Hi,
This thread is a sort of Buddhist-specific adjunct to my “Where Are We Going” thread in the Belief and Spirituality forum.
My reading around religious “adherents” and growth in numbers was prompted by my thinking about the status of Buddhism around the world. The bare “facts” seem to be that Buddhism has about 350 million adherents, 4th behind Hinduism, Islam and Christianity (not that it’s a competition for numbers but just to give it some perspective). For 1990 -2000 there was a growth of 1.09%, compared with 2.13% for Islam, 1.69% for Hinduism, 1.36% for Christianity, and a world population growth of 1.41%. If we call atheism a religion for these purposes, it would be number 3 in the chart and growing the fastest (in the USA at least).
I’ve noted that Zen Buddhism is considered a “fast growing religion” and that Buddhism “pure and simple” is possibly the fastest growing religion in Australia (that was news to me) but also the top ten countries for populations of Buddhism are those where it is long established as a tradition, as part of the culture, from their historical past. For example, Japan has an officially high percentage of people (50%) who are “officially” Buddhist but this is more to do with tradition rather than the person’s actual belief which apparently is more likely to be atheist.
Some religions have a tradition of evangelising, that Buddhism does not engage in (or for me, should not; I’m ignoring SGI), which as mature adults we would not welcome perhaps, but for the religion itself may be a means of ensuring its growth or survival. The truth of the dharma we may think is evident upon our own enquiry but can this sustain it into the future, where evangelising and coercion seem to loom large?
I welcome your thoughts.
s.
This thread is a sort of Buddhist-specific adjunct to my “Where Are We Going” thread in the Belief and Spirituality forum.
My reading around religious “adherents” and growth in numbers was prompted by my thinking about the status of Buddhism around the world. The bare “facts” seem to be that Buddhism has about 350 million adherents, 4th behind Hinduism, Islam and Christianity (not that it’s a competition for numbers but just to give it some perspective). For 1990 -2000 there was a growth of 1.09%, compared with 2.13% for Islam, 1.69% for Hinduism, 1.36% for Christianity, and a world population growth of 1.41%. If we call atheism a religion for these purposes, it would be number 3 in the chart and growing the fastest (in the USA at least).
I’ve noted that Zen Buddhism is considered a “fast growing religion” and that Buddhism “pure and simple” is possibly the fastest growing religion in Australia (that was news to me) but also the top ten countries for populations of Buddhism are those where it is long established as a tradition, as part of the culture, from their historical past. For example, Japan has an officially high percentage of people (50%) who are “officially” Buddhist but this is more to do with tradition rather than the person’s actual belief which apparently is more likely to be atheist.
Some religions have a tradition of evangelising, that Buddhism does not engage in (or for me, should not; I’m ignoring SGI), which as mature adults we would not welcome perhaps, but for the religion itself may be a means of ensuring its growth or survival. The truth of the dharma we may think is evident upon our own enquiry but can this sustain it into the future, where evangelising and coercion seem to loom large?
I welcome your thoughts.
s.
