World Religion

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered around the personage of Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus
Christ. Christianity arose in the 30s–50s CE as a religious offshoot of Judaism based on the teachings of
Jesus, who was himself Jewish. Early Christianity rejected many of the social, cultural, and religious
institutions of Judaism and pursued radically different strains of spiritual thought. Within a century a
recognizable Church was founded. The texts of the faith and its most important creeds were codified in
the 300s CE. Despite persecution, Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire and all of
its inheritors, and in the time since the different Christian denominations have collectively become the
largest faith in the world by a wide margin.

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Islam

Islam is a strictly monotheistic faith founded by the prophet Muhammad in the year 607 in present-day
Saudi Arabia. His teachings, collected in the Quran, claim common descent with many Jewish and
Christian beliefs. Muhammad preached his faith in the city of Mecca despite opposition from local
polytheists, and quickly built a religious community of early Muslims. The community was forced to
relocate to Medina in 622, after which the group codified and began their expansion across the Arabian
peninsula. Nearly all of Arabia converted to Islam by 632, the year of Muhammad's death, and in the
years since it has grown to become the world's second largest religion, mostly concentrated in the
Middle East and Southeast Asia.

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Baha'i

Baha'i is the youngest major world religion, founded in 1863 by the prophet Bahá'u'lláh. Baha'i grew out
of the earlier religion of Babism, whose founder the Bab presaged the coming of another great prophet
like the coming of Muhammad. Baha'i originated in Iran, although its current center is in Haifa, Israel.
Baha'i is a monotheistic religion, but it teaches that religious truth is manifested and revealed by the
founders of all the major world religions, including Jesus Christ and the Buddha. Baha'is believe that the
different cultural interpretations of religion all have the same goal, and they strive for prosperity across
faiths. There are around eight million Baha'is today, who indirectly vote for the leaders of their religion
every few years.

Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is perhaps the world's oldest monotheistic religion, founded by the Persian prophet
Zoroaster. It is first recorded in the 500s BCE, but many historians believe it was founded as early as the
900s BCE. Zoroastrianism became the dominant religion of the vast Achaemenid Empire of Persia, and it
continued to play an important part in the region until the ascent of Islam in the 700s CE. Many credit
Zoroastrianism with affecting the development of other major religions. Zoroastrianism declined through
the medieval era, and today there are fewer than 200,000 Zoroastrians as of the last reputable survey.
However, there are some indications that many Kurds are converting to Zoroastrianism, which they see
as an ancestral religion, which may reverse the long declining population.

Shinto

Shinto is the traditional religion of Japan, which incorporates a vast array of local beliefs and customs
across the nation. These traditions were collected and described as something like Shinto in the 800s CE,
although the different beliefs predate this. Shinto is, for the most part, not an organized religion, and is
instead the foundation of many cultural practices in Japan. Likewise, it's difficult to produce a number of
people who follow Shinto; based off of membership in Shinto organizations, only 4% of Japan follows the
religion. However, up to 80% of Japanese people (even ones who proclaim no religious belief) still keep
shrines and make Shinto prayers. The intimately cultural quality of Shinto means that it is limited almost
entirely to Japan.

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Hinduism

Hinduism is by many accounts the oldest religion in the world, due to its origins in Vedic beliefs dating as
far back as the 1500s BCE. The religion has no founder, and is a synthesis of many different Indian
religious traditions. The religion waxed and waned in competition with Jainism and Buddhism
throughout Indian history, before seeing a huge resurgence after the medieval period. Thereafter it
became the dominant religion on the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is one of the most geographically
concentrated of the major world religions—of the world's 1.12 billion Hindus, 1.07 billion live in India
and Nepal. The sheer number of practitioners, however, makes Hinduism the world's third largest
religion.