As both the first ever academic database devoted to religious studies and a living resource updated daily, World Religions: Belief, Culture, and Controversy offers researchers a comprehensive research arena unlike any other.

World Religions: Belief, Culture, and Controversy spans more than 50 religions practiced throughout the world, including both those that have flourished into the 21st century and those that are no longer practiced. Nearly 10,000 reference entries and primary sources illustrate important religious figures, core beliefs, customs and practices, celebrations and holidays, significant and sacred places, and momentous events from faiths including agnosticism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Shinto. In addition, a collection of scholarly discussions offers compelling analysis of key topics and the range of historical and current debates in religious studies. The database was developed under the oversight of advisor J. Gordon Melton, PhD, author of more than 40 scholarly texts and reference books on religion and a distinguished senior fellow of the Institute for Religious Studies at Baylor University in Texas.

Features

• More than 50 religion overviews, covering such topics as agnosticism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Shinto
• Over 35 academic discussions featuring scholars such as William Pencak, Michael Baltutis, and Khaleel Mohammed, providing compelling treatment of long-standing and current debates in religious studies
• CLIOview demographic tool enabling learners to both track and predict the growth and decline of different faiths
• More than 6,700 extensive reference entries on religion in every country, including statistics on the number of followers of various beliefs in the past and present, as well as projections for the future
• Nearly 3,000 images and primary sources, including photographs of holy sites and places of worship and selections from various key religious texts