Spread Of Local Religions

Religion has existed for the entirety of human history. From Hinduism that is so old that it does not have a definitive origin to Baha’i that formed less than 200 year ago, religions are always prevalent in daily human life. However, some religions have spread all over the globe and have many adherents like Christianity whereas others are much smaller and have remained local like Judaism. Some religions are destined to remain local religions and not spread globally due to a lack of proselytism and shared cultural ties for adherents of local religions.

Since the goal of proselytism is to spread a particular religion, religions that have missionaries are more likely to be global religions. The main religions that encourage spreading the faith are Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism and they happen to be the first, second, and fourth largest religions worldwide respectively because of this (“AP Human Geography Modules,” 2017). Christianity is especially known for having missionaries; even Jesus, one of the major religious figures who is considered to be the son of God, traveled to preach the religion. Islam

These adaptations are seen in universalizing religions which also tend to be the ones that proselytize: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. For example, Buddhist texts were translated to Chinese and northwestern Chinese deities became a part of the religion, making more Chinese people convert to Buddhism than they would have without the adaptations. Sufism in Islam also adapted Islamic teaching to make the religion more accessible for all people and used ethnic religious beliefs when preaching (“The Spread of Religions,” 2017). Small changes to the traditional religious teaching makes people more likely to convert to a religion because it allows them to learn about it and not abandon their existing