World Christianity by the numbers (Islam now surpasses Catholic Church)

Catholic World Report ^ | February 25, 2015 | George Weigel

[NYer]

Ping!

[circlecity]

Nobody’s forced to be Christian. Can’t same the same for the pagan moslem “religion”.

[txrefugee]

Jesus said, “If you continue in My Word, then you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31.

You are not a Christian if you do not know, believe, and follow His Word, so these numbers are not God’s numbers.

[Alex Murphy]

....perhaps the most astonishing numbers in the survey involve Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians. There were 981,000 of these souls in 1900; there are 643,661,000 of them today; and there are projected to be over 1 billion Charismatics and Pentecostals in 2050. In raw numbers, then, Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity is the fastest growing phenomenon in world religious history.

These three phenomena—African growth, urbanization and the rise of Pentecostalism—also help account, I suspect, for the greater fragmentation of the Christian world. What might be called entrepreneurial Christianity—founding your own church—is very much a part of all three, and that helps explain why the number of Christian denominations grew from 1,600 in 1900 to 45,000 today, with projections of 70,000 in 2050.

Can't have a Catholic thread without disparaging some Protestants!

[piusv]

Yet in the last quarter of the 20th century Catholicism was displaced by Islam as the world’s largest religious community, as the global Muslim population grew from 571 million in 1970 to today’s 1.7 billion.

Well, when Vatican II teaching states that Muslims profess and adore the same God as Catholics do, what does it matter? Just another good fruit of Vatican II, I guess. /s

[goodwithagun]

A small order of nuns live across the street from us. I’m pretty happy about that. A group of jihadis not so much. This statistic is not good for Christians of all denominations.

[CynicalBear]

For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

The numbers game never did impress me. I've sat in a lot of "churches" in my nearly 70 years on this earth and I can attest to the fact that the social club aspect is prominent. Belonging and going through the rituals isn't going to cut it when that time comes.

[piusv]

One more disturbing number: according to the survey’s projections, only 14 percent of non-Christians today know a Christian—a number that speaks to both the isolation of religious groups from each other and the failures of evangelization

You mean the Catholic Church hasn't been teaching that one must be Catholic?

Oh right, "proselytism is solemn nonsense".

[ealgeone]

The numbers game never did impress me. I've sat in a lot of "churches" in my nearly 70 years on this earth and I can attest to the fact that the social club aspect is prominent. Belonging and going through the rituals isn't going to cut it when that time comes.

At one time Jesus had 70 disciples....then there were 12.

Gideon had a large army at one time and that got paired down a bit.

God has never been impressed with large numbers. It's all about faith.

Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than staying at a holiday inn makes you_________!

[mj1234]

big issue in this “survey”

Think any Muslim- WOULD EVER SAY THEY KNOW a Christian?

Think anyone in Saudia Arabia,Iran,Afghanistan,somalia,
Iraq,Pakistan,Syria- would EVER answer a “survey”
Truthfully?
I know a lot of -former Catholics- who have fallen...
they consider themselves Christian and some do go to
other “Evangelical services”-

I know 1 family that is thinking of switching from the
Catholic faith— BECAUSE OF THE LATEST sex scandal
in the Church! they do NOT want their children exposed
to this crap.

[Biggirl]

Got to remember that:

The Muslim god is simply the DEVIL.

[SIRTRIS]

>>>Yet in the last quarter of the 20th century Catholicism was displaced by Islam as the world’s largest religious community, as the global Muslim population grew from 571 million in 1970 to today’s 1.7 billion.

So let me get this right, Catholics are picked on as a sect of Christianity while Sunni & Shia r not sects of Islam? OH Plsssss! These pollsters should do a better job of comparing apples to apples... not a bushel of apples to one apple!

[annalex]

Catholics are picked on as a sect of Christianity while Sunni & Shia r not sects of Islam?

I usually object to the mixing up of Catholicism with innumerable Christian "denominations", but I agree that for the statistical purposes the major branches of Islam: Sunni, Shia, Allawi, Sufi should be counted separately just as the branches of Christianity are.

However, Christians should learn one thing from this: If you think you are fine having your statistical 1.9 children per family, study some Arabic.

[NYer]

Can't have a Catholic thread without disparaging some Protestants!

Citing statistics hardly qualifies as disparagement.

[reed13k]

If they’re going to divide Christians up into their different segments to do a proper comparison they need to break muslims out into Shiite/Shia/Alaweh/etc as well.

[Grateful2God]

List of Religious Populations

The World Factbook, a publication of the CIA gives the population as 7,095,217,980 (July 2013 est.) and the distribution of religions as:
Christian 31.50% (of which Roman Catholic 16.85%,
Protestant 6.15%,
Orthodox 3.96%,
Anglican 1.26%),
Muslim 23.20% (of which
Sunni 75-90%,
Shia 10-20%,
Ahmadi 1%),
Hindu 13.8%,
Buddhist 6.77%,
Sikh 0.35%,
Jewish 0.22%,
Baha'i 0.11%,
other religions 10.95%,
non-religious 9.66%,
atheists 2.01% (2010 est.).[1]

[Grateful2God]

From the look of things, it would take an entire book to name all those segments.

[Grateful2God]

What might be called entrepreneurial Christianity—founding your own church—is very much a part of all three, and that helps explain why the number of Christian denominations grew from 1,600 in 1900 to 45,000 today, with projections of 70,000 in 2050.

Example: Get Ordained Online

...In order to bypass the strict ordination requirements imposed by conventional churches, many look to establish an independent Christian church.One of the easiest ways to get ordained as a Christian is to go through a Universalist ministry such as the Universal Life Church. The ULC provides an easy method for individuals to become ordained ministers without taking any classes or even without leaving home. All ordination can be done online or over the telephone. Ordained ministers of this church are legally entitled and recognized by the state to officiate over weddings, perform baptisms, perform other religious rites, and operate as a tax exempt entity...