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Religious Symbols on National Flags (#1502)

2014/12/17 By Greg

Switzerland-FlagAccording to a new Pew Research analysis, a third of the world’s countries have national flags that contain religious symbols.  The 64 flags with religious imagery can be categorized by religion as follows:

  • Christianity – 31
  • Islam – 21
  • Other Religions – 6
  • Hinduism/Buddhism – 3
  • Buddhism – 2
  • Judaism – 1.

So What?

According to data gathered a few years ago by Pew Research, more than half of the global population are adherents to one of the world’s two largest religions: Christianity – 31.5% and Islam – 23.2%.  Additionally, more than 2 out of every 10 people living are adherents of either Hinduism (15.0%) or Buddhism (7.1%).

If one considers only nations with religious flags, it would seem reasonable to expect the breakdown would be similar to the percentage of people adhering to each religion.  The actual breakdown, however, varies significantly:

Religion

% of Global Population

% of Flags

Over or Under Representation

Christianity

31.5%

48.4%

+16.9%

Islam

23.2%

32.8%

+9.6%

Hinduism & Buddhism
(combined)

22.1%

7.8%

-14.3%

  •  Are you surprised to learn that roughly 1/3 of all national flags contain a religious symbol?
  • Why do you think Christianity and Islam have an over-representation of religious symbolism while Hinduism and Buddhism suffer from an under-representation when compared to their respective population sizes?

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Greg Smith

Greg is a follower of the Way of Jesus who strives to make the world a better place for all people. Currently, he serves as Chief Executive Officer of White Rock Center of Hope and as Interim Senior Pastor of Advent Lutheran Church. He has served ten congregations, taught religion to undergraduates for eight years, and helped three organizations provide quality healthcare to underserved populations. (Read More)

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