Among religions in Austria, Roman Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church,[note 1] is the world's largest Christian church, and claims over a billion members, representing approximately half of all Christians[note 2] and one-sixth of the world's population. The Catholic Church is a communion of the Western Rite and 22 autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches ( Christianity Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. The Christian faith is essentially faith in Jesus as the Christ (or Messiah), the Son of God, the Savior, the manifestation of God to humankind (Immanuel), and God (Yahweh or the "Lord") himself is predominant. According to the 2001 census, 73.6% of the country's population adhered to this denomination.[1] The number of Sunday churchgoers stood at around 11.5% (as percentage of the total Austrian population, that is 914,348 churchgoers out of a total population of 8,043,000). Since 2001, the number of Roman Catholics and number of churchgoers have reduced. Data for the end of 2005 from the Austrian Roman Catholic church lists 5,663,000 members or 68.5% of the total Austrian population, and a weekly Roman Catholic church attendance of 753,701 or 9% of the total Austrian population.[2] The number of Lutherans Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the 16th century German reformer Martin Luther. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation. The reactions of governmental and churchly authorities to the international spread of his writings, declined, from 5.7% in 1971 to 4.7 in 2006. Most Lutherans reside in the province of Carinthia, South Austria. Meanwhile, the number of Muslims A Muslim , pronounced /ˈmʊslɪm/, is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah (Arabic: مسلمة). Literally, the word means "one who submits (to God)". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah is on the increase, with 4.2%. There are also minor communities of Hindus A Hindu ( pronunciation , Devanagari: हिन्दू) is an adherent of Hinduism, a set of religious, philosophical and cultural systems that originated in the Indian subcontinent. The vast body of Hindu scriptures, divided into Śruti ("revealed") and Smriti ("remembered"), lay the foundation of Hindu beliefs, which, Sikhs Sikh is the title and name given to an adherent of Sikhism. The term has its origin in the Sanskrit term śiṣya, meaning "disciple, learner" or śikṣa, meaning "instruction", Buddhists Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices variously described as religious, spiritual and philosophical. These are all based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha and Jews The Jews are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation. Converts to Judaism have been absorbed into the Jewish people throughout the millennia, and are regarded as in Austria.[3][4]
