Linguist Noam Chomsky has spent much of his life studying the underlying structure of language–not the meaning of words used but their underlying form and pattern. Evolution is the hypothesized generator underlying language, which subsequently developed world wide into the various languages, all based on the underlying pre-existing patterning. (See Grammatical Man by Jeremy Campbell, Simon and Schuster). A similar underlying evolutional provision is hypothesized to exist in other areas (with some suggestive evidence) in the area of mathematics and musical talent. Incidentally, the most spoken languages as of 2020 are English: 1,132 million; Mandarin Chinese: 1,117 million speakers; Hindi 615 million; and Spanish 534 million (blog.Lingoda.com).
Perhaps a more clearcut evolutionary prescription is suggested by what has been called the spiritual gene hypothesis, fine-tuned by Dean Hamer, a molecular biologist at the National Institutes of Health. The God gene hypothesis proposes that human spirituality is influenced by heredity and that a specific gene called vesicular monoamine Transporter 2 (VMAT2) acts by altering monoamine elements and provides an evolutionary advantage by providing individuals with an innate sense of optimism (Wikipedia).
Hamer draws a sharp distinction between spirituality and religion or belief in a particular god, the latter of which is transmitted culturally. Wikipedia reports that there are approximately 4,200 active religions in the world [!] As of 2020 the breakdown is:
| Religion | Adherents | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Christianity | 2.382 billion | 31.11% |
| Islam | 1.907 billion | 24.9% |
| Secular –Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist | 1.193 billion | 15.58% |
| Hinduism | 1.251 billion | 15.16% |
| Buddhism | 506 million | 5.06% |
| Chinese traditional religion | 394 million | 5% |
| Ethnic religions excluding some in separate categories | 300 million | 3% |
| African traditional religions | 100 million | 1.2% |
| Sikhism | 26 million | 0.30% |
| Judaism | 14.7 million | 0.18% |
| Spiritism | 14.5 million | 0.18% |
| Baháʼí | 5.0 million | 0.07% |
| Jainism | 4.2 million | 0.05% |
| Shinto | 4.0 million | 0.05% |
| Cao Dai | 4.0 million | 0.05% |
| Zoroastrianism | 2.6 million | 0.03% |
| Tenrikyo | 2.0 million | 0.02% |
| Animism | 1.9 million | 0.02% |
| Druze | 1.2 million | 0.015% |
| Neo-Paganism | 1.0 million | 0.01% |
| Unitarian Universalism | 0.8 million | 0.01% |
| Rastafari | 0.6 million | 0.007% |
| Total | 7.79 billion | 100% |
NANMYKEL.COM 
HAha, i Kid You Not Nan i Was Looking At this Exact Same
Table in A Spread Sheet of Religions Around the World
Just Yesterday too
Human Is Human
There is Autotelic
Flow Frission That
May Be Described
As Divine in Tow
Yes There
is Language
Unlimited Metaphors
That Attempts to Describe
What is Other Wise Ineffable
For Those Who Do Not Have
The Experience of Autotelic Flow
In A Life of Meditation With Copious
Amounts of Frission Otherwise known
As Skin Orgasms From Head to Toe Experiencing
Life in Aesthetic Sublime Way Just Seeing Sunrises
Sunsets And Nature’s Beauty All Natural As Such or
Perhaps Even the Art Humans Try to Create Through
iMaGiNaTiON True So Many Feelings Senses Vibrations
Frequencies Energies Music New Instruments We Create Expanding
Our Vocal Chords Now to Piano strings Our Heart Beats to Percussion
Of Piano Hammers Thumping Strings As Well to the Beat of Our Existence
Freer Coloring
Life more
Now Than
Ever Before
For Those Who More
Fully Feel And Sense Life
As Bliss And Nirvana Whole
Thing is This is as Real As The
Nose on Some Folk’s Face Yet in
Metaphor Some Folks Are Born Without
This Scent And Not Raised to Be More Open
Minded Bodied SouLED For Real This Way
Those Who Miss Out on Heaven are Sadly
Lost indeed For This Heaven is As Real
As Blue Skies Above Coloring Beyond
Rainbows within for Real And true
On Earth Within There are as
Many Potential Layers
of Real HeLL oNE EartH
And Heaven Within too Helps to
Understand Greater When One has
Staycationed in Heaven And Hell and
Lived in the Lowest Rent Luke Warm Places of Purgatory Grey SHaDES too
Best Thing of All Science Proves This is all Real.. Worst Thing of All So Many
Humans
So Lost
From
Reality
of Real Ascending
Transcending the Mundane of Existence..
Is it Great For Natural Selection Of Course
When It’s Good to Live More Folks Come to Be
At Least When Humans Are Still Connecting As Human…
This Experience is Farther Away For Most Folks Than Ever before..
As It Just Doesn’t Come to Be With So Many Mechanical Cognition Left
Brain Metaphor Limiting Ways of Life to Be So Neo-Cortically Trapped Yet
This Experience is Also More Available Than Ever Before to Understand
IT IS REaL Yet There Are No Magic Recipes in Any Sacred Text Without
THE Experience Words All Symbols of Art Are JusT EMPTy SHeLLS on BeacH…
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Serendip[ity and synchronicity…Kinda glad you didn’t vote on a god.
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Hehe it is What it
Is Nan Don’t Need
To Name ALL What
i Do
When
It Comes to
Small Three Letter
Words Like God Only
Historic Words From
Men Who Never Wrote
A Word
That
Others Give
The Last Word
God To As If
Breath
May
Be Sold And
Paid For With Blood
Humans Are Notorious
For Naming What They
Neither
Understand
Or Actually Do
Goddess Of Victory
Has More Sense Never
Selling A
Dam
Shoe
Although
i Shall Not
Lie i Just Do
The Dance With
Goddess of Victory
Nike Shoes
Hi-5
Everywhere
i Do The Dance i Do
God Is Breath if That’s
Not Gift Enough
Obviously👏
FolkS Ain’t🙌
Even Breathed Yet…🌈
Rainbows They Create🌊😊
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This is very interesting, Nan, but I’m missing something. The chart totals 100%, but you say it’s estimated there are 4200 active religions. I don’t understand.
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I don’t either, now that you point it out. I assume the discrepancy has to do with labeling issues–and whether an entire religion also represents splinter groups and/or smaller or older groups. Thanks for careful reading!
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My bad. My notes say 4200 active religions in the world, vs. major religious groups
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