Over on Yahoo news we have this provocative study from the Pew Research Group which declares Christianity being abandoned for other religions. This study projects trends out to 2050. The basic theme of the article is that Christians will be converting to Islam or simply become atheistic or agnostic. I believe this study, while worthy of attention and thought, is way off base. If Islam catches up to Christianity it can best be summed up in three words: ARTIFICIAL BIRTH CONTROL. If Christianity is on the decline as Islam is increasing, it has a lot to do with birth rate. We should remember that world Christian religions have embraced, for some 60 years now, all the empty promises of chemical birth control. The Catholic Church has stood firm in upholding the evils of such a practice but we must be honest; most Catholic couples practice artificial means of birth control. Meanwhile, Islam embraces larger families. In fact radical Islam sees the encouragement of large families, even just high birth rates, as part of the revolution. As other world religions become insignificant, mainly Protestanism and Evangelicanism, because they are contracepting themselves to death, Catholicism, at least on the world stage continues to grow in numbers. from 1965 to today the Church has grown from 850 million to 1.215 billion. And this growth is despite the alarming trends toward accepting birth control, abortion, euthanasia and same sex marriage among certain "western" Catholics. Catholicism is growing because it is booming in Africa, Asia and still pockets of the southern Americas. Even in the USA, where Catholic growth is minimal if not stagnant, her greatest growth is in the states that are traditionally non-Catholic. As Catholics, and all Christians, this article is worth a read and some deep reflection. Here are some of the highlights:
1. Islam will grow faster than any other religion over the next 40 years.
2. The number of Muslims will equal the number of Christians around the world by 2050.
3. Atheists, agnostics and other people who do not affiliate with any religion – though increasing in countries such as the United States and France – will make up a declining share of the world’s total population.
4. The global Buddhist population will be about the same size it was in 2010, while the Hindu and Jewish populations will be larger than they are today.
5. In Europe, Muslims will make up 10% of the overall population.
6. India will retain a Hindu majority but also will have the largest Muslim population of any country in the world, surpassing Indonesia.
7. In the United States, Christians will decline from more than three-quarters of the population in 2010 to two-thirds in 2050, and Judaism will no longer be the largest non-Christian religion. Muslims will be more numerous in the U.S. than people who identify as Jewish on the basis of religion.
8. Four out of every 10 Christians in the world will live in sub-Saharan Africa.
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