Did you know that there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world today? Astonishing, isn’t it? With approximately 59% of the world’s population practicing a particular type of religion, for many it’s a fundamental part of everyday life.

Religion is defined as a collection of belief systems, cultural systems and worldviews that relate humanity to spirituality and to moral values. The five largest religion groups being practiced by population today are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Chinese folk religion and Buddhism – with Christianity equating to 33% of the world’s population.

But, when you take away these 5, what about all of the other 3,195 religions?  There seem to be so many religions we don’t know a single thing about.

Understanding religions is a fundamental part of human existence, knowledge and communication. And, unless we hear snippets of information about them in the media, many of them seem to go unnoticed.

So, to brush up on your awareness of how others live around the world, here’s a little run down of 3 religions I bet you don’t know much about…

1. Kabbalah

Now, I know that often when the word ‘Kabbalah’ is mentioned, your mind probably first thinks of Madonna. And, yes, although the ‘Material Girl’ singer follows the religion, she isn’t what it’s all about.

Kabbalah is a Jewish mysticism religion that involves advanced understanding of religion in relation to the wider universe, the nature of God and man’s place within life.  This is done by analysing underlying meanings from a variety of Jewish scriptures, such as the Torah.

Although based on Jewish beliefs, non-Jews have been adopting the teachings of the Kabbalah since the 15^th century due to many of the understandings constituting a lot of Renaissance thought. It’s through this that has made the religion so popular throughout the Western culture today.

2. Baha’i Faith

The Baha’i Faith is a monotheistic religion that was started by Siyyid Ali-Muhammad in 1844.

The religion believes that figures such as Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Mohammad were divine messengers sent by God to lead the world’s spiritual development.

One of the main characteristics of the Baha’i faith is the belief that all of mankind should strive for a united world society. This intrinsic equal value of all human life is a primary goal of the religion, and is based on the reasoning that as God created all humans, they should all be equally valued. Those who follow the faith are strong supporters of equal treatment for women and minorities.

In order to effectively work towards achieving this goal, Baha’is engage in social education programs on a day-to-day basis. These promote racial and gender, as well a religious respect, environmental responsibility and help for those in need.

3. Bruderhof Communities

Bruderhof communities were founded in 1920 by Eberhard Arnold, his wife Emmy and Emmy’s sister, Else von Hollander. The religion is a faith in Jesus, which focuses its teachings on ‘love your neighbor as yourself’, with a focus on nonviolence, faithfulness in marriage and compassion for those less fortunate, in particular.

There are more than 20 Bruderhofs currently worldwide and half of these consist of self-contained villages of 150-300 people, where all individuals contribute to the upkeep and livelihood of their community, through a voluntary act of service.

Everything within these communities is shared amongst all members on the basis of equality. Income from all businesses is pooled and used for the care of all members and for communal outreach efforts.

The natural environment is also a fundamental aspect of The Bruderhof. Members strive to protect every aspect of the environment by using sustainable agriculture, recycling materials, as well as limiting carbon footprint through the use of solar power and geothermal heating.  As a product of God’s creation, the Bruderhof believe it should remain as natural and as untouched as possible.