the 16th century, when they break loose from the Catholic Church. Luthers criticism to Catholicism started in 1517. The German defends that faith is the fundamental element for saving the individual and condemns the Sales of indulgence by the Church and the slackening of habits of the clergy at the time. Protestantism is divided into historical Protestantism, created at the Reform, and Pentecostal Protestantism, which started in the beginning of the 20th century. Its calculated that Protestantism has around 500 million followers all over the world. Brazil has the largest base of Protestants in South America, around 13 million people, according to a Datafolha poll in 1994.[iv] Judaism is considered the first monotheist religion of mankind. Chronologically, is the first of the three religions originated from Abraham (the others are Christianity and Islamism). There are, currently, around 13.5 million of Jewish in the world, 4 million in Israel. In Brazil, according to IBGE, there were about 86 thousand in 1991. The Jewish Federation of the State of Sao Paulo says that, today, this number is of 110 thousand.[v] Islamism is a monotheist religion based on the teachings of Muhammad, contained in the Islamic book, the Qur'an (of Arabic al-Quran, reading)[vi]. The world Islam means submit and express the submission to the will of Allah (God in Arabic). It is believed to have more than 1 billion of followers (18% of world population), especially in North Africa, Middle East and Asia. There are two factions of Islamism Sunni Islam and Shia Islam. It is believed that 83% of Muslims follow Sunni Islam. For them, the spiritual authority belongs to the community as a whole. Shia Islam followers (16% of Muslims) believe in Ali, Fatimahs husband, Muhammads daughter. Their descendents would have the key to interpret the teachings of Islam. They are leaders of community and followers of the spiritual mission of Muhammad. The rivalry with Sunni Islam is tragically exaggerated, mainly after the Iranian revolution led by Ruhollah Khomeini.[vii] Spiritism is a religious doctrine based on the belief of existence of the Spirit, regardless of the body There are the principles of Hinduism, a set of concepts, doctrines and religious practices that started in India in 2000 b.C. They are based on Vedas[viii]. Its main characteristics are the polytheism and reincarnation. Its believed that, today, there are more than one billion adepts. Buddhism is an ethical, religious and philosophical system, founded by the Hindu prince Siddhartha Gautama (563 b.C.?-483 b.C.?), Buddha, around VI b.C. It teaches how to overcome suffering and reach nirvana[ix] through mental discipline and a correct form of life. Confucianism is another religious doctrine of the Western world, and, also, a philosophy, political ideology. Its a legacy of literary tradition, based on the ideas of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551 b.C.-479 b.C.). It remained as the official doctrine of China, for almost two thousand years, from the 2nd until the beginning of the 20th century. Currently, 25% of the Chinese population claim to live according to this doctrine. Outside China, Confucianism has about 6.3 million followers, mainly in Japan, South