Future growth of religion/lack of

[Melech 9,900]

"Muslims will nearly double their numbers in Europe – to more than 10% – by 2050.

The report, by Pew Research Center, also predicts that Muslims will become the second-largest religious group in the US – at 2.1% – by 2050.

Europe’s Muslim population, boosted by large families and immigration, will nearly double, from less than 6% (43 million people) in 2010 to more than 10% (71 million people) in 2050, the forecast estimates.

The US by 2050 will still have more Christians than any other denomination, according to the report, but they will decline from 77% to 66% of the population.

Although the Muslim population represents a tiny fraction of Americans – about 1% – it is set to grow rapidly over the next four decades. The report predicts Muslim will surpass Jews to become the second-largest religious group in the US by 2050 – while still only representing 2.1% of the whole country. 

High fertility coupled with falling infant mortality rates bode well for Christianity and Islam in the developing world, and researchers predict that four of every 10 Christians in the world will live by the middle of the century in sub-Saharan countries, where women on average have twice as many children as in North America and three times as many as in Europe.

The young religious people of the developing world contrast sharply with ageing and increasingly secular westerners content to keep their families small.

The report predicts that Muslims and Christians will each make up roughly 30% of the world’s population by 2050, largely due to high fertility rates in the developing world and the continuing decline of Christianity in the west. 

In North America, Christianity’s losses correlate with the unaffiliated’s gain, as atheists, agnostics and those who don’t associate with any religion are set to increase from 17% to 26% of the whole, according to Pew.

Europe, the only region whose total population is projected to shrink, will see its Christian population diminish by 100 million people to about 65%, according to the report.

Although Christians will still be the UK’s largest religious bloc in 2050, the report predicts they will no longer represent the majority of Britons. In France, unaffiliated people will overtake Christians as the new majority.

But the atheists, agnostics and other unaffiliated of the world, despite their larger share of the population in countries like the US, France and Japan, will see their global share diminish because of an older median age and a tendency to have smaller families.

Muslim populations, on the other hand, are predicted to grow far faster than any other religion over the next 45 years, especially in the Middle East, India and sub-Saharan Africa. 

By 2050, most Jews will live in Israel, the report predicts, noting that eight in 10 already live there or in the US. The global Jewish population will grow slightly, boosted by the longest average lifespan among major religions – more than 20% of all Jews are 60 or older.

The report’s authors concede there are many variables that could make dramatic differences between their projections and how the world actually turns out. In four decades, there will be natural disasters and wars, mass migrations and political revolutions, each with knock-on effects that change what people believe and where they choose to live.

The 1.3 billion people of China also posed a conundrum to then researchers, who had to rely on sometimes unreliable data about a country with a handful of recognized religions, hundreds of pervasive folk faiths and the active but unquantifiable presence of many Christian missionaries.

On the record, more than 50% of Chinese people are unaffiliated. Off the record, China could already be in the early stages of a large religious shift.

“Adherents of other religions, including Christians who worship in unregistered churches, may be reluctant to reveal their religious identity to officials or strangers,” the authors write, also noting that hundreds of millions of people who have recently moved to cities likely uprooted their religious practices. 

Simply, “there are no sources adequate to measure patterns of religious switching across China”, they conclude – meaning the rapid expansion of an already simmering Christian movement could dramatically affect Christianity’s numbers worldwide.

They also concede that the research is limited: of the voluminous data they pored over to make their forecast, the vast majority does not distinguish Shia from Sunni Muslims or Catholic from Protestant or Orthodox Christians, for instance. The researchers excluded Jews who identified as such ethnically or culturally but not religiously."

[image]http://static.guim.co.uk/ni/1427976831733/Religion_Growth2050.svg[image]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/02/muslim-population-growth-christians-religion-pew

Seems like the rumor that the world getting less religious is wrong

[Ikvs 2,576]

Ew, I hope this is wrong. Religion should disappear by that time. 

