Joanne O' Brien and Martin Palmer are members of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture (ICOREC), a UK-based group that specializes in working with religions worldwide. They have put together an innovative, succinct, and edifying atlas on the role of religion today. The Atlas locates the origin, the heartland, and the sacred places of each of the major religions and provides essential background with an informative table showing the fundamental beliefs of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, and Taoism.
Adding to the value of this basic information are other sections on structures, conflicts and tensions, contemporary challenges, and social context. Here are some of the fascinating insights delivered:
• More people have been killed for their religion in this century than in any other.
• Allegiance to a single religion is professed by at least two-thirds of the population in more than 80 % of the world's states.
• Christianity is the world's largest religion, with more than 2.1 billion adherents worldwide, and more than 33,000 denominations.
• There are 1.34 billion Muslims worldwide, 20% of the world's population. Islam is the state religion of 25 countries.
• There are more than 250 million adherents of traditional beliefs worldwide, excluding the indigenous religions of China and Japan.
• In 2005 there were 420 million personal computers in Christian use, and an active Christian internet network of 360 million people.
• Nearly two billion people listen to radio or television broadcasts on a Christian theme at least once a month.
• Within some religious organizations women have equal status with men when it comes to administering religious rites. Other religions are firmly opposed to women fulfilling this role.
• The major religions of the world own about seven percent of the habitable surface of the world and are among the largest and most powerful investors.
• The rise of the religious ethical investment is of considerable economic importance: the combined investments of the major religions are estimated at $7 trillion.
