Christianity

Christianity
Links: Pages on Christianity, Other Religions
God(s)	Atheist / Monotheist / Polytheist / Other
Adherent	Christian
Adherents	Christians
Texts	The Bible
Afterlife	Heaven or hell
Founding
Heritage	Judaism1 and paganism2
Area of Origin	Roman Empire
When	1st-3rd centuryCE
Founder	By multiple Greek writers, including St Paul
Numbers in the UK (Census results)
2001	42.08 million	2011	33.2 million
Christians Worldwide (Pew & WM)
World: 33.2%. Timor-Leste (East Timor) (99%), Papua New Guinea (99%), Romania (99%), Tokelau (99%), Vatican City (99%), Tonga (98.9%), Armenia (98.5%), American Samoa (98.3%), Faroe Islands (98%), Zambia (97.6%) 3

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the teachings of Jesus and the stories of the Hebrew Scriptures, as preserved in the Bible. Christianity is counted as one of the great world religions_4,5,6.

1. Main Pages on Christianity
   1. Moral Issues
   2. Sexuality, Gender and Family
   3. Universalism
   4. Jesus
   5. United Kingdom
   6. Other Pages
2. Numbers of Christians Around the World, by Country
3. Calendar (2023)
4. Denominations
5. Links

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1. Main Pages on Christianity

• Review of 'The Jesus Mysteries' by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy (2003)

Mirrored or copied files:

• YAHWEH - God of the Hebrews, the formation, through Moses, of the single God concept that launched Judaism and ultimately Christianity.

Minor pages:

• Response to the AI proof of God and a Self Esteem Theodicy by Bill Edelen

2. Numbers of Christians Around the World, by Country

#religion

Pos.		Pew Forum (2010)3	Worldmapper (2005)7
1	Timor-Leste (E. Timor)	99.0%	84.2%
2	Papua New Guinea	99.0%	94.8%
3	Romania	99.0%	95.8%
4	Tokelau	99.0%
5	Vatican City	99.0%	100.0%
6	Tonga	98.9%	92.7%
7	Armenia	98.5%	83.4%
8	American Samoa	98.3%
9	Faroe Islands	98.0%
10	Zambia	97.6%	83.7%
11	Namibia	97.5%	90.9%
12	Marshall Islands	97.5%	96.0%
13	Solomon Islands	97.4%	95.2%
14	Wallis & Futuna	97.4%
15	Moldova	97.4%	71.5%
16	Kiribati	97.0%	94.3%
17	Malta	97.0%	98.1%
18	Paraguay	96.9%	95.5%
19	Samoa	96.8%	96.4%
20	Lesotho	96.8%	91.7%
21	Puerto Rico	96.7%	96.7%
22	Tuvalu	96.7%	89.1%
23	Grenada	96.6%	96.6%
24	St Helena	96.5%
25	Martinique	96.5%
26	Niue	96.4%	96.8%
27	Greenland	96.1%	96.1%
28	Cook Islands	96.0%	96.6%
29	Bahamas	96.0%	92.0%
30	Guadeloupe	95.9%
31	Congo, DR	95.8%	95.4%
32	Peru	95.5%	96.4%
33	Micronesia	95.3%	93.2%
34	Barbados	95.2%	95.5%
35	Guatemala	95.2%	97.4%
36	Mexico	95.1%	95.9%
37	Iceland	95.0%	95.8%
38	US Virgin Islands	94.8%
39	St Pierre & Miquelon	94.7%
40	St Kitts & Nevis	94.6%	94.6%
q=232.

The population of 161 countries are half (or mostly) Christian (2011)₃. Comparing those 161 country(ies) to the rest of the world:

• Christian countries' average life expectancy at birth (71.5yrs) is close to the global average (71.3yrs).₈

• Christian countries' average fertility rate is 2.71, compared with the global average of 2.81. Values above 2.1 cause population growth, putting further strain on the Earth's resources. See: The Population of the Earth.₉

• Christian countries are of average wealth compared to the global average with an average Gross National Income (GNI; per capita) of $21 539. This compares to the global average of $20 136.₁₀

• Christian countries' scoring on the UN's Gender Inequality Index (0.33) is close to the global average (0.36).₁₁. See Religion Versus Womankind.

• When it comes to tolerance of homosexuality and LGBT rights, Christians' countries are better than the global average, scoring 23.8 on the Social and Moral Development Index LGBT component compared with the global average of 12.6.

