Thanks for all the suggestions! I've now incorporated all of the last minute changes, which you can see here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/aJqEvKNtnciwkco.html You can also get the poster here: usefulcharts.com/products/world-religions-family-tree

@NeshaStanic

19 күн бұрын

When will other countries be included?

@fixshoog5666

19 күн бұрын

I think you should date the chart so you can see when the information was 100 percent accurate

@methodius--9405

19 күн бұрын

You should use the Menorah to represent Judaism before the 2nd temple Judaism, because that the Star of David is Rabbinic Judaism.

@MrAllmightyCornholioz

19 күн бұрын

4:09 There's an error with South Korea on the map as it should be colored as Other. Most people are irreligious with 20% pop being Chrisitian.

@beavernation57

19 күн бұрын

I think you should add Hittite mythology.

My only suggestion would be to try to squeeze in Sikhism in the "number of adherents" section in the upper left, just given its size. Other than that, looks like a great product that'll hopefully grace my wall soon!

@UsefulCharts

19 күн бұрын

Done.

@mrboop8905

19 күн бұрын

​@UsefulCharts A swift, helpful and slightly menacing response. Usefulcharts never fails to spoil the fans!

@lutherevans968

19 күн бұрын

I was going to make the exact same critique/ recommendation.

@cswrye

19 күн бұрын

I agree with this update. It makes it a little clearer that Judaism is the seventh-largest religion and not the sixth.

@anmolsinghbath9434

19 күн бұрын

Was going to suggest this too, as a Sikh, after seeing Matt's forum post about it. There's a lot more of us than people think! Almost 35M! (Yes, there are more Sikhs than Jews and the size could be larger on the chart. And yes, it's called "Sikhi", not "Sikhism").

I'd love to see more content covering folk religions in Africa, the Americas and Australia. They're obviously very diverse but even just learning about one example from each would shed a lot of light on whole worlds of culture we don't normally see.

@RevCuck

19 күн бұрын

I agree. But the problem with that is finding sources that are as untainted by Christian colonialism as possible. Which is hard to do.

@jakeaurod

19 күн бұрын

I've learned a little about African religions from watching Crecganford. He's pointed out that some of the stories found in many world religions may be linked to or even retellings or reinterpretations of stories from prehistoric Africa. I wonder of Matt Baker could include some of these ideas, like how the "Earth Diver" motif shows up in many major religions.

@haroldoeguchi

19 күн бұрын

I agree. I missed Brazilian candomblé and cuban santeria on the vodun branch. Although they are not exactly vodun, they were influenced and came from the same region on western Africa

@hya2in8

19 күн бұрын

probably a lot harder to put into a chart

@RealUlrichLeland

19 күн бұрын

@@hya2in8 Yeah I don't think he could fit them properly onto a family tree, but he could just have them all loosely in their own sections.

As a Brazilian, I always feel "World Religions" maps and charts seem to neglect Candomblé and Umbanda, which are HUGE here in Brazil, with literally millions of followers, mostly African Brazilian, but many mixed race, white and indigenous people too. I'd put it, close to Voodoo, under "West African folk religions," because both Candomblé and Umbanda are mostly modeled after Yoruba religion (which as far as I am aware has also influenced African American spirituality in some ways), but some other big influences are obviously Brazilian Christianity (a mix of Catholic and Evangelical), and Alan Kardec's version of Spiritualism, which is also one of Brazil's maior religions (edit: I just got to the part of the video where you talked about Spiritism! Brazil mentioned 🇧🇷). The chart is looking great! Love it so much ❤

@tierfreund780

18 күн бұрын

the Yoruba/ African Diasporic religious family is basically a world religion at this point

@happyboygogo

18 күн бұрын

yeah, if you count the Afro-Diasporic religions as a single religion (which is as reasonable as counting Christianity a single religion) then I've seen estimates as high as 100 million adherents.

@herickbrandelero2293

18 күн бұрын

its funny that the guy that created Umbanda is a white guy and if you show up in Africa with that religion they you called you a sorcerer

@vitormelomedeiros

18 күн бұрын

@@happyboygogo "Afro-Diasporic religions"! Love this label. I think it makes a lot of sense and I am not at all surprised that there may be 100 million adherents. A lot of Afro-Brazilian religions (as we usually call them here) are very underrepresented in the census, because of racism, religious intolerance and stigmatization, and that's probably the case in other American countries too.

@happyboygogo

18 күн бұрын

@@vitormelomedeiros yeah, most Lucumi/Santaria practitioners in places like Cuba and the U.S. put themselves down as Catholic in the census and the same is true for Haiti and Vodou. combine that with the Brazilians and the Yoruba that still practice their faith in Nigeria and Benin either fully or synchronized with Islam or Christianity and 100 million sounds like a pretty reasonable number.

I have a suggestion to perhaps try to squeeze "Baltic Paganism" among the various branches of "European Paganism" derived from the Indo-European Polytheism, seen at 6:13 (that would make six main ones of them). Let's not forget that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was one of the largest realms of the late-Medieval period, in which a significant portion of the population *and the ruling elite and dynasty* openly practiced Paganism until 1386! Centuries after most of Europe was baptized.

@vitormelomedeiros

19 күн бұрын

I love this suggestion! Had no idea this was the case. Am going to look it up

@D.S.handle

18 күн бұрын

As far as I understand, while the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was indeed one of the largest countries in Europe and at different times had included some of the territories of the modern day Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia, the followers of the Baltic Paganism were mainly the inhabitants of the Lithuanian heartland (modern day Republic of Lithuania) who were probably a minority in the country, and even then they-and in particular the nobility-have started to actively converting to Christianity way prior to the official adoption. That is to say that the size of the GDL does not necessarily reflect the prominence of Baltic Paganism in the late medieval Europe.

@Cheese-zt3ns

18 күн бұрын

BRO, HOW IS IT I SEE YOU IN SO MANY COMMENT SECTIONS

@tierfreund780

18 күн бұрын

Baltic Paganism is much more important than making a distinction between Anglo Saxon and Norse Paganism

@Artur_M.

18 күн бұрын

@D.S.handle More or less true, although it still makes Balts the last pagans of Europe. Also, it goes without saying that the Baltic languages are one of the branches of the Indo-European family, just like those shown (relatively closest to the Slavic, but still its own, distinctive one), and they supposedly show relatively the most similarities to the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European. Plus, it looks like there is just enough space to include one more. That's more than enough reason to consider putting "Baltic Paganism" there, in my opinion. 😉

I Feel like Austronesian religions are connected enough and cover enough of the globe to get a mention

@SamuelAndyPratamaSitohang

18 күн бұрын

Yeah, in Indonesia alone there's many active followers of Parmalim, Pemena, Kaharingan, Kejawen, Sunda Wiwitan etc. I wonder about other Austronesians religion, would be nice to know more about them

@katherinegilks3880

18 күн бұрын

I agree - a tab in the Folk Religion section. Maybe a future chart later!

@saber2802

17 күн бұрын

@@SamuelAndyPratamaSitohang Wouldn't that by extension include the Polynesian religions as well?

@SamuelAndyPratamaSitohang

17 күн бұрын

@@saber2802 i believe so, yeah

Dude this is a top three KZread channel

@Neversa

19 күн бұрын

Who are competitors 😊

@Lgz009

19 күн бұрын

Real

@Lgz009

19 күн бұрын

Even though practicing Jew I really appreciate looking at my religion with a secular perspective it’s a refreshing take

@A.S.T-lg7do

19 күн бұрын

Agreed

@exaucemayunga22

19 күн бұрын

​@@Neversa Veritasium and Paulogia

Don't know how "glaring" an omission it is, but I didn't hear Pastafarianism or the Great Spaghetti Monster, Bless His Noodly Appendages, mentioned. And, frankly, I wanted to see where you'd put them on the chart. My guess is under the various esoteric and NewAge traditions.

@RealUlrichLeland

19 күн бұрын

As a Jedi I am also upset that my religion was excluded, in the 2001 England and Wales census almost 400,000 people identified as Jedi Knights.

