Why isn't there a Hinduism forum?

[Clark Park]

Originally Posted by arctic_gardener

It's the third largest religion in the world in terms of number of followers. There are forums on here for relatively minor religions like Judaism and Buddhism but not Hinduism. Makes no sense to me.

Judaism may be much smaller in numerical adherents, but it is the parent religion of both Christianity and Islam, the two largest religions in the world. Judaism has had a profound influence and impact on world history. It can not be dismissed as a "minor religion."

If Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world - which I do not dispute - you must remember that right behind it is Buddhism which is the fourth largest religion in the world with hundreds of millions of members. From my travels I can discern only two majority Hindu nations - India and Nepal - although the first one is a really huge country, but there are a greater number of so-called Buddhist nations including Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Tibet, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, Mongolia, etc. It appears that Buddhism is growing especially in the western hemisphere, and there is more Buddhists in the US than there are Hindus. There is even a Buddhist senator in the US Senate. Therefore I would not characterize Buddhism as a "minor religion."

To me a minor religion would be something that is limited to a specific region and has fewer than a couple of million followers ... this might include Tenrikyo (a Japanese religion founded by a prophetess in the 19th Century), Jainism (one of the lesser Indian religions), Bon (a native religion of Tibet before Buddhism became predominant), Voudun (an Afro-Caribbean religion), Candomble (an Afro-Brazilian religion), Zoroastrianism (an ancient Persian religion that still has about 2 million followers mostly in Iran and India), etc.