They are exclusive: They have the one true faith; all others are invalid. They are
evangelistic: They want you to choose their faith. There is only one god (although
sometimes there are intermediaries, like saints and angels). There is usually a heaven
and a hell, where we will experience eternal joy or torment. There is a sacred book,
usually revealed by God, which followers are expected to read and obey. Believers
are expected to attend regular worship services, held on the holiest day of the week
(Friday for Muslims, Saturday for Jews, Sunday for Christians). And finally, a mes-
siah is coming to save us. (For Christians, he has already come, but he’s coming back,
and the Shi’ite is the only Muslim denomination that believes this.)
Judaism and Christianity spread west, through Europe, while Islam spread east
and south, throughout the Arabian Peninsula and into India and Central Asia. Today,
of course, all three religions have adherents worldwide.
Judaismbelieves that the covenant between God and Abraham around 2000
BCEbecame the foundation of Jewish law, as recorded in the Pentateuch (first five
books of the Bible). Judaism flourished in the ancient world; it is estimated that 10
percent of the population of the Roman Empire was Jewish. Today there are about
15 million Jews in the world (0.2 percent of the world’s population), divided into
three branches: Orthodox, who follow traditional Jewish law very strictly;
Reformed, who attempt to modernize dress, dietary laws, and worship practices (for
instance, synagogue services are conducted in the usual language of the country, not
in Hebrew); and Conservative, who rebelled against the overmodernization of the
Reformed branch.
Christianitywas founded 2,000 years ago by the disciples of Jesus, who declared
him to be the son of God. Christians revere the Jewish Bible (which they call the Old
Testament), as well as the New Testament, a collection of writings recounting the life
of Jesus and the history of early Christianity. Today, Christianity is the world’s largest
single religion, with 2.1 billion adherents (about one-third of all the world’s people),
although it is divided into so many different denominations with widely varying beliefs
and practices that it is often treated as a group of religions. There are three main
branches, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism, as well as
many sects.
Islamwas founded about 1,400 years ago when God grew displeased with the
corruption of the teachings of his earlier prophets and gave his last prophet,
RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 495The “Church” of Scientology
What is Scientology? Is it a cult? A religion? A hoax?
Scientology was founded in 1952 as a self-help
system by a science fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard.
Hubbard believed that he had found both the vision
of a pure and whole life, as well as the method of
achieving it. He gradually came to believe that he had
founded a new religion and declared Scientology a church.
Some critics, however, argue that Scientology is nothing
more than a cult of personality surrounding Hubbard and his fol-
lowers and that they seek recognition as a religion only because
they seek to avoid paying taxes. A May 1980 Reader’s Digestarticle quotes Hubbard as saying, “If a man really wants to make
a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own reli-
gion.” Because church members are paid for each recruit they
bring into the organization, and each branch pays fees to the
international center, most countries in Europe classify scientol-
ogy as a for-profit business, although Germany considers it a
dangerous cult. In the late 1990s, Great Britain denied it clas-
sification as a tax-exempt religion, and the United States
granted that status.
Scientology claims more than 10 million followers, though
less-partisan observers estimate the numbers to be somewhere
between 100,000 and 500,000 worldwide. In the United States,
there are about 55,000 practitioners.Sociologyand ourWorld