Abstract
Three religions – Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam – have spread much more widely than other religions. Scholars of religion generally have not tried to explain this difference. A possible reason for this neglect is that scholars have not sufficiently examined how Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad are recognized by their followers as special persons beyond all other persons. The drawing power of charismatic leaders and heroes has been studied but not why these three persons had special drawing powers without which the religions they founded would not have spread so widely. Expanding a theory of the drawing power of special persons, this article shows through controlled historical comparisons that the three founders were able to draw large numbers of followers because people recognized the relationship of the founders to the Divine, the transcendent, and other eternal spiritual realities and also that such a relationship was offered to their followers accompanied by compassion. This recognition made the three founders along with the messages about them by their followers the central reason the three religions they founded spread across numerous social and cultural borders to a greater extent than any other religions. Conducive social factors, though important, were not as essential as the personal influence of the three founders.
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