Free Republic

Among faith groups in the United States, white Evangelical Christians are one of the best at retaining members even as the share of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated continues to grow, according to a new survey. The nonprofit research organization Public Religion Research Institute released the report on Wednesday titled "Religious Change in America," which charted several trends among faith groups in the U.S. Data for the report came from a survey PRRI conducted online of 5,627 adults in the U.S. from Nov. 16 to Dec. 7, 2023, with a margin of error of +/- 1.79 percentage points at the...

The Observatory of Religious Pluralism in Spain has released an update of the data on places of worship, as well as the religious identification of the Spanish population according to the statistics published by the Sociological Research Centre (CIS).The Observatory aims to provide “data and diagnoses on the diversity of beliefs and the needs related to the effective exercise of religious freedom, in order to contribute to the improvement of public management”, explained on its website.In addition to provide reports and infographics on the situation of religious minorities in Spain, the Observatory updates data on places of worship every six...

In 1999, doctors diagnosed Nepali Christian Gita Shakya with a painful, paralyzing spinal growth. Doctors told Gita and her Christian son, Suroj, that her best option for healing was a risky, potentially lethal surgery, Suroj said in a written testimony shared with The Christian Post.Surgery was also expensive, and Gita’s husband, Babukaji, a Buddhist priest, refused to pay his Christian wife’s expenses. Doctors in Singapore gave 19-year-old Suroj two days to decide whether to let his mother live in terrible pain or risk her death.He prayed, then decided it was best to do the surgery. But he didn’t know what...

At the United Methodist Church, money’s tight, factions are readying exits, and social justice takes priority in witness. However, the denomination’s “traditionalists” — so named for their support for the accuracy and authority of the Bible, especially regarding LGBT marriage and clergy — are growing in number and telling others how Jesus saves. The Wesleyan Covenant Association, the largest of the groups forming out of the UMC, champions evangelical beliefs and values. WCA President Keith Boyette tells The Christian Post more than 3,000 churches have affiliated with the association, and the number is steadily climbing, though the next General Conference...

Those with no particular religious affiliation, often called "nones," continue to grow in number in the United States, new data show. Eastern Illinois University political science professor Ryan Burge explains in an essay for Religion in Public that while much of the media often frames the statistics that nones now constitute the largest religious group in the U.S., the reality is much more complicated. Nevertheless, the trend is clear. Self-identified nones made up 22.2% of Americans in 2008, Burge noted; today they comprise 29.5%. The aggregated data was taken from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study which has been conducted since...

The recent elections brought bad news for Christians, and you probably heard about that. But there’s some wonderful news for the Christians of India as well. Prepare to be encouraged. First, however, let’s look at the bad news. The BJP, the current ruling party in India, led by Prime Minister Modi, won the national elections handily. This is bad news for millions of Christians in India. The BJP is not just a Hindu party. It is a militantly Hindu party. It wants India to be a Hindu nation, meaning, exclusively Hindu. Prime Minister Modi has even spoken of his desire...

In this post, growth is defined by reaching people and converting them and an increase in church attendance, not birthrate or immigration. Measured in that way, Christianity is the fastest growing religion in the world, without a close second. Periodically updated.A Pew Research report says that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. However, in this post it is not about birthrate or immigration, but outreach and converts (including immigrants who convert to Christ). Pew does not predict how many people born in Muslims countries, often in squalor, will convert to Christ, which is happening now.The growth...

Why is Christianity booming in the global South, but seemingly stagnant in the global North? A new fascinating book offers an answer. Dr. Glenn Sunshine is a long-time Fellow at the Colson Center, and he's that rare sort of historian who sees the sweep of intellectual and cultural history, and then brings it all together in a way that not only explains the past, but advances our understanding of the here and now. His new book, co-authored with Jerry Trousdale, is called "The Kingdom Unleashed: How Jesus' 1st-Century Values Are Transforming Thousands of Cultures and Awakening His Church." In the...

The United Methodist Church is growing globally while declining in the United States, passing the 12.5 million-member mark, according to recently released statistics. Drawing from annual conference journals sent to the UMC General Council on Finance and Administration mostly from 2016, the UMC saw its numbers grow compared to five years earlier. The statistics were used to determine the number of delegates each annual conference will send to the 2020 UMC General Conference. Delegates for the denomination's 2020 legislative gathering will represent a diverse national background, according to the United Methodist News Service. "The 2020 General Conference in Minneapolis will...

In a recent interview in which she announced she had joined the Episcopal Church, Rachel Held Evans said, Just about every denomination in the American church— including many evangelical denominations — is seeing a decline in numbers, so if it’s a competition, then we’re all losing, just at different rates. Many Americans, both within and outside the church, share Evans perception of the decline of denominations. But is it true? Are most denominations truly seeing a decline in numbers? Before we answer the question, we should clarify what is meant by “decline.” We could, for instance, say that Protestantism has been...

