[Pete]

Your post displays a misuse of statistics which is, at best, ignorant. Are you sufficiently educated in that discipline to understand how, or shall I spell it out for you? (I realise that you didn't write it.)

Well, first of all, I am an actuary - so, yeah, I guess you could say I was "sufficiently educated in the discipline."

Secondly, if you are referring to the author's extrapolation to 2041, I would agree that such use of statistics is not valid. However, I believe you are focusing on the part that is less meaningful to the discussion in this thread. The current statistics the author provides refute the claim that the number of evangelical Christians is decreasing.

[ArrogantBustard]

I'm referring to his citing of growth rates for various religious populations without also citing the actual size of those populations. The size of the worldwide Catholic population, for example is vastly larger than the size of the worldwide Evangelical population. A small population can much more easily show a large growth rate than a large population. And the extrapolation to the year 2041 is silly. What happens in 2042, do the Martians start becoming evangelicals?

The first part, showing the growth both in raw numbers and rates of the evangelical population is fine, and I agree that is the most important part, for this thread.

[OBAFGKM]

"Well, first of all, I am an actuary - so, yeah, I guess you could say I was 'sufficiently educated in the discipline.'"

Sorry, Pete. AB's got a point. If the statistics comparing "most important religious groups" are correct, then there must be at least 4.7 times as many Catholics in the world as there are Protestants. But it's impossible to make that consistent with the claimed Christian growth rate since 1970. You're the actuary -- work it out for yourself.

Frankly, the statistics are likely constructed of whole cloth.