OBAMA: What I was suggesting — you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith, and you're absolutely right that that has not come ...
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS (interrupting): Your Christian faith.
Posted on 04/02/2015 7:59:12 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
The Muslim and Christian populations could be nearly equal by 2050, with Islam expected to be the fastest-growing faith on the planet, according to projections released Thursday, April 2.
The Pew Research Center's religious profile predictions assessed data from around the world on fertility rates, trends in youth population growth and religious conversion statistics.
"Over the next four decades, Christians will remain the largest religious group, but Islam will grow faster than any other major religion," according to the report.
The authors predicted there will be 2.76 billion Muslims on the planet by then, and 2.92 billion Christians. Those figures would correspond to about 29.7% and 31.4%of the world population, respectively.
There were 1.6 billion Muslims on the planet in 2010, compared to 2.17 billion Christians.
"The number of Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians around the world," it added.
Hindus will be third, making up 14.9% of the world's total population, followed by people who do not affiliate with any religion, accounting for 13.2%.
The Asia-Pacific region will remain the most popular for Muslims, bolstered by a youthful population with high fertility rates.
The study predicts that India will have the largest Muslim population – though it will retain a Hindu majority – surpassing Indonesia.
Muslims are expected to account for 10%of Europe's overall population, Pew added.
If the trend continues, Islam will be the most popular faith in the world after 2070, it said.
Authors said the projections, compiled over the past 6 years, are merely "what will occur if the current data are accurate and the trends play out as expected."
"Many events – scientific discoveries, armed conflicts, social movements, political upheavals, natural disasters and changing economic conditions, to name just a few – can shift demographic trends in unforeseen ways."
The authors said religious conversion data came from only 70 countries, not including the world's most populous countries, India and China.
Atheism on the rise
The report predicts the number of people with no religious affiliation will make up a declining share of the world's total population, though in some countries – such as the United States and France – the number of atheists and agnostics is expected to rise.
Buddhism is the only faith that is not expected to increase its followers, due to an ageing population and stable fertility rates in Buddhist countries, such as China, Japan and Thailand.
In Europe, the only region where the overall population is expected to shrink, the Christian population will drop from 553 million to 454 million.
Similarly, in the United States, Christians will decline from more than three quarters to two thirds in 2050.
Islam is expected to surpass Judaism as the most popular non-Christian faith in the United States.
The researchers gathered data from more than 2,500 censuses, surveys and population registers from 175 countries, covering 95% of the world's population.
The projections considered the size and geographic distribution of the world's major religions, age differences, fertility and mortality rates, international migration and patterns in conversion.
This is at odds with information I’ve seen elsewhere, which indicates that Christianity is growing faster than Islam, particularly in Africa and Asia (China especially).
Watch for mass conversions among Western peoples. The Western version of Christianity is currently in a spiritual crisis; i.e. embracing and encouraging perversion which disgusts people whether they say so or not.
Let’s hope so.
Consider the source— the P.U. Research Institution— they probably opened champaign on hearing the news.
— but I say they’re counting things while we’re at our nadir, and as the ‘slammies are peaking.
Too soon to tell and that’s cause enough to hope.
OBAMA: What I was suggesting — you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith, and you're absolutely right that that has not come ...
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS (interrupting): Your Christian faith.
I guess maybe humans really are inherently evil.
“This is at odds with information I’ve seen elsewhere, which indicates that Christianity is growing faster than Islam, particularly in Africa and Asia (China especially).”
Every day the news has a story of Islam conquests over Christians, especially in Africa and Asia.
A significant number of people in Muslim countries are basically atheist. They just dare not sat anything.
I read somewhere that they have the highest rate of autism of any other group. Must be the cousin-marriage thing.
That is one of the basic tenets of the JudeoChristian worldview. It's why we need a Messiah. Thankfully, One died to save us, and if an individual repents of his or her sins and asks Jesus to lead his or her life, the individual can escape the spiritual death that is the just reward for all mankind, were it not for His atoning sacrifice.
That will flaw a lot of this data as Christianity is growing in these two countries, especially China. The Chinese government, of course, is not big on religion so they do not admit how many Chinese Christians there are, but it is suspected in the millions, possibly up to 100 million.
This is utter hooey. Using straight line growth projections is complete nonsense. In most of the Arab world, population growth rates have already dropped to below 2 children per family. Even in Israel, the Orthodox Jews have a birthrate several times higher than the Arabs.
But not all of Islam is Arabic. The largest Muslim population in a country is in Indonesia, a nation home to 12.7% of the world’s Muslims, followed by Pakistan (11.0%), India (10.9%), and Bangladesh (9.2%).
So if you are talking growth in Islam, you mean in these countries.
Indonesia has a birthrate that is 124th among nations. Pakistan is 80th. India is 94th. Bangladesh 77th. (The US is 143rd.)
“I guess maybe humans really are inherently evil.”
Yes, they are, but God is sovereign. His will be done, and He has promised to save His people. The remnant will remain.
As for predictions of the future, they’re all bunk. The birth rate for Muslims is also declining, which is one of the reasons the imams are all frothing at the mouth about spreading their false religion.
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