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.
20.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
38.
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.
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.
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.
53.
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).
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.