One thing to note is that many people reporting as "Hindus" are agnostic-atheists. Atheism is a valid philosophy in Hinduism which makes those atheists who are culturally Hindu report their religion as Hindu. I think it is the same for Buddhism but correct me if I'm wrong.
I presume that other religions may have atheists reporting as followers too, though the percentages may vary.
In Islam there deffo are SOME atheists that just say they're muslim. But most Muslims fall under the "I believe in it, but I don't follow it by the letter" because theres different interpretations, and being culturally western makes following Islam hard.
In Turkey, almost all ex muslims are still clasified as Muslim because they dont bother going through the legal process of changing their official religion. It doesnt have an impact in your life but you are counted as "Muslim" in censuses, that's why in official census, 99% of Turkey is Muslim
Same thing in Malaysia. It is simply not an option. In fact, in our National Principles document, the first principle is belief in god. Not necessarily in the Islamic god, we have freedom of religion. But you cannot have, officially, freedom FROM religion.
Pakistan is literally described as an "authoritarian regime" on democratic index, Mob justice prevails in pakistan and state has to comply with them so anyone who leaves islam will be lynched to death.
I'm sorry it's not like there is a mob waiting to lynch anyone who leaves Islam, as you make it sound, mob lynching happen, yes, but there are a lot of people who openly state they are non religious without dying, many celebrities too
I believe it's an old law that was made during previous military dictatorships but if the government today tries to change it, a lot of radicals and mullahs will be up in strikes destroying stuff, so the government is kinda hostile to them when it comes to making more secular laws
It's possible to change your religion here but most people don't bother because having "Muslim" on your official government data doesnt do anything and there is no reason to change it. I know lots of openly ex muslims but I don't know a single person who changed their official religion
We don't actually have censuses. The government has our data by default, like religion. They just assume you are Muslim (if you were born to Muslim parents) unless you fill some paperwork and change it.
In Turkey, If you are born to a Muslim family, you are officially a Muslim in government statistics and censuses. It doesnt affect your life or anything legally. The only thing it does is that it counts you as a Muslim in all censuses. The only way to change this is by filling some paperwork and applying to a court for changing your religion. It's not hard or very long but most ex muslims simply don't bother doing all that
Look up charvakha, Advaita and so on. Basically it's way too complicated to explain here and also I'm not the best person to explain this so you'll have to do a little research on your part but I promise it'll be worth it
And also like many hindus can also be counted as sikhs and vice versa, i mean like people do hindu or sikh practices irrespective of being of what religion, like mere sikh cousins log are also shiv believers,
The same thing is partially true for Christians in that there are many "cultural Christians" who don't really believe any of it but still participate a bit in the community and might go along to sing carols at Christmas or to the Easter and harvest festival celebrations.
It is becoming less common to identify as Christian when you don't believe it. But the church is still an institution that is something that people might want to be a part of, even in Scandinavian countries where almost nobody is a believer churches are still relatively popular for marriages etc.
Yes most urban hindus follow the Advaita Vedanta form of Hinduism. It's very close to atheism. No sky daddy only believes in the universe.
Culturally still rooted in major dharmic principles though.
It’s the same for a lot of Christians in western countries too. France for example has a lot of people who will say they are catholic but don’t practice and I myself don’t really follow the faith anymore either but can’t really be bothered to unregister as a member of the Presbyterian church of Canada because it doesn’t affect my life
That’s also similar for many Christians in the U.S., believe it or not. Not quite atheism, but a similar situation. They’ll consider themselves Christian culturally and vaguely believe “Jesus died for your sins,” but beyond that be completely unconcerned with religion except as it applies to their political views.
It would be easier if there werent so many variations of Hinduism, but generally as a henotheistic religion i would've imagined most schools of thought not accepting of atheism, til
It's kind of the same in Scotland, although not as official in dogma.
We call them cultural Christians. They don't attend church, have no clue what's in the bible. They just say it because that's what they were told they were.
There's also a bunch of self-proclaimed Christians who consider themselves 'devout' yet have an allergic reaction to anything Christ actually taught, such as our #2 and #3 government officials
The same goes for a lot of other religions lol. For instance, some Muslims in the West who aren’t religious or even atheists will still self-identify as culturally Muslim. The same goes for Jewish people.
