World Religion Day

World religion day is held on the third Sunday of January every year to promote inter-faith understanding and harmony.

Who celebrates?

Everyone – it’s a global awareness day!

How do people celebrate?

• Members of different faiths are encouraged to acknowledge the similarities that different faiths have
• Multi-faith events are held to connect different faith members and share experiences around a common goal

What should I know?

• There are 170 different faiths and belief systems in the UK
• There are about 4,300 world religions
• The four largest religions in the world are; Christianity (over 2 billion followers), Islam (roughly 1.8 billion followers), Hinduism (roughly 1.1 billion followers) & Buddhism (roughly 500 million followers)
• Religious belief is generally considered as a collection of beliefs, values and practices that are regarded as true and sacred.

How can I support others?

• Use the opportunity to talk about your own faith and what it means to you
• Use the additional resources to educate yourself about world religions
• Ask your people about their faith and whether they’d be willing to share what it means to them
• Use the opportunity to learn about a faith different to your own
• Familiarise yourself with the diversity of religion in your area and how representative your organisation is of the community you serve.

BBC podcast on global faith experiences: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/heart-and-soul/id339986757?mt=2

TED-Ed video: World religions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6dCxo7t_aE

Video interviews about worl faiths: https://bahaiblog.net/2015/06/portraits-in-faith-video-interviews-about-faith-from-around-the-world/