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From: lat@stcvax.UUCP (Larry Tepper)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Proof by vote?
Message-ID: <334@stcvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Dec-84 15:50:20 EST
Article-I.D.: stcvax.334
Posted: Wed Dec  5 15:50:20 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Dec-84 05:40:38 EST
References: <674@ames.UUCP>
Organization: Storage Technology Corp.  Louisville, CO
Lines: 50

> From: barry@ames.UUCP (Kenn Barry)
> []
>>  	From Yirmiyahu Ben-David:
> 
> > If the numbers correspond to what is right in your mind then you had better
> > convert to the Moslem faith since they FAR outnumber Christians.

> 	Last I heard, Moslems were ~1/5 of the world's population, Christians
> ~1/3. Has this changed?

The following table is excerpted (and sorted) from the 1983 edition
of The World Almanac and Book of Facts.  The almanac's source was the
1982 Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year.

	   Religion			Population

	Total Christian			997,783,000
	Muslim				592,158,000
	Roman Catholic			580,062,000
	Hindu				481,241,000
	Protestant			343,547,000
	Buddhist			256,387,000
	Confucian			154,080,000
	Eastern Orthodox		 74,174,000
	Shinto				 58,154,000
	Taoist				 30,286,000
	Jewish				 14,685,000
	Zoroastrian			    276,000

	Total			       2,585,050,000
	World Population	       4,495,000,000

Some notes from the Almanac:

	Total Christian = Roman Catholic + Protestant + Eastern Orthodox.

	The Protestant figure (outside of Europe) included "full members"
	(adults) rather than all baptized persons and are not comparable
	to those of ethnic religions or churches counting all adherents.

	According to the Islamic Center, Washington, D. C., there are
	1 billion Muslims worldwide.

Based on that last value there (i. e. world population) the most
popular category would be "don't know or don't care" or perhaps
they're uncounted druids.
-- 
One of the survivors...
{ihnp4 hao philabs sdcrdcf ucbvax!nbires}!stcvax!lat	Larry Tepper
Storage Technology, MD-3T, Louisville, CO 80028		303-673-5435