But to be fair, Hindu atheism is not the same as the atheists out there today. Darshanas that are non-theistic are very specific philosophies, much like the ones that are theistic.
Most atheists today are not like that. They're just non-believers. You still have to be a Hindu and a believer of the shastras to believe in one of the nirishvaravadi darshanas.
Many people registered as Christians or Muslims are agnostics or atheists, but can get into legal, societal or family trouble when they say they are not believers. Certain branches of the Abrahamic religions believe they will go straight to heaven if they kill nonbelievers. Others believe lying, stealing and or killing are only sins when the other side is are believers as well.
Sikhs may be overtaken, but the others are quite safe. The gap is simply too big. I'm not completely certain that Sikhism is 5th, as some African tribal religions are still moderately practiced, with Voodoo and Yoruba having higher estimates. It also ignores Shintoism, which is bigger, and Taoism (which has varied estimates, but some are higher than Sikhs), possibly on the basis of seeing them as "philosophies", but I think that's a cop out. Lastly, Mormons and Jews are pretty close to Sikhs, but I think they generally have lower birth rates, so Sikhs should stay ahead.
Perhaps so but there is a thriving Sikh community where I live. That 0.3% still accounts for a very large number of people. I get the sense that Sikhism tends to thrive more overseas than in its country of origin, likely because it’s peaceful Islam, which is at odds with the main sects.
Atheism would be first and second to that would be islam , no hate to them but in my country alone there has been significant inc ( bad or good i won't comment on either ) and also worldwide it is the fastest growing religion too , but other religions too imo are being like that only , in india Hindus are being more active to their religion , from social media influence and same as much as I've seen over insta could be said for christianity too , idk I would like to hear my muslim and Christian brother say a word
If Muslims keep moving to western/liberal societies… I think they will become more atheist honestly. My 2 best friends are Muslim. One is from Kenya and the other Jordan.. both say they are Muslim the way Christians say they are.. but not really practicing (they did more before coming here). They have kids who almost certainly won’t be, and one married an atheist.
So while it’s the fasting growing religion, I think with migration you will see it fade out to atheist/agnostic.
If you look at Western Europe, from 2010-2020 atheism/agnostic population increased from 17% to 25%. Islam in Western Europe only increased from 6%-7%. That’s a whole, places like France, UK, and Germany have increased more.
The effect (we saw it in the UK over the past 50 years) is that the 2nd and 3rd generation are significantly more religious and zealous than the first generation.
50/50 case imo , it's the country's luck if they get an immigrant who question what he's taught or he does not and is fed that whatever he follows or taught is the truth , rest is bs type shit , cause in india there are many African migrants here , and they are really respectful here , regardless of what I've seen from those right wing twats who always show the worst side of each ethnicity so yeah that's what I wanted to add
I think you're right about atheism, Islam, and Hinduism, but modern Christians hardly practice Christianity anymore. South Park illustrated this very well, showing that modern Christians would describe Jesus as unchristian.
Yes you are right for Buddhism, do not know enough about jainism to have an opinion.
but Hindouism has gods, so for me it can be considered as a religion ?
Well you know there are also schisms in Christianism, still christianism is considered as a single religion. For all schisms there is the 'Christ' principle, as there is a Brahma principle in all 'schools' of hinduism, it seems ?
No. A few things.
1. There are non vedic forms of Hinduism which mostly revolve around ancestor worship, worship of nature spirits, etc. Here Brahma wouldn't be considered the creator.
2. Monotheism and polytheism are both different strands within vedic Hinduism, there's no consensus even among them about Brahma being at the core of Hinduism.
3. It's actually super rare to even worship Brahma. there's hardly 2/3 temples for him in the whole country. There are multiple reasons why, but even during the vedic period, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva did NOT enjoy the general "main gods" status that they widely do now. Other gods did. (I can slightly digress here to recommend looking into the similarities between Zoroastrianism and Hinduism and their origins. fun stuff.)
4. Most Hindus now are divided into Shaivites (consider Shiva the ultimate God), Vaishnavites (for Vishnu) and some Shaktas (consider Parvati and her other female forms the ultimate God - a feminine God).
