Western religions the Western world paganism is becoming increasingly popular. There remains a minority of the order of 5% of the population in the Western world which adheres to non-Western religions, mostly due to recent immigration, but to some extent also due to proselytization, notably conversion to various sects of Buddhism and Hinduism in the context of the New Age movement in the later part of the 20th century. Western religions Western religions refers to religions that originated within Western culture, and are thus historically, culturally, and theologically distinct from the Eastern religions. The term Abrahamic religions (Islam, Eastern Christianity and Judaism)
Islam and other religions of the faith being effected rather by persuasion and inducement." A few well-known examples of forced conversion are: Unilateral Islam and other religions Over the centuries of Islamic history, Muslim rulers, Islamic scholars, and ordinary Muslims have held many different attitudes towards other religions. Attitudes have varied according to time, place and circumstance. The Qur'an distinguishes between the monotheistic People of the Book ("ahl al-kitab"), ie. Jews, Christians, Sabians and others on the one hand and polytheists or "idolaters" on the other hand. There are certain kinds of restrictions that apply to polytheists but not to "People of the Book".