Posted on 08/04/2004 12:22:41 PM PDT by dukeman
BERLIN--
Europe will have an Islamic majority by the end of this century based on current demographic and migration trends, a leading US Middle East specialist says.
"Europe will be part of the Arab west - the Maghreb," said Bernard Lewis, a Princeton University professor and author of numerous books on the Middle East, in an interview with the newspaper Die Welt.
In addition to immigration, Lewis said Europeans were marrying too late and having too few children whereas Muslims in Europe married early and had far larger numbers of children.
"Current trends show Europe will have a Moslem majority by the end of the 21st century at the latest," said Lewis as quoted by the paper.
Germany, the biggest European Union (EU) country, currently has over 3 million Muslims out of a total population of 82 million.
EU leaders will in December decide on whether to open membership talks with mainly Muslim Turkey which currently has a population of 70 million but is expected to outgrow Germany in coming decades.
A very fine day to you too, I hope your weather improves.
As a car nut(65 Mustang) I would rather my neighbor have a '65 Impala lowrider than a neighbor that regresses back toward a mule and cart.
My personal thought is the world in the next 25-50 years is going to be changed rapidly by a nuclear war between the paks and indians or some other group. Also think the countries will turn Islamic over the next 100 years. There will be a major war between the Christians and Muslims first. Christain women will not be set back. A few cases of female genital circumsician and burkas thrown onto them and they will fight back worse than any women on PMS. A third sceanrio is a new form of bubonic plague or possibly a mutated Aids that turns airborne thanks to the queers and kills off most of the population of the world.
CHINESE may become CHRISTIANIZED-historically they and the MUSLIMS don't jive
The trump card is, of course, the saliciousness of the dominant western culture.
When the women of Islam see the women of the civilized west dressed provocatively, enjoying passionate flings with hunky men, enjoying high paying jobs, a lot of disposable income, exotic vacations (and meaningless flings that come with it), irresponsible sex without consequence, etc., there's a good shot they will be corrupted and sissyfy their men just like the dominant culture sissified many western men.
Analysis like in the article is static - there is a greater chance that the western culture will dominate the immigrant muslims, than their culture will dominate the west.
Sin has a great power over people. That may not be good news, but compared to other options, it's not so bad.
See, there you go again, presuming to tell me what I must be thinking or what I need to understand. And all this based on one post. I am impressed.
This is just silly--The Islamic thing is fueled by people moving in--not conversions--how many 3rd generation Turks--living in Europe will bow to Mecca five times a day? How many will become Christian? If he can predict things so can anyone. What about the number of Russians coming west to seek jobs in Europe? Does that mean Orthodox Christian Church will dominate? By that same token Can we predict the USA will be completely Roman Catholic because of all the Mexicans moving in? No, things are in flux right now. Once, long ago, people predicted that Chinese would overrun the USA and by this time 1/2 of the people would be Chinese. It didn't happen then and such things will not happen in the future!
He has a $650k home and a kid on scholarship? Ooooo-kay . . .
A Tidal Wave of Christianity
By Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. Reporter
In just 20 years, two-thirds of all Christians will live in Africa, Latin America or Asia.
CBN.com – September 11th focused a lot of attention on the growth of Islam. What most pundits and scholars have missed is the incredible growth of Christianity, and where it's growing. Today more Presbyterians worship in the African nation of Ghana than in Scotland. And more Anglicans worship in Nigeria than in Britain.
We like to think of ourselves as the Christian West. But there is growing evidence that the center of Christendom has moved.
Africans are running to accept Jesus Christ. It is a scene playing out all across the developing world. It may sound like an exaggeration, but it's not: Christianity is sweeping across the southern hemisphere and Asia like a tidal wave.
"The scale of Christian growth is almost unimaginable," said Dr. Philip Jenkins, distinguished professor of History and Religious Studies at Penn State University.
Jenkins shocked and probably panicked some of America's political and media elite with his acclaimed book, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. Jenkins argues the greatest movement of the past century was not communism or capitalism. Do the math and the winner is spirit-filled Christianity, or what he terms in his study as "Pentecostalism."
"The modern Pentecostal movement begins at the start of the 20th century," Jenkins said. "So say this begins with a few hundred, a few thousand people… today you're dealing with several hundred million people, and the best projections are by 2040’s or 2050’s, you could be dealing with a billion Pentecostals worldwide. By that stage there will be more Pentecostals than Hindus. There are already more Pentecostals than Buddhists."
Jenkins says in just 20 years, two-thirds of all Christians will live in Africa, Latin America or Asia.
