Muslim Populations in Asia

Most of the world's Muslims live in Asia. Indonesia (240,271,522 | 86.1% Muslim), India (1,156,897,766 | 13.4% Muslim), Pakistan (174,578,558 | 95% Muslim) and Bangladesh (156,050,883 | 83% Muslim) have the world's highest Muslim populations.

Indonesia Muslims

Once called the Spice Islands, Indonesia, the fourth largest nation in the world, is a nation in which it is impossible to make generalisations. The people of Indonesia represent hundreds of languages, cultures and religions.

Today Indonesia is at a point of crisis. Every major region of Indonesia has suffered. Indonesia is an archipelago of 17,508 islands, still grapples with persistent poverty and unemployment, inadequate infrastructure, endemic corruption, a fragile banking sector, a poor investment climate, and unequal resource distribution among regions. Declining oil production and lack of new exploration investment turned Indonesia into a net oil importer in 2004. Unfortunately, Indonesia suffers new natural disasters all the time. Donors are assisting Indonesia with its disaster mitigation and early warning efforts.

Prayer Guide for Indonesia:

1. Pray for those in leadership in Indonesia.

2. Pray for those enduring economic hardship. Ask God to open doors for Christian workers to create employment opportunities.

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and home to the world's largest Muslim population. In 2005, Indonesia reached a historic peace agreement with armed separatists in Aceh, but it continues to face a low intensity separatist guerilla movement in Papua.

Ethnic groups: Javanese 40.6%, Sundanese 15%, Madurese 3.3%, Minangkabau 2.7%, Betawi 2.4%, Bugis 2.4%, Banten 2%, Banjar 1.7%, other or unspecified 29.9%

Religions: Islam 86.1%, Protestant 5.7%, Roman Catholic 3%, Hindu 1.8%, other or unspecified 3.4%

Languages: Indonesian, English, Dutch, local dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Javanese.

School life expectancy: 12 years.

Caribbean Religions

When it comes to religion, the Caribbean is dominated by Christianity. From the religions of slaves and indentured servants to styles developed on the islands themselves, the Caribbean is full of a vibrant variety of faiths.

Christianity is the dominant religious style in the region, but local religions also play an important role in the Caribbean. Many of the Caribbean-born slaves were indoctrinated into Christianity.

In fact, the end of slavery helped encourage some religious diversity in the islands. Rastafarianism is Christianity with a distinctly Caribbean style.

The many distinct religions in the Caribbean can be divided into Christianity, Afro-Caribbean Creolized religions and East Indian religions.

Atheism

Atheism is the absence of belief in any Gods. Atheists don't use God to explain the existence of the universe.

Atheists say that human beings can devise suitable moral codes to live by without the aid of Gods. People are atheist for many reasons, among them:

1. They find insufficient evidence to support any religion.

2. They think that religion is nonsensical.

3. Religion doesn't interest them.

4. Religion doesn't seem relevant to their lives.