ABSTRACT
Education was institutionalized much later than the other pivotal institutions. The universality of religion testifies to the human quest for a spiritual facet that seems to be lacking in everyday life. Today, the world's religions may be categorized into: monotheistic, polytheistic, ethical, and ancestral. Monotheism in one god includes Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism. In terms of number of followers, Islam is the second-largest religion in the world. Zoroastrianism is also a pre-Christian religion and is followed by approximately a quarter of a million faithful, mainly in India, who worship an all-powerful God engaged temporarily in a continuing battle with evil. Western societies are particularly rich in the diversity of their religious groups. Even though Christianity is the predominant faith of the West, it contains a large number of various religious expressions. One trait especially characteristic of American education is the fact that people consider it to be a first and necessary step toward economic and, therefore, social upward mobility.
