[Wrigley]

I agree. IIRC, I was trying to make a point about how the number went up as the conversation went along. IMO, the number used here is a strawman.

[razorbak]

Also, one major and often overlooked reason there are so many denominations and churches is a thing called "freedom." When one religion whether Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Humanism, etc.] is forced on a population by the leaders of that religion AND the civil authorities [and even armies], it does cut down on the number of dissenting religious groups. One of the things that most endears me to the good old U.S.A. is that we have no state sanctioned religion.