Religious Facts

These religion facts will expose you to the different truths people believe in. Get to know their deities, values, and unique perspectives on life and death through these facts.

Methodism has 80 million followers worldwide today

Methodism is an 18th century Christian Protestant denomination founded by John Wesley. Missionaries spread it from Britain across the empire and to the United States. The name comes from the methodical way its founder and his followers carried out their faith.

Methodists first came from all social classes. Then it reoriented itself to taking in individuals outside of organized religion. In the United States at the time, this led to plenty of African slaves joining Methodist churches. This later led to many Black-founded churches following the Methodist denomination.

Islam has two main denominations

The two denominations of Islam are Sunni Islam and Shia Islam. Sunni Islam follows the tradition that Muhammad did not name a successor. Instead, the Muslim community elected Abu Bakr as the first caliph. In contrast, Shia Islam follows the tradition that Muhammad designated a successor. This was his cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib. The disagreements between the two denominations have lasted to the present day.

Hinduism is not a single religion

One of the less-known religion facts is that Hinduism is not actually a single religion. It is a collection of beliefs and philosophies sharing a common set of gods and concepts. The most significant of these common gods include Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. Shared concepts include karma, reincarnation, and the Vedas’ guidance.

Ashoka the Great spread Buddhism outside of India

Ashoka was the third Emperor of India’s Maurya Dynasty. He ruled almost all India from 268 to 232 BC. Ashoka converted to Buddhism after his brutal conquest of the Kalinga region. He later sent nine Buddhist expeditions to spread the religion beyond India. After Ashoka died, the Maurya Dynasty weakened and collapsed. The dynasty’s collapse also saw Buddhist influence fade in India.

Hinduism is the smallest of the three largest religions in the world

This is not very noticeable as far as religion facts go. But as of 2019, there are 1.15 billion Hindus in the world. Most are in India, but Nepal and Mauritius are also Hindu-majority. Bali in Indonesia is also Hindu-majority. You can find Hindu communities all over the world, from the Americas to Australasia. You can also find them in Europe, Africa, and elsewhere in Asia.

Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are the Abrahamic Religions

This is particularly ironic among religion facts. It comes from the fact that Christians, Muslims, and Jews, all claim descent from Abraham. For Christians, this descent is spiritual through Jesus Christ’s New Covenant. In contrast, Jews and Muslims claim direct descent. Jews descend from Abraham’s son Isaac. Muslims descend from Abraham’s other son, Ishmael. The irony comes from the violence and war between the three religions over the centuries.

Human sacrifices in Mesoamerica offered themselves without resistance

This is one example of religion facts that you’re not likely to learn from popular fiction. That is thanks to propaganda from the Spanish and the Roman Catholic Church. Their goal was to demonize and end the native Mesoamerican religion. But to Mesoamericans at the time it was a great honour to be a sacrifice.

They believed that the gods sacrificed themselves to give life to the world. Thus, it was their duty and obligation to repay the gods with sacrifices of their own. The chosen sacrifices accepted their fate. In turn, their people treated them as heroes as they walked to the altar.

The Flower Wars were a religious ritual in pre-colonial Central America

The ‘wars’ were a ritual between the Aztecs and their neighbours to take the best warriors ‘prisoner’. These prisoners were then sacrificed to the war god Huitzilopochtli. They believed that the souls of the sacrificed gained a place beside the god. In fact, some stories claim that defeated warriors protested an offer of mercy. Instead, they demanded the honour of becoming sacrifices to their god.

The Ancient Egyptians believed that the gods judged their souls after death

The god Anubis weighed their souls against the Feather of Truth. If it was lighter than the feather, then the god Osiris would welcome them to the Afterlife. If their souls were heavier than the feather though, then the demon Ammit devoured them.

This is actually well-known among religious facts. What’s not well-known is a resulting theory and argument among scholars. The theory is that the Christian concept of judgment after death came from the Egyptians.

The Chinese Mandate of Heaven is analogous to the Western Divine Right of Kings

Here’s something interesting among religion facts, tying religion with politics. You might have heard of the divine right of kings before. If you haven’t, it means that kings rule because God gave them the right to. The Chinese Mandate of Heaven is similar, but not quite the same. The divine right of kings was a justification for western kings’ absolute power. In contrast, Chinese Emperors had the obligation to rule well under the Mandate of Heaven.

The mandate also allowed the possibility that poor rulers could be overthrown. A successful rebellion only meant that the mandate now belonged to someone else. But, the divine right of kings condemned any and all rebellions. It didn’t matter if the king was good or bad. God had given him the right to rule, and only God could judge and take it away.

Easter Eggs predate Christianity itself

The evidence for these Easter eggs is the 5,000-year-old eggs found as tomb offerings in Mesopotamia and Egypt. There were two kinds of eggs found in the tombs.

The first was ostrich eggs, with their shells painted and decorated in ritual patterns. The second kind were representations of eggs, made from gold and silver. According to archaeologists, the Sumerians and ancient Egyptians saw eggs as symbols of death, rebirth, and kingship.

The Bible was the first book printed by Gutenberg’s printing press

In the 15th century, Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printing press in the western hemisphere. It allowed literary materials to become available in large numbers, thanks to easy reproduction when compared to making them by hand.

The first of those to become widely-available was the Bible. People could now read for themselves the holy book of the Christian Church. In doing so, they could think about its teachings for themselves and come to their conclusions. This set the stage for the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

Reference: https://facts.net/history/religion/religion-facts