@OhTheDeliciousIrony

19 күн бұрын

Pastafarianism, Jediism and the like fall under parody religions.

@thinkingaboutreligion2645

19 күн бұрын

That was a cheesy comment. Face-parm...esan.

@abruemmer77

19 күн бұрын

As a follower of the FSM and the Dude i would like to suggest to add the syncretism "Pastafarian Dudeism" thank you very much. RAmen and take it easy, man!

@sergioaramis3751

3 күн бұрын

​@@abruemmer77So Good to hear there are other brothers, sisters and siblings out there who are also pastarian dudeist, Ramen and take it easy, man

Perfect timing. Today is Eid and you have posted "world religion family tree". Eid Mubarak everybody❤

@aditya_saha

14 сағат бұрын

you slaughter billions of animals on a single day to please your God

@awhig2474

6 сағат бұрын

Did you cut any Animal in the most barbaric way on EID??

Excelent poster and video as always! I'd only suggest maybe adding Umbanda and Candomblé, which are perhaps the biggest Afro-Brazilian religions that had a lot of history and are sometimes connected to Cristianism and Kardec's Spiritism.

@vitormelomedeiros

18 күн бұрын

seconded!

I think Rastafarianism should at least get a mention. There are nearly 1 million adherents and has been quite influential. If Anton Lavey's "church" gets a slot, I believe rasta should as well.

@UsefulCharts

19 күн бұрын

Agreed.

@dylanpabon5591

17 күн бұрын

Are they Christian

@steamedwatermelon2165

17 күн бұрын

@@dylanpabon5591 it is based on Ethiopian Christianity as well as Ethiopian Judaism. If you are of a religious mindset, I recommend reading about both. They are both some of the oldest traditions in their respective religions.

Dear Matt, thank you for your great work. I love the chart but was surprised that you didn't add Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy. That movement has its own schools, medicine, and way of doing agriculture and influences a great many people. There are even 123 Waldorf schools in the US.

@bladdnun3016

19 күн бұрын

It's hugely influential in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The majority of organic agriculture and private schools here are unfortunately based on the anthroposophical movement (which is a direct descendant of theosophy).

@henning1152

19 күн бұрын

I was thinking the same, the theosophy offshoot antroposophy became very influential and in many places replaced the “original” theosophical movement. Also consider adding their Christian syncretic church, the Christian community (a mix of Christianity with esoteric antroposophic additions like reincarnation)

@franziskagarner1873

18 күн бұрын

Oh and one more thing: Zoroastrianism hasn't died out. There are still a few, although not many followers which makes it definitely older than Judaism. Also, I think it would be great if you added the Yezidi religion since it is truly ancient and so different from the others, it's fascinating (peacock angel anyone?)

When you said Falun Gong, it clicked in my head "Oh those are the Shen Yun Chinese." I've seen their fliers when they passed them out around Christmas time and asked to leave some for customers when I worked at a autopart store. Also, when you were talking about Voodoo dolls not being used in Voodoo, I looked it up and found a quote from a/the Louisiana Voodoo high priest in 2020: "It blows my mind that people still believe Voodoo dolls are relevant to Voodoo religion. Hollywood really did us a number. We do not stab pins in dolls to hurt people; we don't take your hair and make a doll, and worship the devil with it, and ask the devil to give us black magic to get our revenge on you. It is not done, it won't be done, and it never will exist for us." It's kinda funny, because it leaves open possibility that it could be done, they just don't or won't.

@yinyangphoenix

19 күн бұрын

Hollywood has done a similar hatchet job to Wicca. The kindest film to Wicca might be The Craft, but even there, one of the practitioners is seen walking on water (not to mention being evil and becoming completely insane). Then there are the movies that feature gnarled, ugly witches, or green witches, like the Wizard of Oz. I won't even get into the ones that make witches look like Satan worshipers. Wiccans are nothing like any of that, but thanks to Hollywood, they're probably stuck with that imagery.

@davidcheater4239

19 күн бұрын

The Voodoo dolls are actually based on French magickal theories. (Contagion and Similarity)

@JakubS

19 күн бұрын

Falun Gong is a cult

@ems4884

18 күн бұрын

There's some debate about Falun Gong. They've been accused of being a cult both by the Chinese government and some anti-cult activists. I take no stand on the question. I find it perplexing.

@orsonzedd

18 күн бұрын

Christianity has 4 gods

So happy to see another incredibly USEFUL chart! Thanks for this.

Baha’i checking in! No issues here. Happy to be included. “…religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same, that their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions are complementary, that they differ only in the nonessential aspects of their doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual evolution of human society.” - Baha’i Writings

@user-nn8cw6nv6g

19 күн бұрын

Have you ever visited Haifa?

@cswrye

19 күн бұрын

I kind of wish he had at least commented on Baha'i to point out its origins!

@dreamstate5047

19 күн бұрын

Beautiful lines.

@UsefulCharts

19 күн бұрын

We mentioned the origins of Baha'i in the Islam video.

@cswrye

19 күн бұрын

@@UsefulCharts Sorry, it's been a while since I watched it, so I forgot about that!

Couple things I think would be interesting: A bit more detail on Zoroastrianism/Mazdayasna, including the two modern schools of thought (Traditionalists/Parsis and Reformists) Asatru as a specific example of Neopaganism in addition to Wicca, descended from Old Norse specifically Manichaeism, Jainism, and Mandaeism (Don't know if you already included them but I didn't see them when you panned over)

@camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303

19 күн бұрын

Revived more than descended

@tommy-er6hh

19 күн бұрын

AFAIK, Manichaeism, Jainism, and Mandaeism have fallen to only a few believers, Jainism doing the best. Historically Jainism and Manichaeism were huge and very important, but now not so much.

@camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303

19 күн бұрын

@@tommy-er6hh Mandaeism has the issue of not allowing its members to intermarry with outsiders. Manichaeism is officially dead but MAYBE some communities survive in the far east. Jainism is doing okay

@Illjwamh

18 күн бұрын

@@camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303 I did see Yazidi and Druze on there (or at least I thought I did), which are also insular. Manichaeism may be extinct (probably?), but historically it was hugely important. There was a time when it could've become the dominant world religion rather than Christianity. Mostly though, it's the influence these faiths have had on others (and that others have had on them) that I think would be most interesting for the chart.

@camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303

18 күн бұрын

@@Illjwamh oh I don't disagree, they should be on the chart

Nice video & I’ll like to order this chart soon for my Religious Studies classroom. Whilst it’s still being edited, I would like to point out & suggest that because you mention ✡️Judaism in this summary graph at 1:38 , you might as well also mention 🪯Sikhism above it - as the 6 Religions that we officially study in our core UK curriculum here includes Sikhism.

@AC-dp9dt

19 күн бұрын

That’s actually a good idea! We may also try to order one for our Humanities corridor, and your point would actually make it fully comprehensive.

@UsefulCharts

19 күн бұрын

Done.

@joshygoldiem_j2799

18 күн бұрын

@@UsefulChartsthank you Matt👊

@matthewroach815

18 күн бұрын

If my math is correct, it looks like Islam may have too many dots. I’m calculating that each equals ~16.1M, and Islam has 119 dots, which would give it more like 1.9B followers, as opposed to the 1.8B listed. Shouldn’t it have more like 112?

@amoghdesai9075

16 күн бұрын

@@matthewroach815no way you counted them💀

This is an incredible achievement, Matt Thanks for all your work 🙏🔥

Hey Matt, your work has been absolutely helpful in getting to know my community and other communities. This has been massively educational love the entire religion playlist and I'm looking forward to re-watching them and re-learning them as it is key important in my coaching business thank you so much for your effort. Looking forward to buying few charts to hang on my room soon.

Wake up babe new useful chart just dropped

Thank You~~! I really appreciate ALL of your work. All best to you and yours! 🕊️

I agree it does seem a shame to leave out Sikhism from the following ranking on the left as it might imply that Sikhism is a smaller religion than Judaism or subset of of one of the other large religions. Im not sure how many other religions in your "other religion" category are also distict and bigger than Judaism but it seem reasonable to keep the resolution of that ranking part on the left consistent if possible and show the size of religions with 10 million or more followers?

