FOUNDED: before 3000 B.C.E.
RELIGION AS A PERCENTAGE OF WORLD POPULATION: 14 percent

Overview

Hinduism is the religion of almost a billion people. While most of them are in India, there are almost two million in the United States and substantial numbers in Great Britain, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, and East Africa. Marked by diverse beliefs, practices, and organizational structures as well as multiple chains of authority, Hinduism is one of the largest and oldest religious traditions in the world. The tradition has been transmitted through performing arts, texts, visual art, and architecture. Hindus may think of the supreme being as beyond thought and word; as a supreme power that is immanent in the universe and that also transcends it; as male, female, or simultaneously male and female; as beyond gender; as one, as many; as a local colorful deity; and as abiding in the human soul or...