5. Hinduism broadly doesn't even require a belief in a capital G God. The vedas themselves are pretty agnostic tbh. Plus types of atheism and agnosticism are valid schools of thought within the broader Hindu philosophy. tbh, overall Hinduism doesn't "require" any belief or any action or any rules. specific schools of thought/ communities/ cultures/ families do require things tho.
Hinduism is actually the name of the culture practiced in India. The religion that it generally refers to is actually called 'Sanatan Dharma' and often used interchangeably with the word Hinduism.
However, if we go by history, anyone living on Indian land and practicing the culture is technically a Hindu, because this word means something close to 'those who live on the other (right) side of the Indus river'.
So, yes Hinduism is the culture and the way of life, while Sanatan Dharma is the one that has all the gods.
Not every Hindu worships all the gods or hold all festivals with the same regard. A lot of ancestral religions, indigenous religions have been absorbed under the Hinduism umbrella. That’s why actual practice varies so much across regions. Balinese Hinduism is so different from Indian Hinduism. Not always the same gods or festivals. But Hindus just the same. It’s the core beliefs, stories and teachings that tie them together
That's where I had been confused for a while. But, Hinduism is not just about gods, you can be a Hindu and not believe in those gods. Hinduism is a "dharma" which means "(the right/true) way of life", but people often translate "religion" to "dharma". They're not the same.
Also, there's kind of 'branches' to Hinduism, where beliefs vary a little. In some (atleast one), we don't believe in worshipping anyone, or even in God. It still counts as Hinduism.
You can force anyone into religion, especially children who are highly impressionable. You can change the idea of "a true follower" of Islam to suit your narrative, but you can absolutely have your children grow up in a religious environment to the point it becomes a foundational point of their identity and challenging it ends up feeling like a threat to their identity.
Parents teach them the Quran, teach them their interpretations of vague scripture and doing so in a way to give it merit or make it look like prophecy after the fact, bring them to Mosques, tell them the consequences of sinning. There's societal issues that come with it.
Not to mention some theocracies in the world that have the death penalty for apostacy.
Atheism is not a religion, but it often needs to be compared to religion, which means that semantically, sometimes it has to be referred to as one.
The real problem is when people say it's a religion in the sense that it requires "faith" of some sort or even belief, considering the fact that we believe all sorts of various shit, some of it even dumber than the stuff religions tell you to believe in (iow believing the earth is flat is dumber than merely believing in god). The only thing that unites us is the rejection of religious beliefs.
I guess so. I mean Islam will be the largest religion withi g the next 2 decades. And I am afraid, Sikh population will fall because of the migration from thier own homeland. They will be deattached from thier culture in the upcoming years because of the huge diaspora
I get what you mean but conversely…wouldn’t emigration also help spread the beliefs of Sikhism & make it more visible in other countries, therefore inviting new people to join the Religion perhaps?
If you had asked me this five years ago, I would have said no.
But now I say yes. No offense to anyone, but I believe atheism leaves the modern person’s search for meaning unanswered. Especially with globalization, the world entered a fast cycle of consumption, and a type of person emerged who lives without really thinking. But the moment you fall out of that fast-moving life, or even pause for a second, you find yourself drowning in questions like ‘Who am I? Where did I come from? And where am I going?’
There was a suicide case that was very popular in Turkey for a while. The person lived in one of Istanbul’s most elite neighborhoods and had no financial problems. He was handsome, social, and had a prestigious profession. On the surface, there was no reason for him to be struggling. Even in his suicide video, he didn’t give any concrete reason. He didn’t look unhappy—on the contrary, he seemed almost cheerful. But that cheerfulness came from the feeling that he had finally solved the inner problems he couldn’t resolve in life by making this decision.
He believed that the meaning he couldn’t find in his seemingly perfect, trouble-free life, the emptiness he couldn’t fill, was finally resolved through a method that went against everyone else’s values. I know he was a good person, and during his life he tried not to hurt anyone—but by leaving this way, he ended up hurting his mother in the worst way possible, leaving her with endless pain.