@user-nn8cw6nv6g

19 күн бұрын

Mormonism is under Christianity, of course..

@AchyutChaudhary

19 күн бұрын

Myself too 😅 I have never actually understood why Sikhs are left out from data like these but Jews aren’t despite being under half the size (and am not even Sikh myself btw!)

@jackyex

19 күн бұрын

Mormons consider themselves Christians, even if most Christians don't.

@cometmoon4485

19 күн бұрын

I would have guessed that there are more than 10 million Shinto followers on Japan.

@jackyex

19 күн бұрын

@@AchyutChaudhary eurocentrism

I find your descriptions of the charts so relaxing.

@amngyl

14 күн бұрын

Can you add some of those on the chart itself please??

even if it was brief, i appreciate so much how you mentioned thelema without sensationalising it! i love this channel, a very exciting and easy-to-follow source of knowledge ❤

I’m really excited for the evolution and classification of life chart! I bought the old a long time ago and will probably be buying the new one once you make it

Thank you for yet another fascinating chart and video! I don‘t know if I‘ve missed it, but I didn‘t see any mentioning of folk religions from Australia and Oceania. These would also make for interesting video topics on their own IMHO

Chinese religion video series Sounds interesting. I’m all for it.

@RubelliteFae

19 күн бұрын

Hundred Schools of Thought is a fascinating topic. Just like this chart, Confucianism & Taoism are most often the only ones highlighted (both because of their impact and having, in practice, absorbed some ideas of other schools), but the whole array of ideas is really interesting.

@OldsReporter

18 күн бұрын

@@RubelliteFae Daoism in iteself is already quite complicated. Actually there were many branches of Daoism religions (especially from the 3th century to the 7th century), each with their distinct set of scriptures. Not all of them went extinct; some still exist today.

This is eye candy. Your charts always amaze me.

This has everything I wanted to know about religions of the world..! Great work 👍

Free masonry had a lot of influence on Mormonism, love the proximity your chart gives them

@shannenenen

19 күн бұрын

yes! I'd love to see them connected on the chart, but either way the close proximity was very satisfying. Also, I know this is a simplified chart that wouldn't include these, but I'd love to see a chart for subsects of Mormonism! The various schisms like the power struggle after Joseph Smith's death and the end of polygamy created different branches with smaller groups than the Brighamite branch (mainstream Mormonism).

@KnuttyEntertainment

18 күн бұрын

As Mormon studies student I think the connections are overblown and mostly emphasized by critics to make the temple seem more occult. The similarities were pretty surface level, using ceremonial language familiar to early members, but it was used to package very new and different ideas. The phraseology of the temple ceremonies have been altered over the years and those superficial similarities are mostly gone. I don’t think a dotted line from freemasonry would be appropriate as the masons only influenced style, and none of the content or theology of Mormonism.

@allred6505

18 күн бұрын

@@KnuttyEntertainment I agree that a dotted line would be too much but the church is has plenty of masonic influence- the Book of Mormon is very anti-Mason and I think the structure of temple rites are very similar even if the words have been changed- robes, aprons, exchanging of secret tokens used to identify members at a future date, a morality play based on biblical events across three degrees etc.

@KnuttyEntertainment

18 күн бұрын

@@allred6505 Okay, but all those things you just described are key elements of temple worship in the Old Testament. It seems similar to masonry because they have a common ancestor in that regard: The Bible.

@allred6505

18 күн бұрын

@@KnuttyEntertainment I respectfully disagree, Neither Freemasons or Mormons were trying to restore Solomon's temple whose primary function was to house sacred artifacts, had access restricted across its three levels by priestly class, worship by ritual sacrifice and was focused on achieving national rather than personal redemption. Of course there are direct influences that the bible brought that masonry didn't- the "sea", and headdress for example. But with no morality plays, tokens or emphasis on group membership I'd say that the Freemasons had a much more direct influence on Mormon rite than the biblical record. Kirtland is an example of what the pre-Masonic notion of a temple was, a holy meetinghouse.

Very excited to watch this!

Congrats! And thanks! Amazing, as always!

Hey, I love this poster! So glad that you put in so much effort for a really interesting and thoroughly researched tool that we can use. I for one, really wish that you would subdivide Native American religions, at least make a division for Mayan religions, since it has had an influence on the syncretism of some Carribean religions, such as santeria, vodou, and many Christian practices in Mexico and throughout the Latin American world. Also, very glad to see a mention to vodou, especially considering the impact traditional West African religions as well as Islam have played in Black culture in slavery and diaspora especially in the Carribean and the American South.

A big advantage of this type of charts is that in addition to the textual information and its relationship to other information, its location is also information in itself. I understand and remember historical events much better if I can see them described visually. That's why I keep subscribing to your channel. As an improvement, I suggest a schematic rough vertical time axis along one side. In this way, you get a significantly better historical overview of when different religions arose. I see you have had this ambition but it can be better. Unfortunately, it won't be aesthetically more beautiful, but it will be more educational, which I think is more important. Perhaps new knowledge also emerges in the form of patterns and clusters when the text is moved around, for example that certain similar events happen at the same time or not in different religions, etc.

I appreciate the massive research here immensely

This is an awesome chart. You might want to add Santeria, a concoction of Catholicism and W. African Vodun that arose in Latin America.

@ZoneFulbe1

18 күн бұрын

No, Santeria is a mixture of West African Yoruba religion known as (Iṣẹṣe) plus Roman Catholicism.

@dylanpabon5591

17 күн бұрын

La Santeria es Satanismo

@tomasbyrom3954

14 күн бұрын

@@ZoneFulbe1 I just made a comment suggesting this too. Iṣẹṣe is actually a modern form of Yoruba religion. The way it is practiced in Yorubaland now is a form developed after the slave trade had already taken many people to Cuba and Lucumi (Santeria) had already begun to be established. Iṣẹṣe is also arguably quite influenced by Islam. Both Lucumi (Santeria) and Iṣẹṣe are modern descendants of precolonial Yoruban court religions. Iṣẹṣe more from Ile Ife, and Lucumi more from Oyo. Santeria is not descended from Iṣẹṣe

@ZoneFulbe1

13 күн бұрын

@@tomasbyrom3954 You reply shows that you do not understand into detail what Isese is about. It is not influenced by Islam and did not develop after the slave trade. Also, Lucumis were from all over Yorubaland, not just Oyo like you posit. Yes, many were Oyo, but some were from Ketu, Egba, Ijesha, Ota, Ijebu and many other places.

@quemaspana

13 күн бұрын

Yes! Having lived in Latin America, it is much more popular and common than people in the US realize.

i have called my self daoist or buddhist to so many people because i dont live in china but i am xuexue dao which is a form of what you labeled chinese syncratism, and this actually helps so much in explaining my beliefs to people, excellent work and thank you for the resource

I love the video, even before watching it completely. 😊 Your videos are so clearly structured. It helps tremendously to understand. Thank you soo much! Would you maybe interested in making a chart/video about Eastern Christian religions? It is very interesting how Christianity progressed in Asia. For example, there was the Olive Tree Movement in Korea, and as far as I was able to research, the Unification Church, JMS, Shincheonji, World Mission Society Church of God and others developed from it. These Asian religions meanwhile spread throughout the world. I left Shincheonji after a decade being a member. And I wished I knew how this Church had developed. I love the way you neutrally speak about religions. I would be very grateful if you wanted to make a video or chart about these Korean denominations. I enjoy all your videos! You do great work!

