Jayjay

I wonder if there are any convenient web resources on how various religions do on the conversion business? That is, which religions have the highest proportion of members converting away and to from, and how do they compare to each other.

Seeker630

Good question. I've never seen any such numbers, and would be highly suspicious depending on the source. Churches tend to be rather self-serving when coming up with statistics. Also, it begs the question:

Which ones lose members the fastest? What church backround is more/less likely to produce an atheist or agnostic? I have to wonder how one would go about securing such a number.

As a very general rule, I think that the stricter the religious upbringing as a child, the more likely they are to later become something else. Just an impression on my part, but a lot of the agnostics and atheists I've come across seem to have had very rigid religious childhoods.

Vorkosigan

When I first got here last year, there was a great poster who has since left. She put up some recordings of a trainer of born again preachers giving a lecture on this topic. He said that of converts, 90% do not make it to the end of their first year, most dropping out long before.

The Admiral

I would guess that Islam is getting the most new converts. And once they are in they are in for good. To leave puts a price on their head.

The Admiral

Frivolous

Yes, the muslim faith is the fastest growing religion in the world.. but i forgot where i heard that.

Priapus

Thats not really due to conversion though, I think its mainly because of rapid population growth in muslim nations (read: no birth control). Christianity is still growing quite rapidly in Africa and a few South American countries. Yes, wherever there is poor and uneducated people, religion will be there to uhhh...well, help keep them overpopulated, poor, and believers in silly superstitions.

Shake

Seeker, I just read the other day, in a somewhat confusing article actually, that said the world Jewish population was down by 300,000 (not sure since when). It was confusing because they kept using 'US' and 'world' almost interchangeably. But its saying that there are now only 12.9 million Jews in the whole world seemed a bit low to me. Can anyone else help me clarify this situation for Seeker (and others)? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

Buffman

Shake

<a href="http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html" target="_blank">http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html</a>