<img attachment="w001.jpg" align="left" class="frame" caption="Map of World Religions"><a href="http://www.wadsworth.com/religion_d/special_features/popups/maps/index.html">Wadsworth Religion Course Guide Religion Maps</a> offers a colorful look at geographic distribution of world religions and religious sites in both the ancient and modern worlds. Leaving out religion is the <a href="http://www.wadsworth.com/religion_d/special_features/popups/maps/schmidt_patterns/content/map_03.html">Contemporary World Map</a>, which shows all of those countries from the World Cup that no one could find. Note that the inside of Africa's elbow seems to be especially conducive to football, as the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Togo are all neighbors there. Most interesting is the map shown in thumbnail to the left, the <a href="http://www.wadsworth.com/religion_d/special_features/popups/maps/matthews_world/content/map_01.html">Modern Distribution of World Religions</a>. Whereas Christianity absolutely rules the Americas with an iron fist, it's very much limited to the upper northern hemisphere in Asia (eastern Orthodox) and Protestants and Catholics are harder to find outside of Australia and southern Africa (where South Africa is the only country that is "mostly Protestant" and the rest of the region is a mix of Christian, Muslim and tribal). Islam has cut a relatively large swathe out of the middle of Asia, including half of Africa and all of the Middle (or Near) East. Hinduism is probably the most limited of major religions, being prevalent only in India, with Buddism also relatively limited to eastern Asia.