reflect the will and aspirations of the masses and employ them fully in revolution and construction.

Zoroastrianism.

Zorastrianism is a religion founded in ancient times and was the dominant world religion at the time of Jesus. It had a major influence on other religions. It is still practiced world-wide, especially in Iran and India.

But the most fun point on this list is:

The Rasta-man has more followers than the Scientology!