@oivinf

19 күн бұрын

As you know, being a former member of one, Christianity has spawned a lot of different offshoots and cults in Korea. (When you have additional beliefs or new holy people your religion is generally no longer considered part of Christianity by other Christians, hence "cult". But the word "cult" is not meant to discredit anything here. Islam is sort of an offshoot of Christianity and is not considered a cult. It's just a descriptor.) Either way Korean Christian-based cults have led to a lot of, for the lack of a better word, interesting people and situations. They have had links to American and Japanese politicians, (Moonies) as well as the Korean government. (Church of Eternal Life) Elsewhere in East Asia, in Japan they persecuted Christians in the 1700's and basically had an inquisition to stamp it out. In the modern era Christianity exists again in Japan, but mostly in the form of cults, there too. The wildest one was probably in China, however. It gets so wild I can't even begin to do it justice, just look up the "Taiping rebellion". China was almost reestablished as a Christian monarchy in the 1850's... It didn't last all that many years, but it was a functioning government that even had their own currency. And the conflict ended up killing in the neighborhood of 30 MILLION people. A century later, all religion and certainly Christianity was persecuted by the communists, of course. If the "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" had come out on top I'm sure their Christianity would either be seen as one of the major Christian denominations, or a completely separate religion like Islam. It has little relevance today but it's a very intriguing piece of histroy

@SeekingTruth2023

18 күн бұрын

​@oivinf Thank you for your reply. I didn't know that. I will certainly look at it. I am especially interested in the development of Christian Korean 'cults'. Not to speak bad about them, although I see problematic issues. But usually members of these groups don't know where their group comes from. I think it would be enlightening for them and lead to a better understanding and to a more informed decision about staying in the group. In the western religions it seems there are not so many church leaders claiming to be God or Jesus, or get messages directly from them. But within these Korean groups this seems rather common. This is what makes it interesting to look at. They usually also have a quite consistent doctrine, which makes it attractive and convincing for people to join. I wish I had known from where Shincheonji had originated before I joined. This would have helped me to discern better. That's why I would be grateful if there was an easy survey like one of Matt's absolute nice and easy charts. Best wishes!

@RubelliteFae

18 күн бұрын

@@oivinf Christianity in Japan is not like in Korea and I question on what basis you claim, "Christianity exists again in Japan, but mostly in the form of cults." The few Christians I met during my four years in Japan were certainly more serious about religion & belief than the average Japanese person, but they didn't have beliefs or practices which diverged from Western Christianity.

@oivinf

18 күн бұрын

@@RubelliteFae Mainstream Christianity exists in Japan today, but it's not very popular of course, at about 1.5% of people identifying as Christian. (Not sure if that includes naturalized immigrants and their descendants - I assume it does). But as I mentioned in the paragraph above that one, some Korean Christian cults are prolific in Japan, as well as some home grown ones. It might be hyperbole of me to say it exists "mostly as cults", but the point is that Christianity as a whole is not very prolific, but there are some influential Christian cults. Compared to adherents in a mostly Christian country where a tiny fraction of those belong in the "cult" subset, if you get my angle.

@RubelliteFae

18 күн бұрын

@@oivinf I'm not sure I do get your angle, no. But that's fine, it's not worth the time it would take to be rigorous. I just wanted to point out the error. It is true that very few Japanese people in Japan are Christian. There's a number of reasons for it. Still, this has no bearing on them being cult-like or not. There are, on the other hand, several "Japanese new religions" some of which are called cults or cult-like and by association the rest are commonly thought to be as well.

I think you should add Tantra as well and how it reformed/influenced Hinduism (and its various sects), and Vajrayana Buddhism along with some minor influence on Jainism. I mean, it's influence on Hinduism and Vajrayana Buddhism is more than enough to justify placing it here. Also, if possible, please include Baki Hinduism as well.

@RubelliteFae

18 күн бұрын

Yes. And, considering the number of Hindus I think it could use further exploration into the many kinds of Vaishnavism & Shaivism at the very least. IMO, much of the variation is much more different than the variations pointed out in the Christianity chart video and there's many more adherents in several "subsects" of Hinduism than in all of Judaism.

In hindsight it's obvious, but still interesting to think just how far those ancient Indo-European ideas spread. If they influenced Judaism then in turn Christianity, Islam and all the smaller groups. They obviously influenced Vedic religion which means Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and in turn Chinese Syncretism and Japanese Syncretism. That means some small part of the same idea "dna" ended up thousands of years later as stories about Thor and Odin in Norway, as well as some Buddhist teaching all the way in Japan or Thailand. That's an impressive span of both time and space!

As a former Mormon, I'd point out that you could draw a dotted line from Freemasonry to Mormonism - the Mormon temple ritual is copied pretty directly from Masonic initiation rituals (and this influence is very well documented historically). There's also an argument to be made for influence from swedenborgianism, based on a lot of theological similarities, but there's not as much evidence/documentation for that connection. Also, you could potentially add some Japanese new religious movements stemming from Japanese syncretism, like Tenrikyo, but I understand they might be too obscure to warrant inclusion.

@KnuttyEntertainment

18 күн бұрын

As Mormon studies student I think the connections are overblown and mostly emphasized by critics to make the temple seem more occult. The similarities were pretty surface level, using ceremonial language familiar to early members, but it was used to package very new and different ideas. The phraseology of the temple ceremonies have been altered over the years and those superficial similarities are mostly gone. I don’t think a dotted line from freemasonry would be appropriate as the masons only influenced style, and none of the content or theology of Mormonism.

@bobocomments

18 күн бұрын

This is just false and is something passed back and forth in exmo circles. It's not based in any provable historical data

@valetgirls4431

18 күн бұрын

Thank you!! I watched this and saw they were so close by but they weren’t connected! They absolutely should be connected in some way, because Joseph Smith’s ritual conduct and theological bent towards the end (fleshing out the Enoch story comes to mind) are certainly directly connected to freemasonry

@zaki911911

18 күн бұрын

Fully agree that Mormonism and Freemasonry should be connected in some way, because the former was influenced in some ways by the Latter(DS)! 😂

@izikavazo

18 күн бұрын

Same with a line between Freemasonry and C T Russell or JWs. They would disagree, but if you look at Russell's teachings and his photo drama of creation, it's definitely an influence.

Beautifully done! 🙌🏼

Glad to see the origins of the Bhakti movement (the "four main denominations" of Hinduism) are corrected here, I made a comment about it on the Hindu denominations videos, but it was lost among comments, and I saw only one other comment making the same point and it also didnt get many likes.

@UsefulCharts

19 күн бұрын

Yes, I did see the original comment. Thank you!

@amngyl

14 күн бұрын

@zelenisok thanks for pointing out and thanks to useful charts for fixing it

Really interesting and good video! However here's some corrections about Shintō: Shinbutsu-shūgō is spelt and pronounced wrong in the video, and does not mean "God and Buddha School", it actually means "The Syncretism of Kami and Buddhas" Calling the Kami, "Gods" is an extremely bad translation and gives people ideas that simply aren't true. Additionally, Shintō also has a few very distinct forms: 1. 神社神道 (Jinja Shintō)/Shrine Shintō, Shintō based around Shrines, the most common form of Shintō 2. 教派神道 (Kyōha Shintō)/Sect Shintō, Based around different sects and much more formalized compared to Shrine Shintō, they're are currently 12 widely accepted sects. Some stem from just Shintō, others Shinbutsu-shūgō, and a few a syncretism of Confucianism and Shintō 3. 国家神道 (Kokka Shintō)/State Shintō, the state mandated form of Shintō that existed from the Meiji until US Occupation, where the Japanese Government took control of Shintō and presented it as a moral ideology that was patriotic, not a religion which is why most of the country doesn't acknowledge Shintō as a religion now. The religion of Shugendō could also be argued to have stemmed from Shinbutsu-shūgō

@UsefulCharts

19 күн бұрын

Thank you!

@RubelliteFae

18 күн бұрын

It's true "kami" isn't exactly the same as "gods," but he did the same for "devas" & "gods." It's a very common bias from Western academia that unfortunately associates in peoples minds Western baggage onto non-Western concepts.

@Spearca

16 күн бұрын

"Gods" itself carries a very wide range of possible meanings and implications. While I don't know anything about Shinto, I don't see anything in the description of kami that isn't within the range of functions served by "gods" in some other traditions.

@RubelliteFae

16 күн бұрын

@@Spearca Well, for one, a tree spirit, the sun, and a primeval progenitor are all "kami" which vary in degrees of greatness. In the West we distinguish between animistic "spirits," "demigods," "deities," "gods," etc with different personal definition baggage than languages of other cultures. Cultural biases in thinking can be subtle. It's an anthropology thing to purposely use emic & etic terms at appropriate times.

