Why is christianity so widespread

However, it is now understood they were burial tunnels where the dead were wrapped in sheets and placed in alcoves along the subterranean tunnels. The catacombs provide us with an important insight into art history, as they contain a great number of frescos and sculptures known to be the earliest examples of Christian art. When the Roman Emperor Constantine recognised Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire in the early fourth century AD, persecutions against the Christians began to cease.

As churches started cropping up, the dead began to be buried in their accompanying cemeteries and the use of the tunnels to lay the dead to rest in the catacombs came to an end in the fifth century AD. Religion Ancient History. Read more about: Religion The history of Ramadan. Most Recent. The kingmaker Margaret Beaufort: Mother of the Tudor dynasty.

Ancient History. The Wheel of the Year: the calendar of pagan festivals explained. The history of black Britain: Roman Africans. Rome Ancient Impossible. Charismatic Christians belong to non-pentecostal denominations yet engage in spiritual practices associated with pentecostalism, such as speaking in tongues and divine healing; see Defining Christian Movements.

In addition, more than million Christians can be classified as evangelicals because they either belong to churches affiliated with regional or global evangelical associations, or because they identify as evangelicals.

Since many pentecostals and charismatics are also evangelicals, these categories are not mutually exclusive. For more details, see Christian Movements and Denominations. Rather, it takes into account levels of economic development as well as geography. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research.

Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Newsletters Donate My Account. Research Topics. Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country, is home to more Christians than all 20 countries in the Middle East-North Africa region combined. Nigeria now has more than twice as many Protestants broadly defined to include Anglicans and independent churches as Germany, the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation.

In Ireland, traditionally a staunchly Catholic country, the proportion of people identifying with Catholicism fell from Those with no religious affiliation increased to 9.

Seven in 10 people under the age of 44 said they were non-religious; the only age group in which the majority are religiously affiliated is the overs. The Islamic Republic of Iran is probably the one that springs to mind first. Until the revolution, the country was ruled by the Shah, or monarch.

But the leader of the new state was the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who implemented a political system based on Islamic beliefs and appointed the heads of the judiciary, military and media. He was succeeded in by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

There is an elected president, currently Hassan Rouhani , who is considered a moderate, reformist figure. Iran is one of only two countries in the world that reserves seats in its legislature for religious clerics the other is the UK.

Twenty-seven countries enshrine Islam as their state religion. The only Christian theocracy is Vatican City, the tiny but powerful centre of Roman Catholicism , where the Pope is the supreme power and heads the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the Vatican government. Thirteen countries including nine in Europe designate Christianity or a particular Christian denomination as their state religion.

Twenty-one bishops sit in the House of Lords by right. However the government is secular. In , more than countries and territories have no official or preferred religion. Christianity, from the very beginning, offered positions of authority to those who had no place in the social hierarchy. For instance, less than a hundred years after Jesus was crucified, the Roman governor Pliny wrote a letter to the emperor Trajan.

He stated in the letter that he is investigating a congregation led by a group of slave women called deaconesses. Learn more about cults and mystery religions. When it came to other religions, Romans were quite tolerant. The idea of slaves, women, and non-citizens being equal to male citizens was particularly disturbing for them.

Besides, the idea of monotheism was beyond their grasp. However, these differences would not be important issues, except for one matter. They had to direct that prayer toward that aspect of him that might become divine. But Christians and Jews saw this as a violation of the first commandment, not to worship others. This violation of religious beliefs could lead to their persecution and death, although for a Roman, it was a political act.

The New Testament is the collection of letters from the apostles. Starting from Paul, they wrote about the experiences of Jesus and his message. Christianity had a lot of appealing features like the promise of an afterlife in heaven.