Posted on 04/17/2015 8:23:17 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
We often hear from atheists how religion is dying out as mankind comes to see the clear light of reason.
Atheist “intellectuals” speak disparagingly about religion and predict that mankind is on the cusp of a new age in which religion will simply disappear as science, technology and reason are in the ascendant.
The facts indicate exactly the opposite. It is religion which continues to grow around the world while the statistics indicate that agnosticism and atheism are dying out.
[See also:11 Maps to Help You Make Sense of World Religion]
[See also:24 Crazy Facts About Global Christianity in the 21st Century]
A new report by Pew Research chronicled here at the Daily Telegraph tells a very interesting story.
While the numbers of those who are “religiously unaffiliated” is predicted to rise in Western Europe and the United States, in global terms their numbers are shrinking as Christianity and Islam continue to wrestle for spiritual domination in the world.
According to the Pew Research Centre, the religiously unaffiliated – referring to atheists, agnostics and other people who do not identify with a religion – are declining as a share of the population.
Sixteen per cent of the population was unaffiliated to a religion in 2010 and Pew predicted by 2050, this would fall to 13 per cent, mainly because individuals in this group are older and have less children.
The huge growth rate will be among Christians in Africa.
[See also:12 Hopeful Maps & Graphs of Religion in Africa]
Furthermore, while the rise of Islam is looked on with dismay, by 2050 Christianity will still be predominant
It is widely known that Islam is increasing globally but despite this increase, by 2050, only two more countries (51 in total) will have a population of Muslims that is more than 50 per cent.
According to the projections it is not until the turn of the century that Muslims will begin to overtake Christians, and then only by 1% worldwide.
In Europe, however, the decline of Christianity and the rise of Islam will continue.
By 2050, the Pew report predicted that 30 per cent (2.8 billion) of the population will identify themselves as Muslim compared to 31 per cent (2.9 billion) identifying themselves as Christian. In Europe, it is suggested that by 2050, 10 per cent of the continent will be Muslim and in the US, it will become the second-largest faith.
These projections are based only on demographic trends. We should remember that most predictions like this end up being wildly inaccurate because they cannot predict a whole range of other variables.
[See also: 10 Revealing Maps of Religion in Europe]
Here are some unpredictable variables which could affect these predictions:
a revival of Christianity in the West. In the late eighteenth century atheism, rationalism and Freemasonry seemed to have taken over Europe. By the mid to late nineteenth century religious revival had swept through Europe and Christianity was surging forward. This revival was a result of fervent preaching, supernatural occurrences like Lourdes, new saints and evangelization.
war or natural disaster – war, natural disaster or plagues can affect the religious demographic–both wiping out whole populations and turning people back to religion
Mass conversions – history has shown (Mexico in the sixteenth century) that there can be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and whole populations will suddenly convert to Christianity. While missionary efforts to Islamic countries are largely unsuccessful a supernatural conversion of Muslims to Christianity could change the landscape.
Immigration and population controls. Western governments might start restricting Islamic immigration and deport Muslims. This would alter the religious scene and make the predictions go awry
Unexpected change in human reproduction. Many of the predictions are based on the assumption that artificial birth technologies will continue to advance throughout the world. Things could go either way: Muslims who are reproducing more than Christians might start to use artificial contraception and abortion or Christians might stop using them. Social trends might be reversed by economic conditions and people may start wanting large families or the unimaginable might happen: birth control pills might stop working and everyone will start having more babies.
The bottom line is that religion is here to stay, and the predictions are that all religious groups will experience growth through the end of the century.
Atheists and agnostics are the only ones (along with Buddhists) who will see their numbers decline.
This article originally appeared on Fr. Dwight Longenecker’s blog “Standing on My Head,” and is reprinted with permission. Visit his website, browse his books, and be in touch at dwightlongenecker.com.
god i hope NOT</sarc>
The only problem with this is that along with other religions, Muslims are growing in numbers also. This does not bode well for the civilized world.
Atheism is Dying Out Around the World
I don’t believe in it.
Quite a few of them died in the gulags, killed by...atheism.
Let’s hope the church of Gorebull Warmunism here in the U.S. follows suit.
Re: dreams and visions. There are a lot of books that mention this and give cases.
Tom Doyle, Dreams and Visions
Tom Doyle, Breakthrough - The Return of Hope to the Middle East
David Garrison, A Wind in the House of Islam
Jerry Trousdale, Miraculous Movements
Joel C. Rosenberg, Inside the Revolution
Nabeel Qureshi, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus
Go on Youtube. There are plenty of testimonials made by former Muslims who started questioning what they were doing. They knew inside that what Allah commanded of them felt wrong. Several prayed for Allah to reveal himself to them but he never did. When he didn’t answer them they asked if Jesus was real and prayed for the same and he did reveal himself to them. The testimonials don’t seem contrived. They look pretty real. The guys giving the testimony look pretty shook up about what they saw.
BTW - we’ve had 3 former aetheists give their life to the Lord the past year. They knew deep inside there was a God. Everyone of them has said that.
Atheism and homosexuality are intricately linked in the sense that both boast to be popular worldwide while consisting of less than 5% of the total population around the globe.
It’s all smoke and mirrors. Christians are starting to wake up, and they’re pissed.
RE: Atheism is Dying Out Around the World
What religion is taking its place?
I don’t have enough faith to believe there is no God.
Pray America is waking
[[science, technology and reason]]
Their trinty
?????
Yes, we’re pissed. We’re pissed at the evil brilliance which has pulled these lost ones into the lies of the demons. we are ALSO growing more intolerant of the vileness these are spreading openly in society, seeking to destroy the innocent so ‘they’ can have them as their toys for their perversions. And yes, there are real perversions connected to atheism, albeit not the same type of vileness as connected to homosexuality.
Atheists tend not to reproduce. What would motivate them to do so?
SE Asia is yellow? That’s racist!!
I was in a discussion (and SERIOUSLY out of my depth) with four philosophy professors. Come to find out all four were theists, two Christians, one Muslim, one Pagan, no atheists, last thing I expected!
What a meaningless factoid. What does "affiliated to a religion" mean exactly?
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