- published: 09 Apr 2011
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In the study of comparative religion, the East Asian religions (also known as Far Eastern religions, Chinese religions, or Taoic religions) form a subset of the Eastern religions. This group includes Caodaism, Chen Tao, Hoahaoism, Chondogyo, Confucianism, Jeungism, Shinto, Taoism, I-Kuan Tao and elements of Mahayana Buddhism.
These traditions or religious philosophies focus on the East Asian concept of Tao 道 ("The Way"; pinyin dào, Korean do, Japanese tō or dō, Vietnamese đạo).
The place of East Asian religions among major religious groups is comparable to the Abrahamic religions and Indian religions.
Early Chinese philosophies defined Tao and advocated cultivating Te in that Tao. Some ancient schools have merged into traditions with different names or are no longer active, such as Mohism (and many others of the Hundred Schools of Thought), while some such as Taoism persist to the modern day. East Asian religion is usually polytheistic or nontheistic, but henotheistic, monotheistic, pantheistic, panentheistic and agnostic varieties exist, inside and outside of Asia.[citation needed] East Asian religions have many Western adherents, though their interpretations may differ significantly from traditional East Asian thought and culture.
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, with millions of different peoples following a wide variety of different religions. Asia was the birthplace of most of the world's mainstream religions including Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Lingayatism, Jainism, Sikhism, Taoism, Islam, Zoroastranism as well as many other beliefs.
Judaism is the predominant religion in Israel, which has a nominal Jewish population of about 7 million, though the matter of distinguishing Jewish religious, cultural and ethnic identity is a complex one.[citation needed]
Christianity is a widespread minority religion in Asia. Only four countries are predominantly Christian, Cyprus which is predominantly Greek Orthodox, the Philippines, which is the 21st largest Roman Catholic nation in the world, and East Timor. South Korea has the largest percentage of Protestant believers in all of Asia, with believers accounting for almost 31% of the population (Christianity accounts for 55% of South Korea's population, 50% of its religious population). There are small Christian communities in Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. More than 24 million Christians live in India, concentrated especially in the North-Eastern and Southern parts of the country. There are also many Christians in China and Israel.