"Back in 1900, there were about 10 million Christians in Africa, representing about 10 percent of the population. Today there are 360 million, representing just under half the population. That is one of the most important changes in religious history, and I think most of us didn't notice it," he said.
A lot of people still haven't noticed it. When scandal or controversy hits an American church, the U.S. news media tends to treat it like a worldwide crisis for that denomination. But it is not a crisis for those churches in the developing world. Most of them are not gripped by debates over homosexuality or abortion — that is a problem for European and American liberals — they believe the Bible.
"The Bible is alive in Africa and Asia and Latin America," Jenkins said. "Overwhelmingly, the kind of Christianity is one which is very Bible-centered, which takes the Bible very seriously, takes authority very seriously, both the Old and the New Testament, in a way which I don't think western Christianity has done probably since the Enlightenment."
But the growth of Christianity threatens Islam, and Christians are being slaughtered in places like Nigeria and Indonesia. Jenkins thinks the conflict will intensify in nations where the two faiths compete. And he debunks the notion that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Christianity is growing faster.[This statement says a lot. I believe it could happen in Europe and in the U.S. as well]
"If you look at the 25 most populous countries in the world in the mid-21st century, 20 of those are going to be divided to a greater or lesser extent between Christianity and Islam," Jenkins said. Then there is China. There are about 80 million Christians in China, according to former Time Magazine Correspondent David Aikman, who predicts China will be a Christianized nation in 20 to 30 years. He does not predict a Christian majority, but a China that is 25 to 30 percent Christian. Enough, he says, to change society and government.
"If you have a Christianized China, the leadership of China would reflect a Christian worldview to some degree," Aikman said. "A China that's Christianized would not be a threat to the United States."
And Aikman says the Chinese church leaders have a burden to take the gospel the rest of the way across the globe, to the Muslims.[This is an interesting mission]
"It's part of a sense that they call ‘back to Jerusalem,’" Aikman said. "They believe that just as the gospel originally came out of Jerusalem and went to the West and to North America and Europe and came to China, now the Chinese need to bring it back to Jerusalem, not in the sense of evangelizing the Jewish, but in the sense of completing the circle so that the gospel message is available to everybody in the world."
Imagine Chinese reaching the Muslims, Koreans evangelizing Indians, Africans taking the gospel back to a largely godless Europe.[This could change the whole Islamic Europe beliief]
African Matthew Ashimolowo is the pastor of the fastest growing church in England. "God is sending people who used to receive missionaries to now be missionaries around the world," Ashimolowo said.
Kenyan Bishop Gilbert Dya has one of the largest churches in London. "I am in this country, believing that God sent me here in Great Britain to make a voice on His behalf to let them know that they need to repent and come back to God," he said.
The developing world is not only a growing base for world missions, Jenkins says it is becoming the center of Christendom…again.
"Jesus said His church would last until the end of time. He never used the word, ‘Europe.’ Christianity is returning, I think, to its roots. It is a religion that originated in the Middle East and in Africa. Perhaps it went away for a while, but now it's back," Jenkins said.
No doubt that the West shares more values with Hispanics than Muslims. The only problem I have are with illegal immigrants, most of whom are Hispanic. Maybe some people misunderstood me on the board in earlier posts.
To comment on the casualty numbers, I don't care where the troops live. If you serve your country honorably so I can live as I do, you are nothing less than a hero.
as they get wealthier their breeding rate will drop--this happens everywhere
There is a conflagration coming for sure. And I bet that our Latino pals will, as they have since WW1, be fighting and dying on our side.
and 732
I wonder how all those European lefties will react when they're surrounded by jihadists in their own countries? Will America looks so stupid and backward then?
me 2
They will convert.
Quote:Analysis like in the article is static - there is a greater chance that the western culture will dominate the immigrant muslims, than their culture will dominate the west.
This could happen: Through marriages/assimilation Western Culture will bring up the Islamic culture to respectable modern levels and the Islamic moral culture will tone down the decadent(gays/pornographyetc) points of western culture to say 1940/50's America. Could be a cool time to live.
If the forces of Islam had triumphed at Tours, I might have been teaching the Koran at Oxford and not the Holy Bible.
You see friends, people like the professor get a sort of orgasm over making statements like this. Well, this beggar will be dead any way, if this (Muslim conquest)comes to pass, so will I. Something of a consolation anyway. The chances are though and using old working class language, the professor is a bloody old fool. LOL
"I wonder how all those European lefties will react when they're surrounded by jihadists in their own countries? Will America looks so stupid and backward then?"
Probably, or at least in France.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.