@Spearca

16 күн бұрын

@@RubelliteFae The sun is a god in most historic Western traditions (Helios, Sol, Sunna). Tree or forest spirits are popular gods as well. The pre-monotheistic ideas of "gods" included all shapes and sizes.

A suggestion for a couple minor additions. If you're going to include Native American religions then I think you must also include "australian Aboriginal religions" and "Maori spirituality" as well. In the case of Aboriginal spirituality, it is the religions of the oldest living cultures in the world (60,000 years and counting) and has stories and myths that reliably date back at least 10,000 years. While I understand not wanting to go in-depth into more localised folk religions like the Native American religions and Aboriginal spirituality, not including the oldest living cultures' religions would be a misstep in my opinion.

@katherinegilks3880

18 күн бұрын

Also, they would make great future videos and future charts.

@CharlotteIssyvoo

17 күн бұрын

I'm Matt's wife and was just saying the same thing. Living in Vancouver, Canada, he and I are deeply interested in Indigenous peoples throughout the Americas, their histories, their cultures, their beliefs and customs, the ongoing treatment of them by settlers, what they're doing now, and where the future will take them. We talk quite a lot about Australian Aboriginal peoples too... As you can imagine, our dinner table conversations are always interesting!

@CharlotteIssyvoo

17 күн бұрын

@@katherinegilks3880 I'm Matt's wife and I suggested this too. He's been very ill, as many of you know, but my fingers are crossed that he'll do this as he gets better.

@angelawossname

16 күн бұрын

​@CharlotteIssyvoo I'm a "Didgerijew", someone who is either biracial Indigenous Australian and Jewish, or an Indigenous Australian convert to Judaism. I'm the former, being biracial Ashkenazi/Kuarna mob. I wish I could claim I invented the term "Didgerijew", but I didn't.

@CharlotteIssyvoo

16 күн бұрын

@@angelawossname Oh that's so cool! I'm actually mixed too: half super early, colonial, Northwestern European Protestant in the USA, and half Eastern European Ashkenazi Jewish refugees to the USA. I don't think there's a name for that, though it would be fun to try to come up with one.

Very nice work, as always! I was especially appreciative that modern esoteric movements such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Thelema found their way onto one of your charts. Slight correction on Aleister Crowley for future reference: Crowley is pronounced with a long 'o' as in "crow", or "holy", not like "ow" as in "cow". If you really want to dive down a rabbit hole sometime, do a chart focused on the various splinter groups from the Golden Dawn and Thelema specifically, some of which have become almost like religious denominations in their own right. I can help. ;)

Perhaps there should be some lines leading from Pre-Historic Religions to Chinese Polytheism and Folk Religions?

Very nice chart! My suggestion is related to African Tribal Religions and the African Diaspora in Americas. Louisiana Voodoo is one kind of a class of synchretisms that is fairly common. Here in Brazil we have Candomblé and Ubanda, but I now that Cuba also has its own. It would be nice to aggregate these religions that share this common theme (synchretism + veneration of ancestors) Also, this is a very interesting topic: why synchretism happens? In this case, synchretism was used by slaves and ex-slaves to protect themselves from Christian majorities prejudice. But other synchretism may have other patterns. I would be happy to hear your thoughts about it. Keep up the good work!

I was waiting so long for this, Thanks. Thank you so much!

As an Indian and an Jain, I would like to give a few suggestions and point out a few mistakes in the chart: •1) The word "shraman" श्रमण doesn't mean "seeker". I refers to those who believe in working [for emancipation]. •2) Don't use the word "nastik" नास्तिक for shramans. Jainism considers the word derogatory and in appropriate for describing shramans. Just because the Jain lords who are believed by us to attained emancipation and to be only omniscient & not omnipotent doesn't mean that Jains do not consider them gods. The motive of worship in Jainism is just to show gratitude. •3) If the chart is chronological then it would be much more accurate to show Jainism as contemporary to Vedic religion as the first Jain lord with historical evidence was Lord Parshvanath who lived from 872BCE to 772BCE. Similarly, Buddhism shall be shown as a contemporary to Bhramanism as he lived around the same time. •4) The Shraman movement should not be depicted as seperating from Vedic religion but rather as a contemporary. The shraman movement had numerous philosophies in common with Vedic religion but neither came from the other.

@RubelliteFae

18 күн бұрын

For me āstika/nāstika has always been about whether or not you care about Vedas and their authority. I know there are different meanings in different places, but I don't think most people mean insult by it (anything can be an insult if said with venom).

@prapanthebachelorette6803

18 күн бұрын

Interesting

@dylanpabon5591

17 күн бұрын

India belongs to Christ ✝️☦️

@sourovdas7883

16 күн бұрын

@@dylanpabon5591 you sure???

@yooooskheuduabdwkkq247

15 күн бұрын

@@dylanpabon5591 no

After giving it some thought, what metric are you using for Shintoism? Around 70% of the Japanese population visit Shinto shrines and participate in forms of Shinto rituals, so there should be around 90 million followers of Shintoism appearing on the chart. This also often involves participating in both Shinto and Buddhist practices, "Born Shinto, Die Buddhist". However, I know some religion surveys only count people who are members of organized Shinto sects which is around 3% of the population, 4 million people. This leads to the rest of the population being listed mostly under No Religion and some as just Buddhist. It's a similar situation with Chinese Folk Religion, where they're often underrepresented in surveys due to different definitions of what constitutes "religion", with some estimates putting it as actually having over 1 billion followers. That being said, it would be interesting to see some detailed charts covering East Asian religions; some about Shinto sects, Chinese gods, Mu-ism, etc.

@cuddlecreeper8

19 күн бұрын

There's loads of mistakes around Shintō, Shinbutsu-shūgō is not only misspelled, but mistranslated and misspoken

@RubelliteFae

18 күн бұрын

It's difficult because of the distinction between participating in ceremony, ritual, or occasion-marking for religious intentions vs being cultural ingrained as the thing to do. It'd be a bit like marking down everyone in the US who celebrates Christmas as Christian.

@saber2802

17 күн бұрын

It's kind of hard to say because Japan doesn't really view Shinto as a religion and more of a thing that's engrained into the Japanaese way of life.

@Nathaniel.21

14 күн бұрын

That's because most Japanese people aren't religious and things like Shinto festivals and Buddhist funerals are more like cultural traditions than religious experiences for most of them. The same way having a Christian style wedding got popularised there. Them participating in the ceremonies does not mean they follow the religion. I'm not Christian but I celebrate christmas with my family every year because it is tradition, both for my culture and my family. I enjoy christmas as a cultural celebration but do not engage with it on a religious level.

Wow thankyou. I needed this but didn't know I needed this

Bravo!! 👏👏👏 This series was... a masterpiece, to say the least. Perfectly unbiased, like all scholarly works should be.

Hey! As always: I love this channel. On the subject of Freemasonry: I think it is more accurate to say that certain men joining the Freemasons and discovering that they were merely entering a fraternity and not getting lots of fancy spiritual learning and power (including Alastair Crowley) left Freemasonry disappointed and found a home in Theosophy. Freemasonry's influence on Theosophy is minimal. The influence of former Freemasons on Theosophy is significant. There's a difference. Plus, again as a Mason, I think it improper to list Freemasonry as a religion: it is a fraternity one of whose prerequisites for membership is a belief in God or (in some jurisdictions) a higher power. Freemasonry welcomes all men of faiths, without regard to their particular faith.

@GokuUltraEgo-il1ho

18 күн бұрын

Bro Freemasonry is a religion. It literally pretends to have ideas of God from all faiths, yet it has a deistic, unitarian, and impersonal view of God. Your God is named Jabhulon.

@GokuUltraEgo-il1ho

18 күн бұрын

U pretend to accept every concept of God yet you have your own.

@patrickwilliams3108

18 күн бұрын

@@GokuUltraEgo-il1ho What?