3. Calendar (2023)

#religious_calendars

Date	Event	Notes
Jan 1st Sunday (fixed)	The Feast of the Circumcision of Christ	Catholics have started celebrating this on the 3rd of Jan.
Jan 6th Friday (fixed)	Theophany / Baptism of Jesus Christ	(Orthodox). By John the Baptist.
Jan 6th Friday (fixed)	The Epiphany	(Anglican & Roman Catholic). In some countries, celebrated on the first Sunday after Jan 1st. The magi visit baby Jesus bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh
Jan 7th Saturday (fixed)	Christmas Day	(Orthodox, Rastafarian). Historically developed from: Q4 Solstice (Yuletide)
Jan 8th Sunday (always on a Sun)	The Baptism of Jesus	(Roman Catholic). The Sunday after the Feast of the Epiphany By John the Baptist.
Jan 18th Wednesday (7 days) (fixed)	Week of Prayer for Christian Unity	In the global south, celebrated between Ascension Day and Pentecost.
Jan 19th Thursday (fixed)	The Epiphany	(Orthodox). For the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, according to the Orthodox Julian calendar.
Jan 30th Monday (fixed)	The Feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs	Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. Celebrated together to end a long period of disruptive competition between growing sects of followers of each one individually in 11th-12th century.
Feb 2nd Thursday (fixed)	The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple / Candlemas
Feb 21st Tuesday (always on a Tue)	Shrove Tuesday	(Western Churches). Although it relates to absolution from sin, this day was pinned to an ancient day of feasting and consumption.
Feb 22nd Wednesday (always on a Wed)	First day of Lent / Ash Wednesday	(Western churches). The first day of lent, enacted as Ash Wednesday in Catholic and some Anglican churches.
Mar 1st Wednesday (fixed)	St David's Day	in the UK (Wales). A day declared to be the anniversary of St David's death.
Mar 3rd Friday (always on a Fri)	Christian Women's World Day of Prayer	in Suriname.
Mar 9th Thursday (fixed)	The Feast of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste
Mar 17th Friday (fixed)	St Patrick's Day	in the UK. Almost completely secular, but celebrated by Christians as the mythologized day a saint went from Britain to Ireland to convert them to Christianity.
Mar 21st Tuesday (fixed)	St Joseph's Day	Honouring Joseph, Jesus' father.
Mar 25th Saturday (fixed)	Annunciation of the Theotokos	The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her she will have God's son.
Apr 2nd Sunday (7 days)	Holy Week	(Western Churches). Marking the week of the crucifixion of Jesus.
Apr 2nd Sunday (always on a Sun)	Passion Sunday / Palm Sunday	(Western Churches). The first day of Christian Holy Week.
Apr 6th Thursday (always on a Thu)	Maundy Thursday	(Western Churches). For the Last Supper.
Apr 7th Friday (always on a Fri)	Good Friday	(Western Churches). About the crucifixion of Jesus.
Apr 8th Saturday (always on a Sat)	Holy Saturday	(Western Churches). The last day of Lent.
Apr 9th Sunday (always on a Sun)	Palm Sunday	(Orthodox). Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Apr 9th Sunday	Easter Day	(Western churches). For the resurrection of Jesus.
Apr 16th Sunday	Easter Day (Julian)	(Orthodox & Rastafarian). For the resurrection of Jesus.
Apr 23rd Sunday (fixed)	St George's Day	in the UK. Patron Saint of England.
May 19th Friday	Ascension Day	(Western Churches). 40th day after Easter. Jesus' resurrection on the 3rd day saw him float up into heaven.
May 21st Sunday (fixed)	The Feast of the Holy Emperors Constantine and Helen	(Orthodox, most Anglican, Lutheran). There are lots of variations on dates for these days, depending on location & denomination.
May 26th Friday	Ascension Day	(Orthodox churches). 40th day after Easter.
May 28th Sunday (always on a Sun)	Whit Sunday	(Western churches). 49th day after Easter.
May 29th Monday (always on a Sun)	Pentecost	(Western Churches). 50th day after Easter.
Jun 4th Sunday (always on a Sun)	Trinity Sunday	(Orthodox Churches). About the mystery of God and how to make sense of the Trinity.
Jun 19th Monday (fixed)	New Church Day	(Swenborgian). Celebration of the principal text that codified the Swenborgian movement.
Jun 24th Saturday (fixed)	The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
Jun 29th Thursday (fixed)	The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul
Jul 20th Thursday (fixed)	The Feast of Saint Elijah the Prophet	(Western Churches).
Jul 24th Monday (fixed)	The Feast of Saint Christina of Bolsena the Great Martyr
Jul 26th Wednesday (fixed)	The Feast of the Conception of Mary by Saints Joachim and Anne
Aug 6th Sunday (fixed)	Transfiguration of Jesus	Jesus clothes became dazzling white and his face changed, and he talks to spirits of Moses and Elijah.
Aug 6th Sunday (fixed)	Transfiguration of Jesus	(Western).
Aug 15th Tuesday (fixed)	Dormition of the Theotokos / Assumption of Mary	(Orthodox).
Aug 29th Tuesday (fixed)	The Beheading of St. John the Baptist	(Western churches).
Sep 8th Friday (fixed)	Nativity of the Theotokos	Birth of Mary, Mother of Jese.
Sep 11st Monday (fixed)	The Beheading of St. John the Baptist	(Orthodox churches).
Sep 14th Thursday (fixed)	Elevation of the Cross	One of the feasts of the cross.
Sep 29th Friday (fixed)	The Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel	(Western Churches). In Catholicism, is the feast of Michael, Gabriel and Raphael and in Anglican Churches is the 'Feast of All Angels'.
Oct 1st Sunday (fixed)	Christian Harvest Festival	Harvests are laid out in church.
Oct 1st Sunday (fixed)	The Protection of the Mother of God	(Russian Orthodox).
Oct 23rd Monday (fixed)	The Feast of Saint James the Just
Oct 26th Thursday (fixed)	The Feast of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki
Nov 1st Wednesday (fixed)	All Saints' Day	For all the Saints that don't have their own day.
Nov 2nd Thursday (fixed)	All Souls' Day	For remembering the dead.
Nov 8th Wednesday (fixed)	The Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel	(Orthodox Churches). In Catholicism, is the feast of Michael, Gabriel and Raphael and in Anglican Churches is the 'Feast of All Angels'.
Nov 21st Tuesday (fixed)	Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple / Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Dec 6th Wednesday (fixed)	The Feast of Saint Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra in Lycia	(Western Churches).
Dec 8th Friday (fixed)	Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary	(Catholic). The annual declaration by Catholics that Jesus' mother was herself born free from Original Sin.
Dec 10th Sunday (always on a Sun)	Advent Sunday	(Western churches). Four Sundays before Christmas. Candles are lit each Sunday for the end of the period of the sun's weakness. Historically developed from: Q4 Solstice (Yuletide)
Dec 14th Thursday (fixed)	The Feast of Saint Spiridon	(Western Churches).
Dec 19th Tuesday (fixed)	The Feast of Saint Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra in Lycia	(Orthodox Churches).
Dec 25th Monday (fixed)	Nativity	Previously celebrated in spring, the birth of Jesus was moved in the 4th century to merge it with popular pagan celebrations on the 25th.
Dec 26th Tuesday (fixed)	The Feast of Saint Stephen the Deacon

