Johnny Skeptic

I find your assessment of interest in Christianity to be quite strange. There are now ten of millions of atheists and agnostics in the U.S., and they comprise a much higher percentage of the population than ever before. Islam is growing faster than Christianity is, and Christianity had about a 600 year head start over Islam.

It is important the we distinguish fundamentalist Christianity from liberal Christianity. While the vast majority of fundamentalist Christians opposed abortion, homosexuality, and same sex marraige, a sizeable percentage of liberal Christians do not. The Episcopal Church ordained a gay bishop. New Yorkers elected two openly gay Congressmen, even though Christians comprise a sizeable majority in all 50 states.

Fundamentalist Christians in Europe comprise a much smaller percentage the population than they do in the U.S., and a result, same sex marriage is legal in Denmark, and physician assisted suicide is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. A recent poll showed that 90% of the British people favor the legalization of physician assisted suicide. In the U.S., physician assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, and it has a good deal of support in some other states. The percentage of fundamentalist Christians in Oregon is small.

So, from a fundamentalist Christian viewpoint, knowing "the truth" about homosexuality, same sex marriage and physician assisted suicide is world view specific. In other words, even if person is Christian, he must be a fundamentalist Christian in order to know the truth about homosexuality, same sex marriage and physician assisted suicide.

Regarding "the never-ending ability of Jesus to attract," that argument is known as the fallacy of "argumentum ad populum." In other words, the more that people believe something, the more likely it is to be true.

Stephen T-B

Predicting future developments in any area is fun, but futile.
Just look at some of the daft predictions which were being made in the 1950s and 60s concerning just three or four decades in the future.

I think what can be said for certain is that Christianity won't look much like it does now - and I base this on the fact that Christianity today doesn't look much like it did 1,000 years ago.
I don't think that many Christians - in either time zone - getting into a time machine which whizzes them 1,000 years forward or a 1,000 years back would recognise the practices they see as having much to do with the religion they know and love.

aeroz19

Very true. Just walk into any Christian bookstore--like in the mall, for example. Those books are all over the shelves. And it's not a Baptist bookstore, it's a Christian bookstore. The one I pass by in my local mall is called Crown and Jewel or something like that and it has lots of those books.

kaelcarp

I sincerely doubt Christianity will make it even another 200 years in anything like its present form. The Catholic Church will probably be the first to fall, since it has shown an inability to keep up with modern thought, unless it makes huge strides far bigger than it ever has. Just think about all the technologies that will likely emerge in the next few hundred years - things like the ability to replicate oneself digitally and effectively be two people - and Christianity is going to have a lot of explaining to do, and it's not going to be able to keep its current dogma. It will at least have to become far less literal-minded.

I think Eastern religions such as Buddhism will be far more workable with knowledge in the future than Christianity.

funinspace

In seebs defense…I think the fundy/inerrantist camp is over rated in the US. Yeah, maybe a third of Christians buy into the "end of the world" rants. And they will stress over chip implant (I might too for 1984 style reasons). And if it happens, and the world is still around a 100 years later, Christians will re-adjust, just like they have to Big Bang theory, evolution theory, and archeological evidence. Personally, I think the fundies will be on the decline anyways over the next 100-200 years for many reasons. And the more liberal branches, including the RCC, will become the more powerful sects, while the percentages decline as a whole. Either way, the faith is far too resilient for this to break it.