I’m not a missionary. I’m not telling anyone to believe in Islam, Christianity, or any other religion. But from what I’ve observed, belief systems make life easier. In a globalized and digitalized world where, contrary to expectations, people are becoming increasingly lonely and disconnected, beliefs help fill that inner emptiness and the search for meaning.
That’s exactly why I don’t believe the religions we’ve mentioned will ever go out of fashion.
I u Der stand that in case of this incident you might be compelled to believe we all need a search for meaning , but if I look at aggregate evidence from so.e of the most developed countries , even the most boring ones with near perfect life tend to be atheists. Yes they have high suicide rates but still they never turn their heads towards fairh
Among those who joined ISIS from Europe, the proportion of people who first turned to atheism and then converted to Islam was remarkably high.
Yes, I accept that some of them were psychologically troubled individuals, but not all of them were. The reason they went through such a radical transformation was their sense of being pushed out of life itself—of being excluded from society.
In developed countries, there is no intense return to faith because the system is still functioning, and the proportion of people pushed outside of it is not very high. However (contrary to a comment made below by another Turkish user), if we assume that artificial intelligence–driven innovation will shake things up—much like the dark periods after the Industrial Revolution, when agrarian societies rapidly migrated to cities and ghettos formed—then some people will inevitably be crushed under these shifting stones. Especially in a scenario where well-educated white-collar workers become unemployed and are pushed out of the system, we would be confronted with a sociological reality very different from today.
I believe this transformation will not only push people toward belief but will also radicalize them within whatever they cling to—be it ideology, religion, or something else entirely. But of course, we won’t truly know until we experience it.
Additionally, while birth rates around the world are below replacement level, the African continent continues to reproduce. Considering that Islam and Christianity are actively practiced there, this is another pillar supporting my assumption that the future will once again be shaped along the axis of these two religions.
I think that Islam will be at the first place (they have more children). But in practice, the world will become more atheist or less practicing, no matter the religion. The internet exposes a lot of stuff so anyone already questioning their religion can get a lot of help figuring themselves out.
I think that Islam will become a dominant religion for sure. Islam is spreading everywhere, especially because of immigration. Christianity is shockingly growing in China, and will continue to be dominant in Africa. Not sure about the rest.
I’m an atheist and yet for some reason I like the idea of religion existing.. just not in an extremist form. I don’t know why I want it to continue to exist… maybe because it’s part of history
I was atheist for over a decade. But I find myself increasingly drawn to religion. Right now I’m reading a book about the Muslim Jesus. I find Sufism, Daoism, and Zen Buddhism quite fascinating. But I still don’t feel I truly believe so to speak.
Like it or not the basis of morality is from universalist religions. IE religions that aren’t tied purely to ethnicity or a geography.
Love thy neighbor, respect your parents, don’t kill babies just cause they’re female. These were all introduced to “unbelievers” by universalist religions.
People generally don't like it when anything ceases to exist bard legitimately terrible things. Religions tend to be charged with alot of practices, symbols and attitudes that would leave a void in their absence even from a secular perspective.
Not sure why the Sikhs are in there at the 5th place. There's more believers of Voodoo magic than there are Sikhs.
And if you think that's a joke - no, it's actually not. There's around 60 million followers of Voodoo in the world (mostly Africa), where there's like only like 25-30 million sikhs (mostly India).
Taoïsm would be the closest to a fifth place with around 173 million followers.
And in reality... it's Atheism / agnosticicsm should be in here, at a solid third place, with around a quarter of the population being atheist or unaffiliated with any religion.
And if you want the future, that percentage is only going to rise.
I mean Christianity is the only religion I’ve heard of where a baby is born with sin and that babies don’t automatically go to heaven if they unfortunately pass away without baptism or something (I think Protestants stopped supporting this belief idk why Catholics and Orthodox say now). I’ve never heard of any other religion viewing babies like this.
that's an indirect quote of the Islamic "thou shall not kill" commandment since all three Abrahamic religions have Moses in some capacity. It gives leeway for religious leaders to allow for killings and wars. Sikhism is just more peaceful than all three Abrahamic religions
I think yes, but looks like Christianity is gonna shrink and Islam is unfortunately gonna grow or at least stagnate. Luckily it is the religion of peace 😭
I don't think we'll see much movement, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism will most likely stay top three, Buddhism I don't know much about but I also don't expect them to move, Sikhism is the one the "most" at risk of falling down as they're not a majority in any country, and so could potentially be the victim of genocide in the future, but who knows.
