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| | Major Religions Ranked by Size |
 | | The list was created by the same people who collected and organized this database, in consultation with university professors of comparative religions and scholars from different religions. |
 | | A listing of doctrinally and organizationally meaningful divisions or denominational "branches" (such as Catholic, Eastern/Orthodox Christian, Sunni Islam, Shiite Islam, Evangelical Christian, Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism, etc.) would clearly be useful, but that is the subject of a different list: Major Branches of Major World Religions. |
 | | This list is based primarily on the degree of doctrinal/theological similarity among all the various sub-groups which belong to these classifications, and to a lesser extent based on diversity in practice, ritual and organization. |
| www.adherents.com /Religions_By_Adherents.html (11821 words) |
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