Siddhartha Gautama is another name for “the Buddha.” Siddhartha the man lived in the sixth century B.C.E. and practiced the “middle path” which led to the development and spread of Buddhism.

“Ahimsa” is an important concept in both Hinduism and Buddhism and affects a great deal of everyday life in South and East Asia where these two religions are dominant. “Ahimsa” involves practicing nonviolence towards all living beings, both humans and animals. It is a major reason why so many Hindus and Buddhists are vegetarians.

Evangelical religions are primarily defined by the use of missionaries and religious education to spread the faith and convert nonbelievers. The world’s two biggest evangelical religions are also the world’s two most widely followed religions - Islam and Christianity. It is worth noting that in popular parlance the term “evangelical” or “evangelism” are used almost exclusively to describe Protestant Christianity, but this is merely a colloquial expression. In cultural-religious geographic terms it refers to the conversion of nonbelievers through proselytizing and education.

Atheism is the belief that no higher power exists; agnosticism is the belief that there could be a higher power. An atheist will tell you with certainty that God does not exist, whereas agnostics will tell you that they do not actively believe in God, but that they are unsure of whether a higher power exists or not.

There are approximately two billion people in the world who identify as Christian (most estimates or data puts the number at slightly over two billion). Christianity is the dominant religion in North America, South America, Europe, parts of Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Oceania.

Islam is the dominant religion of North Africa, as it is for the Middle East and a portion of Central Asia. Interestingly the Sahara Desert acts as a sort of boundary between Islam-dominated North Africa and Christianity-dominated Sub-Saharan Africa. This is caused by the different historical, particularly colonial, experiences of these two parts of Africa.

Eastern Orthodoxy is adhered to by the majority of the population of Russia. All of the rest of these countries have large Catholic majorities with small Protestant minorities. Eastern Orthodoxy in Russia has an interesting history, particular in the last century. During the communist era of the Soviet Union religion was officially discouraged by the state (as it generally is in all communist states), but in the years since the fall of the Soviet Union Eastern Orthodoxy has witnessed a remarkable recovery. Slightly less than fifty percent of all Russians self identify as Eastern Orthodox.

Islam is a monotheistic religion that emerged in modern-day Saudi Arabia in the seventh century C.E. It is part of the Judeo-monotheistic tradition and can trace part of its roots through Judaism and then Christianity. As it did not emerge until seven hundred years after the birth of Christ the religion obviously does not predate Christianity.

Judaism is the world’s oldest monotheistic religion. To be clear a monotheistic religion is a religion based on the belief that there is only one God. Judaism as a religion is over three thousand years old. It is the progenitor of the two most widely followed religions in the world - Christianity and Islam. Although the raw number of Jewish people in the world has always been relatively small they have had an immense impact on culture and western society for thousands of years.

The Baha’i faith is a fast growing and widespread religion - it claims somewhere between five and ten million members and is present in almost two hundred countries. It was founded in modern-day Iran (then called Persia) in the nineteenth century. According to the Baha’i faith there is one God that all religions worship with equal validity and all human beings are equally valued and deserve equal respect. Due to its universal appeal the Baha’i faith has been widely adopted in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.