My wife said she did not understand a word I said to her.Ouch.I was attempting to explain our research on 1,000 randomly chosen churches, and she had a blank look on her face. I knew what was taking place. A statistical nerd (me) was trying to share research with a normal person (my wife).Such is the conundrum where I find myself. This research is incredibly revealing, but I often speak in such statistical terms that I cloud its import.Allow me, then, to attempt to write with some clarity. Let me know if I have not succeeded. Here are some prefatory...

U.S. President Donald J. Trump evoked images of the Cold War during his speech in Warsaw’s Krasiński Square Thursday, and reminded listeners of one Pole whose tenacity helped lead to the defeat of an atheistic communist regime. “When the day came on June 2, 1979, and one million Poles gathered around Victory Square for their very first Mass with their Polish Pope, that day, every communist in Warsaw must have known that their oppressive system would soon come crashing down,” Trump said to applause. “They must have known it at the exact moment during Pope John Paul II’s sermon when...

A new study reflects a historic population shift that has been years in the making and indicates that Christianity’s future lies less in America or Europe and more in sub-Saharan Africa. By 2060, a plurality of the world’s Christians – more than 40 percent – will call sub-Saharan Africa home, up from 26 percent in 2015, according to the new analysis of demographic data by Pew. At the same time, the share of Christians living in many other regions – notably Europe – is projected to further decline, even as the Muslim population there continues to rise. “This shift in...

Everyone loves a good story. As Christians, we especially love stories that tell us how, when all seems lost, God makes a way. One such story is about the church in Iran—and it’s one of the greatest stories in the world today.  It’s a simple story that can be summarized in just two sentences: Persecution threatened to wipe out Iran’s tiny church. Instead, the church in Iran has become the fastest growing in the world, and it is influencing the region for Christ. As simple as it is, such an amazing story is worth examining deeper. Growth Amid Persecution The Iranian revolution...

In a recent interview in which she announced she had joined the Episcopal Church, Rachel Held Evans said, Just about every denomination in the American church— including many evangelical denominations — is seeing a decline in numbers, so if it’s a competition, then we’re all losing, just at different rates. Many Americans, both within and outside the church, share Evans perception of the decline of denominations. But is it true? Are most denominations truly seeing a decline in numbers? Before we answer the question, we should clarify what is meant by “decline.” We could, for instance, say that Protestantism has been...

A Canadian study has found that Mainline Protestant churches that have both modern worship services and teach a literal interpretation of the Bible grow faster. (Photo: Reuters/John Gress)A parishioner cries as he signs a song of worship in the 7,000-seat Willow Creek Community church during a Sunday service in South Barrington, Illinois, November 20, 2005. Institutions like Willow Creek and Houston's Lakewood Church, each drawing 20,000 or more on a weekend, offer not just a vast, shared attraction but a path that tries to link individuals on a faith-sustaining one-to-one level beyond the crowd, observers and worshipers say.The Canadian researchers who authored...

Where is Christianity growing the fastest? The Center for the Study of Global Christianity, based at Gordon Conwell Seminary, published In June 2013 an excellent report regarding Christianity in its Global Context. The full report can be found online at www.globalchristianity.org/globalcontext. From this report I identified the top 20 countries that have the highest percentage Christianity Average Annual Growth Rate (AAGR). They are listed in Table 1. I have also calculated the number of years for the number of Christians to double, based on the Average Annual Growth Rate. Table 1. The Top 20 Countries Where Christianity Has the Highest...

(Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor/Getty Images) Tens of millions of Latin Americans have left the Roman Catholic Church in recent decades and embraced Pentecostal Christianity, according to a new Pew Research Center survey on religion in 18 Latin American countries and Puerto Rico. Indeed, nearly one-in-five Latin Americans now describe themselves as Protestant, and across the countries surveyed majorities of them self-identify as Pentecostal or belong to a Pentecostal denomination. Pentecostals share many beliefs with other evangelical Protestants, but they put more emphasis on the “gifts of the Holy Spirit,” such as speaking in tongues, faith healing and prophesying.With...

A communist official in China has condemned the rapid growth of Christianity in the region as "excessive", but has denied allegations of increased persecution. Officially an atheist state, the right to freedom of religious belief is guaranteed under Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution but protections are limited to those who worship within state-sanctioned bodies. Chinese Christians often suffer at the hands of government authorities, and the Asian superpower is ranked the 37th worst country in the world for Christian persecution by the Open Doors World Watch List. Despite this, reports suggest that between 3,000 and 10,000 people are turning...

Deep in China’s heartland is a region known as “The Bethlehem of China,” where, more than a thousand years ago, Western missionaries first brought Christianity to the area. It is here, in a series of caves hidden in the hills, where members of China’s underground Christian Church tell FRONTLINE/World and Chicago Tribune reporter Evan Osnos how they have kept the religion alive. For years, they moved from place to place to avoid government detection, until they found safety in these hills. “When we were in an underground state, we would gather here to meet,” Zhang Yinan, a pastor who’s chronicling...