@GokuUltraEgo-il1ho

18 күн бұрын

@@patrickwilliams3108 Your God is Jahbulon

@patrickwilliams3108

18 күн бұрын

@@GokuUltraEgo-il1ho Nope. My god is YHVH.

I'd suggest to add Legalism and Mohism (some of the earlier shools) influencing later Confucianism, then moving on to Neo-Confucianism and lastly New Confucianism

@tommy-er6hh

19 күн бұрын

Mohism certainly influenced Taoism, but it was pretty small, and did not survive as a movement long. Legalism was probably merged with Confucianism, since they were the only 2 of the 100 schools not hit by the 213-212 BC Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of China, started persecution “burning of books and burying of scholars” of all different religions/philosophies. Some few 11 schools we know of: Taoism(later merging with Naturalists/Yin-yang and Yangism), Confucianism (later merging with Scholars), Legalism, Mohism(merging with Names/Logicians), Militarism, Agriculturalism, Medicalism, and many more philosophies/religions that did not survive the burning.

@RubelliteFae

18 күн бұрын

Mo-ism absolutely influenced everything that lasted the period. Maybe not always in the ways it wanted, but was a huge influence. I made a comment on the video that goes into a bit more detail about which schools influenced which (both by adopting ideas as well as distancing from other ideas). To my mind it's very much like how the various āstika schools of thought developed through dialogue with/against each other (thesis, antithesis, synthesis) as well as with/against nāstika schools and how the whole milieu contributed to Hinduism. So, I think it's important that the main 9 at least be shown, with various dotted lines between them. Edit: I also think a lot of people either don't realize or forget that most of these ancient thought systems were being discussed because it mattered for governing a harmonious society & social order. That whether in ancient Greece, China, or India metaphysics & epistemology were tied up with political theory more than eschatology or salvation. IOW, Westerners have a very specific idea of what a religion is and then apply the term to a bunch of things that don't actually fit that conception.

thank you for doing this.

Another great chart, Matt. If you make more tribal indigenous charts as mentioned, can you make one for Hawaiian tribes? There were many differing influences on the islands over the years, many from Polynesia, but depends on what time frame and reign. It would be interesting to have sorted and displayed in chart form. You might be able to reach out to Funder Hui to connect with organizational leaders and guest educators for original research sources.

I feel like neo-paganism should be split but I guess it's grouped due to space restrictions. Also fun fact, in Iceland, Ásatrúarfélagið is already the 5th largest religious organization, largest non-abrahamic religion, and ~1.5% of the population. While in other Nordic countries, denominations like Forn Siðr are also growing in popularity

@Jess-737

19 күн бұрын

I feel as though neo paganism needs to be on this chart, and is likely bigger than most think. Even where I live in the ultra conservative Christian area of the U.S., book stores have the Neo Pagan aisle that is the same size as the Christian book section. And I doubt they’d have all that if there weren’t people buying them.

@Scott-if3ce

18 күн бұрын

@@Jess-737 I think so too. My good friend who I consider a brother, is a practicing heathen. And looking around there's definitely more people out there who are getting into it and other neo-pagan religions. If it was possible, I'd just like the chart to show a couple popular denominations of under the term neo-paganism

I love your content and charts! I recommend adding Australian Aboriginal Folk Religion, otherwise it feels like a continent is missing.

@TheGribblesnitch

15 күн бұрын

australian indigenous folk religions is it's own interesting topic as it differed from nation to nation but still maintained similarities among culturally similar groups - the kulin with bunjil and the koorie with baiamie and so-on

@Novarcharesk

14 күн бұрын

This is a 'world' religion. Something considered only by a vanishingly small population in highly remote communities in Australia hardly counts as a world religion.

@tomasbyrom3954

14 күн бұрын

@@Novarcharesk I think if Louisiana voodoo which only exists in New Orleans can get on there, then a mention of the beliefs of the longest unbroken living culture in the world is probably ok. Besides, Australia is the only continent not on the chart and if it's a "world religions" chart, then it should probably include the whole world.

@tomasbyrom3954

14 күн бұрын

@@TheGribblesnitch I'd suggest the name Australian Indigenous Dreaming Religions rather than folk. What do you think?

In Cuba they practice Santeria very popular later, also Mexico something new is growing very popular but I forgot the name .

@jackyex

19 күн бұрын

You mean the cult of Santa Muerte?

Finally, the world religion cinematic universe

Eid Mubarak for all Muslim Brothers and Sisters on the day of this post!

@faiga3544

19 күн бұрын

I was first

@A_foranonymous

19 күн бұрын

Eid mubarak

@theshenpartei

19 күн бұрын

What does eid mubarak mean if you don’t mind me asking?

@2dbro664

19 күн бұрын

​@@theshenparteiEid Mubarak is a Muslim festivity marking the end of Ramadan and it's fasting

@sheharyar77able

19 күн бұрын

Eid mubarak brother

Eid Mubarak for all Muslim Brothers and Sisters on the day of this post

Excellent video as always! I have a couple of suggestions for additions to this chart, but would probably work better as their own separate charts in the future. 1. An Expansion of the European Polytheism Denominations Chart that includes the old versions and their neopagan counterparts. With Non-Indo-European Polytheistic Religions included as well. 2. A Tengrist Denomination Chart. 3. A Gnostic Denomination Chart. 4. A Japanese New Religions Denomination Chart. 5. A Zoroastrian/Manichaeist/Yazidi Denomination Chart. 6. A Folk Religion Denomination Chart. 7. A Denomination Chart of Western Esotericism. 8. A Denomination Chart for Secret Societies. There are probably other ideas for denomination charts that I can't think of off the top of my head. But anything that could be conceived as a denominational chart would be a great video to see in my opinion.

I’m dying to see this video. Thanks so much.❤❤❤❤

Great video! This might just be an issue of not overcrowding the chart, but it might be nice to have more lines connecting smaller religions all the way to the larger ones that influenced them, like Shinbutsuhugo to Buddhism, Haitian Vodou to Catholicism, and Swedenborg to Christianity, etc. Also I noticed you don't have ancient Arabian religion influencing Islam like in previous charts.

@RubelliteFae

18 күн бұрын

I agree. I'd rather the chart be wider and have things line up more than to try to stick to a preset aspect ratio. But I get it.

I would like to see more dates. One example would be the date of the establishment of theosophy, which is not on the chart but you mentioned. Another would be Hinduism and Judaism, which are listed side-by-side; in my mind this would indicate simultaneous beginnings. Therefore I would just suggest indicating the dates for things were there are currently no dates. I appreciate your work. I do wonder where your charts come laminated. I confess I have not looked to find out but I am considering getting some to use in my classroom.

Great poster, well done.

This was awesome, thank you

I’m completely irreligious and your videos made me appreciate the cultural aspects of religion that I didn’t consider before. Thanks for the thoughtful and accurate presentation. Keep up the good work

one more sufi order - Mevlevi, they are the ones everyone thinks of, the whirling dervishes. you also may want to add Santeria and Obeah near Vodou

Thanks for this amazing video, this will help people understand, why we are similar and where should we go.

Matt Bakerrrrrrrrrrrrrr is back baby! :)

I wish you would have created a poster just for the esoteric religions, and included more than just the few here. But other than that, good job with the Esoteric section! Had no idea L Ron Hubbard drew inspiration from Thelema as well.

@bubbles581

18 күн бұрын

Hubbard practiced Thelema briefly though it has no direct influence on Scientology other than some of the broadest possible strokes (ie belief in souls and a kind of magical-thinking world-view). Scientology is, though, explicity syncretic and touts that it draws on all previous systems of religion and philosophy. If anything, many parts of Scientology could be seen as stripping away all the BS and trappings of Thelema to get at what underlies all systems.

@Nathaniel.21

14 күн бұрын

@@bubbles581 The main thing Hubbard took from Thelema is that rich idiots will pay a lot of money to be told they are spiritually special. Grifter cults both of them.

