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Religion 101

It seems a simple enough question. How many religions are there, in the world? Let’s immediately narrow things down a bit further, just by additionally refining that question slightly: How many religions are there in the world, today? That last qualifier is important, since it rules out (while it also tellingly reminds us of) the…

Today (October 1, 2012), Jews worldwide are observing the first day of a joyous, seven-day-long holiday (a holy week, actually, rather than a literal “holy day”) known as Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles (or the Festival of Booths). For the first two days of this festival, no work is permitted. Since Judaism reckons a day as beginning…

In my last blog entry, I presented some statistics and some graphic “pie charts” to illustrate (for the benefit of those for whom religious demographics may be unfamiliar territory) the actual size of both the total world Jewish population, as well as the total U.S. Jewish population, in comparison with the total global and total…

In several of my most recent blog posts, I’ve been talking about Judaism — the High Holy Days in general, and Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in particular. But many people who are new (or relatively new) to the study of religions do not necessarily have a very clear sense at all of just how…

Tonight (September 25, 2012), Jews worldwide will begin observing Judaism’s most sacred holiday of the year: Yom Kippur, otherwise known as the Day of Atonement. Coming ten days after Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), on the tenth day of the month of Tishrei on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur serves as the climactic conclusion of the ten-day…

Today (September 22, 2012) is the autumnal equinox, a significant date on the religious calendars of Wiccans and other Neopagan groups. An equinox occurs when the Sun is precisely aligned with the plane of the Earth’s equator, such that our planet’s rotational axis is not tilted toward or away from the Sun; the incoming solar…

Today (September 19, 2012) is the first day of the multi-day festival of Paryushana (“Coming Together”), one of the two most important festivals in Jainism. Paryushana runs for either 8 or 10 days, depending upon the particular Jain sect, but in either case it’s a period of intensive fasting, meditation, prayer, seeking forgiveness, and spiritual…

For many people, and in many societies, the start of a new year is a festive, joyous occasion. But most of us regard New Year’s Day (January 1) as a purely secular holiday, with little or no real religious meaning. Other cultures, however, often follow entirely different calendars of their own. And in some other…

All religions have their holidays (literally “holy days”) — certain special days of the year which are set aside and elevated as being especially sacred or holy. Judaism itself celebrates about ten major and many more minor holidays throughout the year, and three of them are coming up during this month alone (September 2012). Not…

In my last post, I presented a visual pie chart graphically displaying the relative sizes of the major religions that are currently predominant within the United States. I also compared and contrasted that U.S. religious pie chart with a second pie chart, presented in preceding blog entries, which graphically displayed the relative proportions of the…
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