We’ve all heard the narrative – “Christianity is on the decline,” say the talking heads. But is it true? Not so fast, say the numbers!
According to the 2015 Pew Research poll that predicts religious trends, it’s atheism, not Christianity, that’s in trouble around the globe.
In fact, non-believers are set to lose big compared to Christianity in the next 40 years.
It seems the demise of the Christian religion may have to wait. While conversions away from Christianity to other faiths is on the decline, conversions to Christianity are on the rise.
In fact, 40 million atheists are expected to convert to Christianity during the next 40 years.
And the religion is growing in many areas of the world outside of the United States. In Asia, the continent’s 350 million Christians are expected to number 460 million by 2025.
That’s just the beginning. On a global scale, the world’s population of Christians is expected to grow by leaps and bounds in the next 40 years, from an estimated 2.168 billion to 2.918 billion.
That’s an increase of nearly 750 million Christians in two generation. An easier way to think of that number is to imagine the growth of Christians to the entire United States population COMBINED. That’s the entire population of Los Angeles, New York City, Florida, Hawaii, and everywhere in between, all together.
Now, double that number…. Then add about hundred and ten million more.
Still think Christianity is on the decline? Well, if those numbers not compelling enough, the amount of unaffiliated religious people are expected to rise only slightly during that same time period, a modest 99 million.
In other words, the world is expected to gain seven times more Christian believers than non-believers in the next four decades.
Christianity is already currently the largest religion in the world, making up nearly 1/3rd of the world’s population, a position the numbers show the religion will maintain.
The demise atheists were so eager for seems like it’s going to be delayed for a long, long time.
Odd as I recently saw statistics going the other way – not about atheists per se but overall church membership decline. To, the old new kid on the block is Asatru or the Old Norse Heathenism, where in Iceland the gov. is actually playing a role in it’s reestablishment. And note here, dear reader, that it was Icelanders – with their pots and pans rebellion – who dealt a blow to the bankers. This latter group are sore losers however, or the so called spoiled sport.
Having been a born again myself I can say that claiming to be a Christian is rather moot or superficial.
If your relationship is moot or superficial, then you didn’t meet the Jesus I know. All is supernatural, which the mainline churches say passed away. My friend this is the real deal. Jesus said we would do greater works than he did, so miracles are just the tip of the iceberg. A changed life from a junkie to a minister of the gospel is greater a work. You first have to believe He is and then He is a re warder of them that diligently seek Him. Just ask Him to make His self real to you, but buckle your seat belt. JESUS IS ALIVE!!!
Carl, your identification of Jesus Christ’s followers is accurate and true.
But it is not the subject of this poll. The liberal Pew Foundation is counting all persons who can be named as Christians by any definition: believing in John 3:16, Philippians 4:13, or “The Lord is my Shepherd;” warm feelings towards pictures of “Jesus and the children;” infant baptism or church attendance on Christmas and Easter; respect for the Bible, men of the cloth, or miracles of healing on TV; church membership imposed by parents or peer pressure, or living under the roof of Christians; calling on the Lord in one’s heart without telling another soul; or “I’m not a Jew, a Mus1im, a Hindu, a Buddhist, or an atheist, so I guess I must be a Christian.”
According to this most inclusive classification, Christendom is expanding. But Christianity is spreading even faster in the persecuted church: the underground church in China, those in closed Is1amic countries who come to faith through dreams and visions, and Latin Americans who are fleeing from idols and Catholicized animism to the Bible and to Pentecost. Christianity is retreating mainly in the post-Christian, intellectualized cultures of Europe, the U.S., and Canada, where cathedrals are nearly empty, and Is1am is attempting to replace churchianity, as in Paris and in cities north and west.
I deny evolution and avoid the easy way out—all religions are basically alike. Whether God is called Jehovah, Allah, Brahma, or Buddhism and if we’re aiming for heaven, nirvana, or karma, it’s really all the same—WRONG ANSWER! God is not the author of confusion; Major Religions don’t even come close to sharing the same concept of God.
No wonder the world is in the state it’s in – mystics & lunatics abound everywhere