4. Denominations

#amish #branch_davidians #catholicism #christian_apostolic_church_in_zion #christianity #concerned_christians #czechia #dami_xuanjiao #ebionites #france #germany #greece #hookers_for_jesus #hungary #israel #jamaica #jehovah's_witnesses #lithuania #marcionites #mennonite #moravians_(unitas_fratrum) #mormonism #nasorean_mandaeans_(sabians) #netherlands #order_of_the_solar_temple #palestine #pentecostalism #people's_temple #poland #protestantism #rastafarian #south_korea #sweden #switzerland #UK #unification_church #unitarianism #unitarian-universalism #USA

• Marcionites [Link]. Founded in Rome in the 2nd century by Marcion. The Old Testament God is evil, but the NT god is good.

• Nasorean Mandaeans (Sabians) [Link]. Founded in Judea (Palestine) in the 1st century BCE/very early CE by John the Baptist. Pacifists who hold that baptism is the most meaningful ritual, and that Jesus wasn't the one foretold by John the Baptist.

• Ebionites [Link]. Founded in Judea (now Israel) in the 1st century. Possibly the earliest form of Christianity to exist.

• Catholicism. Founded in Roman Empire in the 4th century. The form of Christianity backed by Roman power from the 4th century, it violently displaced the original forms of Christianity.

• Moravians (Unitas Fratrum). Founded in Bohemia (now Czech Republic) in 1457CE by Jan (John) Hus. Founded as they rejected the authority of the Pope in Rome, so, later became known as a Protestant denomination.

• Unitarianism. Founded in Poland, Lithuania, Hungary in the 16th century. A liberal and non-Trinitarian Christian church.

• Protestantism. Founded in 1517CE by Martin Luther. A schism caused by widespread rejection of Catholic church power-mongering and horrendous social abuses.

• Calvinism. Founded in Switzerland in 1519CE by Huldrych Zwingli. A collection of early Protestant movements with more defined answers to several theological problems.

• Lutheranism. Founded in Germany in 1521CE by Martin Luther. Formed in order to make Christianity more Biblically-based.