FANTASTIC, I used to have a Hindu Room mate, and we'd go on for hours about the similarities in our faiths. And how there must be some neat synchronism. Also just bought the old Bible chart at the store, it such a tiny space, hoping to swing by again and get more charts. Also nice use of the Vancouver Art Gallery pic for the Falun Gong group. I think outside of their stage plays and blocking the roads in Stanley Park, that's where I see them most.

Love your work and definitely will buy this chart! I do have a few suggestions, if not too late for this edition: You might expand Confucianism to mention the Ru scholars of whom Confucius is the premier example, and also might mention neo-confcianism as a syncretism of Buddism and Taoism (Daoism?) within Confucianism (also, perhaps include the Analects on the chart somewhere?). Likewise, Taoism can be divided into a few main schools, e.g.: Orthodox Unity Taoism and Complete Perfection Taoism.

How about making some smaller posters, to go with your shorter trees (e.g. Mesopotamian Gods Family Tree) - or maybe combine a other charts into one, similar to what you've done here... (e.g. Mesopotamain>Egyptian>Greek>Roman Gods). Love your work btw. PS - Do you have any charts on Philosophy/Philosophers...?

An Eid Gift from UsefulCharts

Suggestions: Add a barcode you can scan on a phone for each religion that takes you to a web page with further information. Just an idea..

It would be cool if there was also some acknowledgment of Australian Aboriginals. They too have ancient religions and, I think their inclusion is important for chart like this when taking into account the world as a whole.

I've been waiting for this one whoopieeeeeee 😎

Great chart! Have been looking forward to it and I'm very glad to see the additions & changes. One thing I'll point out for additional context is the Chinese religions sections. So, what we call Taoism is two things: Dàojiā & Dàojiào. The former is the philosophy expounded by Laozi & later Zhuangzi. The latter is a religious system synthesized from various earlier folk beliefs, Dàojiā, and importantly Yīnyángjiā (The Naturalist School). Much of what is modernly considered Taoist religious practice comes from Yīnyángjiā. This is interesting because these highly codified formulaic systems are in many ways directly in opposition to central Dàojiā concepts like, "going with the flow" (to oversimplify). At the same time, attempts to codify nature (influenced of course by other schools as well) led to Chinese alchemy, medicine, and other early sciences. (Similarly, there's no endemic term for the various things we group together as Confucian in the West. Rújiā would be the philosophical foundation upon which the other parts rely; Confucian philosophy," if you will. This is considered distinct to Confucian religious thought: Rújiào/Kǒngjiào.) It's also interesting to me that primers on the topic will always point out the big three, Taoism, Confucianism, & Buddhism, while skimming over Fǎjiā's (the Legalist School) significant influence on governance & culture. Fǎjiā in turn was influenced by Mòjiā (Mohism), Dàojiā, & Míngjiā (the School of Names). It was a period with a lot of thesis, antithesis, synthesis writings spreading around and all of the ones remembered by history were heavily influenced by who knows how many forgotten to time. The whole era is a fascinating topic. Mòjiā in particular had influence on everything else that it's definitely worth a dive into for anyone curious about philosophy. I also noticed that your map labels Japan as "other." It's a society in which people have adopted Shinto, Buddhist, and Western (and thus some pseudo-Christian) practices, without actually thinking/caring much about these as coming from "different religions." In my experience very few people cared about the actual concepts of the religions, or those who did were past midlife and/or part of a "clergy" as their profession. It's difficult to explain properly because religion is a very Western concept, honestly, that doesn't well fit either East Asia or South Asia (and I'm sure other places I'm not so familiar with as well). Also, it seems like you are disregarding the normal distinction made between polytheism and animism-which is fine, but should be mentioned if so.

@themoviesite

19 күн бұрын

Agree splitting Taoism into philosophical and religious.

@RubelliteFae

19 күн бұрын

Follow-up just to say that I think the Chinese philosophies (at least the main 9) are as important an influence on later Chinese religious-like practices as the variously mentioned Indian philosophical schools were on Hinduism-yet they are treated fairly differently on the chart. I think this is due to the history of how the subjects have been studied & charted, not a mistake on Matt's part. But, one that could be rectified by him.

@RubelliteFae

19 күн бұрын

@@themoviesite Yes, I think we often undervalue the impact of how we categorize on how we think (especially in comparison to how others, especially the people themselves, would categorize & think).

@think9747

19 күн бұрын

@@RubelliteFae Not because religion is 'Western concept' because of tradional religions in east asia evolted to more mystic away from gods to more legal,worldy way. İn its core it is a religion and religions such as islam is not western religion and it is obvious it is a religion the concept of western religion in itself is wrong the best would be probably Middle eastern religious system and hinduism is best descprited as religions not a religion or philosopical system and there is text and gods so not true for south asia

@tommy-er6hh

19 күн бұрын

This maybe questionable, but i put forward Onmyōdō in Japan was there for centuries as a merging of Taoism with Shinto. But now it is pretty much gone.

With regards to Sikhism, the more accurate connection to Islam would be through Sufism, as opposed to the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam. In particular the Chishti order of Sufism had a large influence on Sikhism via the teachings of Bhagat Farid, who is considered to be a founding father of the Chishti order. You can see this influence with the practice of langar, which was started by Bhagat Farid and was later adopted by Guru Nanak Dev Ji, as well as the 134 hymns written by Bhagat Farid that are included in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

Awesome video, awesome work, I love all the stuff you do. Just some things about the chart. I would argue the biggest influence on Israelite religion was the pre-existing Canaanite religion (stuff like Elohim as a name of God, the whole Leviathan thing, Asherah poles, and Hebrew as a language descending from Canaanite), and though it seems likely there were some Egyptians among the early Israelites, the extent to which they affected Israelite religion seems to be mostly unprovable, though I could be wrong about that. There was also a typo in Rosicrucianism. Other than that I don't really see any problems with the chart. Keep up the good work king.

@UsefulCharts

19 күн бұрын

Definitely. However, Canaanite religion was heavily influenced by both Egypt and Mesopotamia. So, I just simplified it for the sake of space.

@methodius--9405

19 күн бұрын

@@UsefulChartsalso >Judaism should be 🕎 >Rabbinical Judaism should be ✡️

@RubelliteFae

18 күн бұрын

@@methodius--9405 Interestingly Hinduism has also been using ṣaṭkoṇa 🔯 since ancient times. (Sometimes the version with a dot in the middle is overused to make a clear distinction from Judaism's use of the same symbol.)

@Cooleatack

18 күн бұрын

@@UsefulChartsyou have included some smaller inserts to further explain influences in other areas such as with Confucius. Would you be able to do the same here and in other places for accuracy?

@Nathaniel.21

14 күн бұрын

@@RubelliteFae Same thing happened with the swastika, they are both easy to draw shapes that look pleasing to the eye. They can be found all over the world in different cultures. Unfortunately the swastika is obviously marred with a bar reputation in the west due to the Nazis.

I would add a line connecting Ancient Egyptian Polytheism to Greek Paganism and/or Ancient Philosophy given its massive impact and the degree to which it's actively referenced as an authoritative source within Greek Philosophy specifically (and since it's pretty easy to do given where they are in the chart).

I feel like if you’re including Haitian voudou you should also include Brazilian Candomble and the like

@Nathaniel.21

14 күн бұрын

He said in the video he only included Voudou because he knows his audience (western anglophones) will already know about it. Voudou isn't big enough to warrant a slot on it's own.

