Britannica Encyclopedia of World Religions

he Britannica Encyclopedia ofWorld Religions seeks to respond in a systematic way to the growing importance of religion in the contemporary world.We have entered the new millennium in the middle of a conversation that has been building to a crisis throughout the 20th century between people who live religion and people who study it, sometimes to justify it, sometimes to challenge it, sometimes to satisfy their curiosity about it. Religious faith is an explicitly contested issue in politics— locally (prayer in school), nationally (the influence of Christian values upon legislative and judicial policy), and internationally (Islam being the most prominent but by no means the only religion in the headlines)—but many participants in these encounters are genuinely trying to understand one another’s positions. This book is intended not only for people who believe in religion but also for people who do not, in the hopes of establishing a sound body of knowledge about religion to be used in formulating a common ground for both types of people to stand on in their ongoing conversation.