Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Christianity growing faster than Islam?

I know that more people convert to Christianity every year than to Islam, but I thought Islam was growing faster because of a high birthrate among Muslims, especially in countries in the Middle East and places like Afghanistan and Pakistan, where birth rates are very high. But Diniesh D'souza says no, check it out and see if you agree with him:

Is Islam the Fastest-Growing Religion? Guess Again
by Dinesh D'Souza

Many people think Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world. Not true. Islam is growing fast, but Christianity is growing faster. Indeed there are twice as many Christians as Muslims in the world today and the gap is becoming larger. Moreover, Christianity has become the world's only religion that is truly universal.

Islam too has a wide reach, but Islam has only a small presence in the United States, Canada, Central and South America, and Australia. Christianity, by contrast, is strong everywhere in the world except the Middle East. Islam is growing mainly through reproduction, which is to say by Muslims having large families. Christianity is growing both through reproduction and through conversion.

So if Christianity is growing so fast, why don't we see it? Because the growth is occuring mainly in Asia and Africa. The full story is told in What's So Great About Christianity but here are some examples. In 1900 less than 10 percent of Africa was Christian. Now it's around 50 percent. That's an increase from 10 million Christians in 1900 to more than 350 million today. The story is pretty much the same in Asia. China now has an underground church numbering in the tens of millions. In Korea, Christians outnumber Buddhists and, in a remarkable historical reversal, now send missionaries to Europe to convert the natives. Some Asian and African churches have so many members that pastors have to tell people not to come very Sunday, because there is not enough room in the pews. [...]

8 comments:

Odysseus said...

-In Korea, Christians outnumber Buddhists and, in a remarkable historical reversal, now send missionaries to Europe to convert the natives. Some Asian and African churches have so many members that pastors have to tell people not to come very Sunday, because there is not enough room in the pews. -

My parish has African priests visiting every summer. They are, each of them, marvelous.

Abu Daoud said...

And the African Catholics are often involved in evangelizing Muslims. That is an area I hope that American Catholics can learn about from them, no?

JohnG. said...

Indian catholics aren't afraid of evangelizing muslims too : this guy ( http://www.jmanjackal.net/eng/eng.htm ) said he had been several times in muslim countries (in the gulf) and that he made converts there . One of his fellow collaborator seems to have been persecuted for that.

Anonymous said...

in france, a bunch of muslims converting to christianity all around us

Alonzo said...

I mean no harm . Christanity is the true relgiion . Its true...Us Christians dont want to hurt you we want to help you . If you pay attention to your history we never kill anyone due to their faith .. If Christanity wasnt true how come Christians are being burned ? How come it is almost a crime to pass out bibles . Its a simple answers MAN IS AFRAID TO ADMIT THE TRUTH .

Will said...

Wow, that's interesting to know. Maybe there will be less violence, in the future, with this kind of transition.

Abu Daoud said...

Thanks to everyone for dropping by this blog, and I'm glad you found this post interesting.

Weremy: I think this is true, that as more people become Christians then peace and justice will slowly but surely spread. This is the real meaning of progress--not just better schools and roads and buildings and so on.

Mussa Ame said...

may peace be to those who follow true guidance. Christianity is not a true religion from God . It suffers number of additions and subtraction in the basics of monotheism. Trinity was not the original belief of Jesus. Divinity of Jesus was not true teaching of Jesus, much we can say is that true teachings of Jesus has been changed and Christianity as it appears now is not fully divine religion. christens affirms that JESUS is god and this is apostasy as Jesus said" I am ascending to my God and your God". Europe America many Christians convert to Islam after knowing that Jesus is a human being and not God and this is what Islam teaches.