How many followers does a belief need to have to be classified as a religion?

1. 59

   AndyK26posted 12 years ago

   How many followers does a belief need to have to be classified as a religion?
   
   How many followers does a belief need to have to be classified as a religion?

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2. 0

   msorenssonposted 12 years ago

   I suppose a few families....................

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3. 83

   Attikosposted 12 years ago

   I would say none. There are belief systems in antiquity no one today follows, yet we still call them religions. If that is so, then the range is from zero to billions.

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4. 79

   ii3rittlesposted 12 years ago

   It takes only one to keep the belief going. There are religions out there about anything and everything, from worshiping stars to animals. Many people follow pagan religion with out even knowing it. Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, New Years Eve/Day... All are pagan holidays. It even states in the holy bible that we SHOULD NOT bring a tree in the home and decorate it with gold and silver as it symbolizes thanks and worship of the earth, not God. So why is Christmas traditions such as the tree considered catholic or even christian is beyond me.
   
   Jeremiah 10:2 KJV Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3* For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4* They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

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5. 69

   Hayley Richardsonposted 12 years ago

   Here in England there are 390,000 followers of the Jedi religion (myself included) on the census but I don't think any of us are practicing, and I think that's what makes the difference if you're starting a religion today.  I don't think there should be a limit, everyone should be able to follow their own personal religion and believe in the God/Gods they choose.

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6. 61

   TrahnTheManposted 12 years ago

   I don't mean to be a pedant but I think this question contains a fallacy, namely that a religion is defined by a certain number of people following a belief. People may believe it's healthy to drain blood from their bodies using leeches, but that doesn't make it a religion.

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7. 79

   MickeySrposted 12 years ago

   I count religion to be that approach to God wherein you trust in your obedience to a specific moral code, your practice of particular rituals, your membership or association with that (that moral code and those rituals) belief system, etc, to make you acceptable to God - religion is whatever man concocts in his own mind or through his culture that he imagines enables him to approach God . . . so whether it's the private notion of an individual or the cultural religion of generations, if it's a legal approach to God, as in if i do 'this' god will do 'that', that is a religion.

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