CNS World Studies Hybrid 2014-15

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1. Using the PEW Research Religion & Public Life Project, write a news
article from the perspective of a world news journalist attempting to
describe the religious patterns in the world. The theme of your
article should be to describe the distribution & patterns of world
religions.

Religious Patterns across the world

An in-depth look at the distribution and patterns of
world religions through figures, and charts
Written by Sarah Bimberg

.
Figure 1: Majority Religion in the World, by Country
Figure 1 shows the majority religions in the world in each country. The darker the
shade, the more dominant the religion is in that country. At first glance it is quite
evident that Christians dominate the majority religions in the world, with Muslims
right behind them based on land area. An interesting to point out is that Christians
originated in the Middle East-North Africa area, but now it is not even a majority
religion in that area and Islam has taken over control in that area. This is an
indication of the large diffusion of the Christian religion as it became universalizing.
This figure also shows ethnic religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism that stayed
in their areas of origin. Other universalizing religions include Muslim as shown by
the figure it spread to countries like Indonesia. One interesting thing to point out is

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that China is majority unaffiliated with religion. Reasons for this may include their
social and political system making it difficult to believe in a religion.

Chart 1: 10 Countries with largest number of Christians

Chart 1 lists each country by population size in the first column, with the percentage
of the population that is Christian in that country in column two, and the percentage
of the Christian population in that country to the world Christian population in the
third column. The chart shows three countries Mexico, Philippines, and Democratic
Republic of the Congo with over 90% of their population being Christian. This is
due to universalization of the religion and colonization in these countries. The
United States has the largest population and highest percentage of Christians in the
world with 78.3% of the population being Christian which adds up to be 11.2 % of
the world Christian population. An interesting statistic is that the top ten countries
in the world that have the largest number of Christians totals up to be 47.6% of the
total Christian population. And by adding the rest of the world, 52.4% of the world is
Christian, meaning that in other countries there are smaller amounts of Christians
and that the large majority of Christians live in 10 countries.

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Figure 2: Regional Distribution of Muslims

Figure 2 shows that Muslims are most largely populated in the Asia-Pacific region
which ends up being where 6 out of 10 Muslims live. It is interesting to see this
considering that the religion originated in the Middle East/North Africa region. The
majority of the religion must have expanded to the Asia-Pacific where it ended up
being very popular. Muslim has also spread to other areas of the world such as SubSaharan Africa (248,110,000), Europe (43,490,000), North America (3,480,000) and
Latin America-Caribbean (840,000) but not in large quantities. But it is evident by
this figure that the Muslim religion has universalized and diffused to many different
regions across the world. The lower populations in North and South America are due
to the majority Christian populations taking control of those regions. An interesting
thing to notice in the later figures is that although the majority of the Muslim
population lives in the Asia-Pacific, Islam is not the majority language in that region.

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Chart 2: World Unaffiliated Population by Region

Chart 2 displays the world populations unaffiliated with religion by each region. The
Asia-Pacific has the largest percentage that is unaffiliated being at 21.2% which is
interesting because the Asia-Pacific is also hosts the majority of Hindu and Muslim
populations. The majority of the religiously unaffiliated reside in China within the
Asia-Pacific. One thing that surprised me was that Latin-America/Caribbean had the
fourth largest population (45,390,000) that is unaffiliated. With such a strong
Christian base, I was expecting them to be at the bottom of the list. The Middle
East/North Africa has the lowest population unaffiliated which now makes sense
after seeing the large concentrations of Christians and Muslims in that region.
Europe has shown decline in religion the past centuries which is surprising as it is
the location of Roman Catholic origins. Overall, the world unaffiliated population
makes up 16.3% of the world showing that religion takes over the majority of the
world.

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Figure 3: Regional Distribution of Hindus

Figure 3 displays the regional distribution of Hindus across the world. Immediately
the eye catches the largest concentration and population of Hindus in the AsiaPacific (1,025,470,000). The reasoning for this is because of its origin. The majority
of Hindus reside in India currently. Hinduism is considered an ethnic religion as it is
practiced by a certain group of people and it doesnt try to universalize and appeal
to everyone. As mentioned earlier, the Muslim population in the Asia-Pacific is the
largest population of Muslims but in this figure, it shows the largest population (over
99.3%) of people in the Asia-Pacific practice Hinduism. While the religion has spread
to other regions in the world, the percentages of the Hindus are miniscule in relation
to the Asia-Pacific region showing that the religion has stayed pretty condensed in
one area since its beginning.

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Figure 4: Regional Distribution of Jews

Figure 4 shows the regional distribution of Jews by population. One thing that
immediately stands out is that Jewish is a relatively small religion in comparison to
the others discussed above. The largest population resides in North America
although Jewish did not originate there. Also, the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish
religion are considered relatively similar religions as they both worship one God and
all consider Jerusalem a holy land. But it is interesting to see that Muslim and
Christian are so much more popular than Jewish. This may be because Muslim and
Christian religions are considered universalizing religions that are able to
universalize to anyone, anywhere while Jewish is considered an ethnic religion that
has diffused but only applies to a certain population of people. Overall, the Jewish
religion spans a majority of the world and touches many regions, just not in large
numbers.

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6. Also Watch the VICE News Report about Religion, Diamonds and
Conflict in the Central African Republic. Warning some graphic content.
From the perspective of a UN diplomat, prepare a letter that addresses
both sides to persuade them to put an end to the conflict and use the free
market and the legal system to determine the mining rights.
Central African Republic,
My name is Sarah Bimberg and I am currently a United Nations diplomat
researching the issues in your region. I am writing this to both sides of the conflict
encouraging both to use the free market and legal system to determine the mining
rights.
I am aware of the current situation in the Central Africa Republic and the conflict
between the Christians and Muslims, but there is a simple solution to this if both
sides are willing give in a little and in return they both will receive large benefits.
If both sides were to allow the free market and legal system to determine mining
rights, the right to export the diamonds would be given back to your country which
would in return assist the economy immensely. In addition, as you have
experienced, the poverty within the country has been on a decline, but this can be
solved. Giving the mining rights to the legal system will boost their revenues and as
a result provide the people of the Central African Republic more resources and
services that will assist the poverty and start to improve the quality of life. The legal
system, with the revenues, will also be able to provide proper infrastructure that the
country is lacking and health care hospitals to improve the health of your people.
While resolving the conflict between the Christians and Muslims will be difficult due
to the strong emotions and feelings that both sides have developed for one another
the past years, I believe that backing down is what is best for the country. I am
aware of the hatred between the two sides and the extent to which the people will
go to prevent the other from having control of the mines, but it is important to think
about the overall quality of life and reduce the selfishness on each side. The
Christians should let up on their strong control of the mines and give it to the legal
system and free market to control. The Muslims should give up the grudge they hold
against the Christians and in return they will be given access to the mining and free
from their prison.
I would be more than willing to discuss in more detail of the possible solutions to
this problem that will improve the current state of your country and the overall
wellbeing of the people. If both leaders of the groups would want to meet with me,
you may contact me through the United Nations officers currently stationed in your
country.

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Thank you for your consideration of my solutions.
Sincerely,
Sarah Bimberg
United Nations Diplomat