Hi, I think it's incorrect to use the Pew research centers statistics for number of adherents of different religions, as it simultaneously overcounts Christians and undercounts Buddhism. Specifically it makes two mistakes, largely drawn from being christian-centric in it's methodology: 1. it only allows one person to be a member of one religion at a time. This is a clear problem as many of the worlds religions (especially Buddhism) are not mutually exclusive. Instead, it would be better if people could be double counted for multiple religions. 2. It bases Religious membership on "confession" and not actual practice. This inflates the number of christians (as many people on paper are Christian but do not practice it) and deflates the number of Buddhists, as very few people in the Buddhist countries would only describe themselves as Buddhists if they were monastics or actively practicing some kind of Buddhist discipline, and the vast majority of the population still take part in Buddhist rituals, for example in Japan almost everyone has a Buddhist funeral (the joke in Japan is that you're born Shinto, married a Christian and die a Buddhist). Nonetheless, in terms of spiritual beliefs the vast majority of people in Asia have religious beliefs shaped by Buddhism. The typical Chinese person believes more in the principles of Buddhism then the typical European in Christianity, and the popular culture of these countries is profoundly shaped by Buddhism (for example, a popular classic like Journey to the west in China is essentially a Buddhist parable, and every child reads it). I believe if you corrected for the above, much of Europe would shift from being described as "Christian" to being "non-religious", for example in France and Czechia a majority does not believe in the existence of a god. Likewise, I also believe the number of Buddhists might be closer to 1.5-2 billion, and Buddhism may in fact be the largest religion on earth, or number 2 to Islam. Importantly I'd have all practitioners of Chinese folk religion, Shintoism and steppe shamanism be double counted as Buddhists, and possibly some Hindus(eg in Nepal or South East Asia) as well.

@Nathaniel.21

14 күн бұрын

What people claim to be is the only fair way to determine someone's religion. You have no right to decide whether or not someone is a Christian or not, that is their own internal belief. You can't have it both ways and claim Christians who don't go to church every Sunday don't count but Japanese people who only ever see a Buddhist temple for funerals do. What religion you are is a personal decision, the only way for another person to know is to ask. You do have a point on allowing people to pick more than one religion as syncretism is a thing, but you are vastly overestimating how much Buddhism is undercounted.

@jasonquigley2633

14 күн бұрын

@@Nathaniel.21 The problem here is that the question "Are you a Buddhist" and "Are you a Christian" mean totally different things to the people being asked. If you ask a person "Are you a Christian?" you're asking for their identity, even if you've only set foot once in a church, you might say yes. The Japanese person, when asked, "Are you a Buddhist?", interprets that as a question of practice IE "Are you a Buddhist monk, or regularly meditating?". The language implies different things. The European interprets the question almost like a question of nationality. The Japanese interprets the question as one of "nationality". You could instead ask simple belief questions IE "Do you believe in the existence of One God and that his only son Jesus Christ died on the cross to grant salvation to humanity from it's sins" (a pretty basic description of Christian belief) and "Do you believe humanity lives in a cycle of reincarnation and that Gautama Buddha in meditating gained enlightenment and found a method by which humans could enter into a state of nirvana and so escape the cycle of reincarnation". The vast majority of Japanese would answer "yes" to the latter question while answering no to the question of "Are you a Buddhist?" Likewise, you could ask the christian question to Europeans and in many countries the majority would answer no. For example, Pew Research says Taiwan has 5 million buddhists, less then a quarter of it's population, this a country where there's a temple on almost every street corner, the vast majority of which include Buddhist icons (alongside other Chinese deities). To say only a quarter of the population is Buddhist in a country where Buddhist iconography is everywhere is simply absurd. Likewise, it says only a third of Japanese are Buddhists, this in a country where there are more Buddhist temples and monasteries then France has Catholic churches (almost double). If you go to Pew research, and add the "folk religion" and maybe a 1/3 of the "unaffiliated"(hard to say what proportion of unnaffiliated have buddhist beliefs or simply secular atheists) for China, Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan, you get at least 600 million "uncounted" Buddhists, and that's just 5 countries. Ultimately, the real question of how you determine the number of Buddhists in the world is how to divide the Chinese, Japanese and to a lesser degree Indian population, who think about religion in completely different ways to westerners.

@Nathaniel.21

14 күн бұрын

@@jasonquigley2633 No. It is not absurd to have lots of Buddhist temples even though most of the population isn't Buddhist. Buddhism had a large impact on both Taiwanese and Japanese culture. The religion and its temples are embraced in those nations culturally but most people don't follow those religions. If the people don't identify as Buddhist then they aren't Buddhist. You're just making assumptions because you don't like Buddism's numbers.

Fantastic job again. A few suggestions to add, Georgian pagan religion which seems to see some revival, Tengrism since is an Eurasian steppe religion and Manichaeism the silk road religion which encompassed a large area of Asia and parts of Europe.

The Yoruba religion of West Africa and the Orishas known as Iṣẹṣe is pretty popular, has more than 10 million adherents, and is not race restricted. Although like every other religion it has its ethnic origins.

Very very minor but maybe throw Baltic paganism in the European paganisms branch? Technically different and I feel like it deserves a mention since it lasted longer than the others

Thanks for clarifying the Vodo part, as Haitien you got the information right

Matt's wife here. Fun fact: Matt struggles to say "pagan" correctly. He grew up in Nova Scotia and always says "peg-an" instead of "pay-gan." I can't help but laugh (just as he laughs at the remnants of Massachusetts/New York accent). If you listen, you can hear Matt slowing down on the word "paganism" to make sure he says "payg" and not "peg."

@amngyl

14 күн бұрын

That in very funny. Thanks for sharing.

@CharlotteIssyvoo

14 күн бұрын

@@amngyl Isn't it? I'm surprised my little fun fact didn't get more laughs.

Aboriginal australian tribal religions are definitely missing from the folk religion section.

@Novarcharesk

14 күн бұрын

Perhaps because it isn't a seriously considered spirituality or religion by virtually anyone? Seems like it's a stretch to justify its inclusion in a chart about world religion.

Absolutely love these videos

Great video. I would have personally would have liked Sufism to have a connection point to Vedanta part of Hinduism (Advaita Vedanta inspired aspects of Sufism). I'd also wish you'd talked about the different schools of Vedanta as well.

Re: typos: in "Number of Followers" you spell the preposition with a little o (as is customary), but in "Dominant Religion By Country", you capitalize the B - a little inconsistency.

Tbh I do wonder about the term “tribal” in the context of African religions. Regardless of your intentions, that term is often perceived as implying a kind of primitivism. This may not be what you want to imply. Especially because lots of other societies and cultures, including several represented on this chart, could be described as tribal, it raises questions about why this term is only used to describe African religions other than Islam and Christianity.

@Novarcharesk

14 күн бұрын

Tribal refers to tribes having their own spirituality. It is entirely suitable to use it here. This strange neuroticism about your perception shouldn't be allowed to poison rational discourse about fact.

Thanks Matt for this amazing chart. Maybe include Winti in your chart?

Finally someone acknowledging DR BR Ambedkar as Martin Luthier King Jr of India. I’m trying to explain this to American which is hard. They are soo similar to each others, there views, thoughts and ideas are soo similar even how they are remembered in history is similar and how they and their ideas have been shrunk down just to fight for minority is exactly same.

❓ PHILOSOPHY-MORALS-VALUES chart? Eastern social/community values vs western individualism? Perspectives on human existence, morality, and the relationship between individuals and their respective cultural contexts… EAST: Collectivism, interdependence, authority/elders, harmony/balance. WEST: Individual rights, freedom/rights, expression, meritocracy, critical thinking/judgement, equality, justice. SCHOOLS: dualism, existentialism, utilitarianism, rationalism/empiricism, pragmatism, liberalism, hedonism, natural law theory, egoism/altruism, libertarianism, social contract theory, Marxism, postmodernism, etc.

@KGTiberius

13 күн бұрын

❓ Chart on the trials and tribulations in an afterlife - essentially, all address 1) existence of a soul/spirit, judgement, rewards/punishment, rebirth/realms; 2) eternal/temporal, physical/spiritual resurrection; 3) individual soul vs ancestors collective spirit. Then if it happens immediately, after some time/purification, or delayed/end of time. I had a History of World Religions course that taught the matter in a very different way: “I’m here to save your immortal soul!… if you have such a thing. We all die. If you wake up in an afterlife, what you see and do might make a difference by what you learn here.” Walking the knife-bridge (Zoroastrianism) Scale and the feather (Egyptian) Book of judgement (Christianity) Shades (Judaism) Enlightenment/Reincarnation (Buddhism & Hinduism) Polytheistic realms: Valhalla/Hel; Elysian/Asphodel/Tartarus; etc. Ancestors plains, loss of identity and joining the community spirit (Native American)