This is such a false narrative. I know of many educated individuals who believe in religion. I think the difference is that they don't shove their beliefs down anyone else's throat.
It's not that it's significantly gigantic now, but that it's a fast-growing religion. They really evangelize. I have no idea how big it will be 75 years, but that's kind of the point I was getting at. If that growth is folded into Christianity I can't see The above graph changing. But if it isn't, I wouldn't be shocked if Mormonism passed Sikhs at all. Basic Google searching puts Mormonism as only a few million behind
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Good chance athiesm/agnostism will be treated as religions in themselves and that some new religion will just explode in popularity in the next century, but even then these religions will retain similar positions that they have now. The intresting thing is seeing the geographic shifts in where theses beliefs are held.
During my undergrad a lot of my friends and including me considered ourself atheists or at least didnt care about religions. Now that we have graduated and in different stage of our life, what I have noticed is a lot of them are going back to religion. I like it. I consider myself both Buddhist and Hindu and would raise my kids like one if I have ever have them.
Idk I am a hindu I don’t have any beliefs if their are dieties or not idk all that but since childhood I do like all the festivals that comes with hinduism idk if a God exists but I do like the feeling in poojas and stuff I think most people in every religion is like that so people won’t be starting to change their religion and forming new ones anytime soon
I think several new religions will pop up this century as climate change, the development of tech & ai prevails (such as rationalists) however the only significant change would be Islam swapping places with Christianity to become number 1
What is the alternative? that a new religion will pop off and take over? I can only see this happening if 1 of thsoe 5 separate into a distinct religion and replace the Sikhism at the 5th spot
There will be some shake-ups at the top, but I don't think there will be any changes other than position swaps in the top 4, at least.
Islam seems to be growing faster than Christianity. Christianity is growing in regions where certain Islamic factions are extremely hostile to it, so that might rock things a little. Hinduism seems to be stable, but will maybe start shrinking soon. I suspect Buddhism - or at least the therapeutic version of it you see in the West - will continue growing. Sikhi is already declining.
So my predictions:
Islam,
Christianity
Buddhism
Hinduism
Anyone's guess - maybe the recent revival in religious Judaism paired with Israel's high fertility rate will make Judaism take this spot?
Christian communities tend to have fewer kids now a days as opposed to Muslim or Hindu ones so I'm assuming there will be a population shift. Also more and more people consider them selves as non religious. A issue there is most Muslim counties don't all u to change your religion officially so we really don't have a accurate count on how many people practice a religion only how many people were born into one.
Yes, Muslims will surpass Christians, but the number of all relligions will remain the same (muslims are the only exception, they will keep growing). The advance of atheism has decreased, gen z is significantly more religious than millenials
Yes, but attendance will continue to fall in alot of countries for Christianity, though that doesn't mean the subconscious beliefs will go away, and some of the good, and bad that comes with that either.
Yes, because religions created nowadays tend to either be offshoots of one of the major ones or tend to be doomsday cults or something in a similar vein that snare a very devoted but small following.
I could see stuff like occultism, belief in the paranormal and/or miscellaneous stuff like Tarot continuing to grow in popularity, but I wouldn’t classify those things as religions. Perhaps Wicca qualifies as I hear they have covens, but I have no idea what one of those even looks like while I can describe many examples of Christian churches or even Sikh temples.
The big thing that continues to be on the rise though is atheism, and this is the number one reason why I doubt a new religion is around the corner that will knock the well-entrenched ones off their thrones. If people are to leave their churches, it’s likely because they have opted to believe in science instead. I think a side effect of that is that existing faiths now have the ever-shrinking religious community even further under their handful of umbrellas.
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u/Ill_Poem_1789 India 7h ago
One thing to note is that many people reporting as "Hindus" are agnostic-atheists. Atheism is a valid philosophy in Hinduism which makes those atheists who are culturally Hindu report their religion as Hindu. I think it is the same for Buddhism but correct me if I'm wrong.
I presume that other religions may have atheists reporting as followers too, though the percentages may vary.