• Baptist. Founded in UK or Europe in the 1525 or 17th century anabaptists or 17th Century English separatists. Baptism is only for consenting adults who have chosen it, and not to be forced on children.

• Anglicanism. Founded in UK in 1534CE by King Henry VIII. Created to reduce the amount of tax being sent to Rome and so that King Henry VIII could remarry.

• Mennonite. Founded in Netherlands in 1632CE by Menno Simons. A Protestant Christian denomination.

• Amish. Founded in Switzerland in 1693CE by Jakob Ammann and his followers split from the Anabaptists. Peaceful Christian fundamentalist group famous for its rejection of technology and strict adherence to OT and NT laws.

• Methodism. Founded in UK in the 18th century by John Wesley, George Whitefield and Charles Wesley. Split due to a rejection of predeterminism in favour of a free-will and faith-based theory of salvation.

• Swenborgian / New Church. Founded in Sweden in 1770CE by Emanuel Swedenborg. Scripture must be interpreted spiritually, not literally, and Baptism and the Last Supper are the two sacraments.

• Unitarian-Universalism. Founded in USA in the 19th century. A liberal and diverse pluralist religion accepting of believers without needing them to leave their current religions.

• Mormonism. Founded in USA in 1830₁₂ by Joseph Smith.

• Plymouth Brethren. Founded in UK in 1831CE. A fundamentalist sola-scripture (Bible alone) movement.

• Christadelphians. Founded in USA in the 1840s by Dr John Thomas. Bible-based Christianity.

• Salvation Army. Founded in UK in 1865CE by Methodist minister William Booth. Christian organisation of evangelists organised along military lines, famous for charity work.

• Jehovah's Witnesses. Founded in USA in the 1870s by Charles Taze Russell. A 140-year-old Christian fundamentalist/literalist organisation famous for preaching that the world is about to end (nowadays - because of the existence of the United Nations).

• Christian Scientists. Founded in USA in 1879CE by Mary Baker Eddy. Jesus didn't die, and, all illness is an illusion if only you believe it enough.

  “The main teaching of Christian Scientists is that all physical aspects of life, especially illness, are illusory and that all one requires to be rid of them is to understand this. They reject belief in Christ's death on the cross. Their founder was Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) whose book Science and Healing with a Key to the Scriptures is read alongside the Bible at meetings. There are about 3,000 Christian Science churches and organizations in more than 50 countries.”

  "Religions of the World" by Breuilly, O'Brien & Palmer (1997)₁₃

  They are not the only Christian branch to believe that Jesus surivived; see Arguments That Jesus Survived the Crucifixion.

• Christian Apostolic Church in Zion [Link]. Founded in USA in 1895CE by John Alexander Dowie. Fundamentalist Anti-science flat-earth Christian cult, who also predicted the End of the World would occur 4 different times.

• Pentecostalism. Founded in USA in the 20th century by Charles Fox Parham. A fundamentalist Protestant 'Charismatic' movement with an emphasis on baptism and direct experiences of God, evidenced by 'talking in tongues'.

• Rastafarian. Founded in Jamaica in the 1930s. God (called Jah) fathered a black Jesus; marijuana use in rituals.

• Branch Davidians [Link]. Founded in USA in 1930CE by Benjamin Roden. Apocalyptic suicide cult famed for its dramatic armed fight against authorities in the town of Waco, USA, in 1993.

• Unification Church. Founded in South Korea in 1954CE by Sun Myung Moon. Sun Myung Moon embodied the Second Coming of Christ, and his commercialist church runs a media empire.

• People's Temple [Link]. Founded in USA in the 1960s by Rev. James (Jim) Warren Jones. Apocalyptic suicide cult that imploded, resulting in the deaths of over 600 adults and 276 children.

• Hookers for Jesus / The Family of God [Link]. Founded in USA in 1968CE by David Berg. Sexually promiscuous group who fell foul of police suspicion. As is often the case, increasing pressure from outside resulted in the group retreating even further into insanity, and they became The Family, predicting the end of the world.

• Dami Xuanjiao [Link]. Founded in South Korea in the 1980s. A millenarian cult based on the belief that Jesus would return to judge survivors in 1999. Suspected of being on the verge of mass suicide after predictions of the end of the world failed in year 2000.

• Concerned Christians [Link]. Founded in USA in the 1980s by Monte Kim Miller. Fundamentalist Christians active in the USA, Israel and Greece who expected the end of the world in year 2000, starting with a nuclear attack on the USA, which they appeared to be trying to instigate themselves.

• Order of the Solar Temple [Link]. Founded in France in 1984CE by Joseph Di Mambro & Luc Jouret. Apocalyptic suicide cult, with mass suicides in Switzerland, France and Quebec, in preparation for Jesus' second coming.