Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Tom Sawyer · 01-03-2003, 12:42 PM

Aaahhh!!!!

This is a scary article:

Christianity growing

Ab_Normal · 01-03-2003, 01:00 PM

I dunno, I found it hard to be scared by an article that quoted no actual numbers, just the opinions of two ministers. Of course they're going to say that their brand is gaining more adherents. This is as close as it comes to data:

Quote:

"They're much more interested in what's wrong with Christianity and not in where it's flourishing, and where it is vital," said Father Thomas Rausch, of Loyola Marymount University. "The third world, the Southern Hemisphere is mostly poor, and it's in these countries where Christianity is mushrooming."

The numbers cited by certain experts seem to support that argument. Christianity was rare at the turn of the century in Africa, but some say almost half of the continent -- as many as 360 million people -- now worships Jesus.

Followed by an equally fact free, but certainly opinion laden, final paragraph:

Quote:

But whatever the case, most experts agree Christianity does have the most believers. And recent reports estimate that by 2025, that gap will widen even further, making Christianity by far the world's largest religion.

Which experts? What reports? Ah, it's from Fox News... I get it now.

nowhereman · 01-03-2003, 01:06 PM

The places that Christianity is prevalent/growing in (South America, Asia, Africa, American South) have large uneducated populations.

Ignorance is power.

Ab_Normal · 01-03-2003, 01:15 PM

sorry, double post

Mageth · 01-03-2003, 01:55 PM

"The numbers cited by certain experts seem to support that argument." Amazingly enough, not all experts agree! And I have some actual NAMES of those experts, and references to their studies, to back this up!

Some actual statistics and references from religioustolerance.org.

pz · 01-03-2003, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mageth

Some actual statistics and references from religioustolerance.org.

I find those statistics a little confusing. There are over 1.3 billion Chinese who are at least nominally atheist. Where are they in that table? If the 960 million non-religious listed there are all Chinese, where did the other 400 million end up?

Mageth · 01-03-2003, 02:37 PM

Good question, pz. Note that I'm not claiming that the stats on that page are accurate; my point is that they indicate a different conclusion than the "certain experts" mentioned in the Fox News article, and at least they include statistics and references to studies.

I searched the internet and couldn't find much info on China, only this from here and from here :

China, Religious affiliation (1980; in percentages): Nonreligious 51.9; Chinese folk-religion 20.1; atheist 12.0; Buddhist 8.5; Christian 6.0; Muslim 1.4; other 0.1

That might help make sense of the numbers on the religioustolerance page.

01-03-2003, 12:42 PM	#1
Tom Sawyer Talk Freethought Staff Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Toronto, eh Posts: 42,293	Christianity growing!!! Aaahhh!!!! This is a scary article: Christianity growing

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01-03-2003, 01:06 PM	#3
nowhereman Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Nowhereland Posts: 24	The places that Christianity is prevalent/growing in (South America, Asia, Africa, American South) have large uneducated populations. Ignorance is power.

01-03-2003, 01:15 PM	#4
Ab_Normal Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 2,842	sorry, double post

01-03-2003, 01:55 PM	#5
Mageth Contributor Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Deep in the heart of mother-lovin' Texas Posts: 29,689	"The numbers cited by certain experts seem to support that argument." Amazingly enough, not all experts agree! And I have some actual NAMES of those experts, and references to their studies, to back this up! Some actual statistics and references from religioustolerance.org.

01-03-2003, 02:37 PM	#7
Mageth Contributor Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Deep in the heart of mother-lovin' Texas Posts: 29,689	Good question, pz. Note that I'm not claiming that the stats on that page are accurate; my point is that they indicate a different conclusion than the "certain experts" mentioned in the Fox News article, and at least they include statistics and references to studies. I searched the internet and couldn't find much info on China, only this from here and from here : China, Religious affiliation (1980; in percentages): Nonreligious 51.9; Chinese folk-religion 20.1; atheist 12.0; Buddhist 8.5; Christian 6.0; Muslim 1.4; other 0.1 That might help make sense of the numbers on the religioustolerance page.

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