Religious Places And News

I was in conversation about the World's most visited religious destinations and what is the most important. Then I started researching, You would think the number one spot to visit for the main 3 religions would be Jerusalem but the first site I came to in a google search on the topic was trip atlas who needs to get their facts straight. Jerusalem is not to be stated as Jerusalem, Israel. Any way they list Jerusalem as the number 5 spot.

5) Jerusalem 1.5 million visitors come to Jerusalem annually from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths, and just as many simply interested tourists. Jerusalem is an important place for many faiths and is also the city in which many religious relics are found, including: the Wailing Wall (or Western Wall), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, and most important the al Aqsa Mosque.

You can check out the article here in regards to religous travel. also MSNBC had a article and according to MSNBC in their religious travel article it was almost the same.


Every year millions of people travel to destinations of religious significance. Places like Palestine , Israel, Vatican City, Mecca and Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Have you ever been or would like to go to any of those places? Can you name one I did not mention? Please leave a comment about the millions of visitors who travel to these destinations and why these places are so important.

In other news related to religious places Israel dismally fails the requirements of a tolerant pluralistic society, according to a new report from the U.S. State Department.

Despite boasting religious freedom and protection of all holy sites, Israel falls short in tolerance toward minorities, equal treatment of ethnic groups, openness toward various streams within society, and respect for holy and other sites.

The comprehensive report, written by the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, says Israel discriminates against groups including Muslims, Jehova's Witnesses, Reform Jews, Christians, women and Bedouin.

The report says that the 1967 law on the protection of holy places refers to all religious groups in the country, including in Jerusalem, but "the government implements regulations only for Jewish sites. Non-Jewish holy sites do not enjoy legal protection under it because the government does not recognize them as official holy sites."