Four largest religions World population Christianity Islam Buddhism Hinduism

Total

% of world Article[circular population reference] 6.99 billion[23] Figures taken from individual articles: 2.1 billion 2.2 billion 33% 34% Christianity by country 1.5 billion 1.6 billion[24] 22% 23% Islam by country 500 million 1.9 7% 29%[25] Buddhism by country billion[25] 1.0 billion 1.1 billion 15.2% 16.2% Hinduism by country 77% 99%[25] 5.1 billion 6.8 Adherents
billion[25]

Religion is impeding society's development, and I am going to talk about some of the ways that it is doing this. I am going to discuss the deaths, injuries, and mental disorders,{and money loss} which can come about as a result of religion. Firstly, let us have a look at deaths. Now, I am sure most of you have heard of something called the Crusades. For those of you who don't know, they were a series of religious expeditionary wars blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church, with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem, the most famous of these arguably being the Third Crusade, primarily fought against Saladin by Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa of Germany, King Philip II Augustus of France, and King Richard the Lion-Heart of England. These wars, fought during the 11th to 13th centuries, caused between 1 and 9 million deaths, all on behalf of religion. And although many people consider most religious deaths to be from terrorist attacks and the Crusades, the Taoist Yellow Scarves Rebellion between 184 and 205AD caused approximately 7 million deaths, and Aztec sacrifices in the 1300s to 1500s caused another million or so. On a marginally less morbid, but still quite shocking, note, consider devout Muslims' stop, drop, and pray policy. Imagine walking along a concrete sidewalk, in a major city. Now think of what would happen if one of them was walking in front of you, suddenly spun to face the prescribed direction, and dropped down to pray right then and there. You could get hit by a car trying to avoid them. In fact, according to very reliable sources, more people get brain damage every year from tripping over praying Muslims than from car crashes, and just think of how many of those car crashes could be caused by people stepping out into the road to avoid a practitioner at his prayers. Although the Buddhists and Taoists at least have the sense to do their praying in temples, this practice can be just as bad. Try living near one of their temples, even just for a month. Starting early in the morning, and ending late at night, the incessant humming that is so often a byproduct of meditation would drive you mad. I, for one, will never understand how they can be so at peace with themselves with all that noise. You could go insane, get tinnitus, or in extreme cases even go on a psychopathic rampage.

I have discussed deaths, injuries, and mental disorders, and how each of these can come about as a result of religion. I have also given you a selection of facts and figures. Based on what I have said in the past few minutes, I would like to reaffirm my earlier statement that religion is impeding society's development.