[Melech 9,900]

Ew, I hope this is wrong. Religion shlult disappear by that time. 

​Religion is not the problem. The nature of opressing the own opinion on others is the problem which leads to conflict. Religion should be kept private. 

[Andy McQueen 4,484]

I'm always afraid of wars and sometimes religion is the trigger for war because of the different beliefs and some radical people, that makes me worried tbh.  Also conservative people with their homophobia etc. ... I want world peace so badly.

 

[Sugarfall 3,723]

Most people are religious or at least belong to one out of tradition and will for a long time. I don't think it's really religion growing just the population in general.

[xoxo cupcakke 4,781]

Well, eventually, religion will grow more. It seems to happen in cycles when everyone is really religious but then, after a while, religion dwindles but then something happens to bring back religion

Islam is quickly growing as Muslim immigrants inhabit Western countries. Westerners tend to be secular which could account for the growth in Islam. Also, with Islam's increasing presence in the West, there is bound to be more conversion by Westerners to Islam than there is now. By how much, I cannot tell you but possibly, the biggest increase in conversion would be through families of inter-married couples

This makes me wonder if or when Christianity will go through a revival. In the US, the last time such a growth in Christinaity occurred was back in the early 1900s

[Melech 9,900]

I'm always afraid of wars and sometimes religion is the trigger for war because of the different beliefs and some radical people, that makes me worried tbh.  Also conservative people with their homophobia etc. ... I want world peace so badly.

 

​The most wars and conflicts were political. 

[wiltedbliss 915]

Oh gosh. Hopefully I won't be alive by then.

[Melech 9,900]

 

This makes me wonder if or when Christianity will go through a revival. In the US, the last time such a growth in Christinaity occurred was back in the early 1900s

​It does go through a revival. Especially in african and asian countries. Especially in China  

Richer countries and more developed countries are less religious and more secular. That's why Christianity is declining in the Western World. thank god. 

[420 1,042]

Is it because of their rules that if a believer weds a non-believer, the non-believer has to convert to Islam, and the other one that says you can't convert to other religions if you've become a Muslim?

[OBEY 57,109]

Religion is like a penis, it's not because you have one that you have to rub it in everyone's faces.

I think you all get my point : as mentioned by another member above, religion should be kept private.

[lego 44,165]

Is it because of their rules that if a believer weds a non-believer, the non-believer has to convert to Islam, and the other one that says you can't convert to other religions if you've become a Muslim?

What?  it's maybe because high birthrate and conversions. Many convert without any spouse, out of conviction. Muslim men can marry Jewish and Christian women and they cannot force them to convert. Before you say, what discrimination, this is about religious wedding, and in other two major religions marrying outside of their faith is impermissible for both men and women.

In any case, I don't see the reason to panic. Unless you're an islamophobe.  

[Creyk 18,706]

Oh gosh. Hopefully I won't be alive by then.

​MTE when reading this

It wouldn't be bad if Islam started fading like christianity does....

[Melech 9,900]

What?  it's maybe because high birthrate and conversions. Many convert without any spouse, out of conviction. Muslim men can marry Jewish and Christian women and they cannot force them to convert. Before you say, what discrimination, this is about religious wedding, and in other two major religions marrying outside of their faith is impermissible for both men and women.

In any case, I don't see the reason to panic. Unless you're an islamophobe.  

​I'm afraid of the rise. Not because it's Islam. Because it's like Christianity. It wants to convert people and forces rules on people. It also depends on what branches of Islam/Christianity. Some of them are just stupid and idiotic. 

[lego 44,165]

​I'm afraid of the rise. Not because it's Islam. Because it's like Christianity. It wants to convert people and forces rules on people. It also depends on what branches of Islam/Christianity. Some of them are just stupid and idiotic. 

They are just families having more babies, none of you can predict how many of them would be religious or not. Everyone is looking for purpose in life, many find it in religion. I don't get it how is that scary, most people care about themselves, own family, no one is converting anyone by force. The extremist ones have always been in minority.