Roadmap To The Report
The remainder of this report details the projections from multiple angles. The first chapter looks at the demographic factors that shape the projections, including sections on fertility rates, life expectancy, age structure, religious switching and migration. The next chapter details projections by religious group, with separate sections on Christians, Muslims, the religiously unaffiliated, Hindus, Buddhists, adherents of folk or traditional religions, members of other religions and Jews. A final chapter takes a region-by-region look at the projections, including separate sections on Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, North America and sub-Saharan Africa.
What’s The Fastest Growing Religion In America
A new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reports that Americans are changing religious affiliations at a rising rate.
The report shows, for example, that every religion is losing and gaining members, but that the Roman Catholic Church “has experienced the greatest net losses as a result of affiliation changes.” The survey also indicates that the group that had the greatest net gain was the unaffiliated. More than 16 percent of American adults say they are not part of any organized faith, which makes the unaffiliated the country’s fourth largest “religious group.”
….While the unaffiliated have been growing, Protestantism has been declining, the survey found. In the 1970s, Protestants accounted for about two-thirds of the population. The Pew survey found they now make up about 51 percent. Evangelical Christians account for a slim majority of Protestants, and those who leave one evangelical denomination usually move to another, rather than to mainline churches.
….”Religion is the single most important factor that drives American belief attitudes and behaviors,” said Lindsay , who had read the Pew report. “It is a powerful indicator of where America will end up on politics, culture, family life. If you want to understand America, you have to understand religion in America.”
Fastest Growing Religion In America Is None Of The Above
About 110,000,000 Americans choose to reject organized religion and question the existence of a God. That statistic reveals what many have known as the demographics changed in the United States. However, they try to become more spiritual every day. They try to believe God is inside everyone. Most know right from wrong, and they constantly strive to become better.
Throughout recorded history, more innocent lives were lost in the name of religion than any other reason. Christians and Muslims share a history of violence, although both basic concepts are peace and love. Neither Jesus Christ, in the Bibles New Testament nor the Prophet Mohammad in the Quran encouraged their follower to act violently not once. However, religions are controlled by men, and all men are flawed. Wealthy individuals seek more wealth, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
A recent Pew Research poll offers a very interesting fact: approximately 29% of all Americans have no religious affiliation, compared to 23% in 2016. Most importantly, those who identify themselves as Christian in 2021 fell to 63%, down from 75% just a decade ago. The benefit of this is that the Christian Religious Right lobby is losing its power over an entire political party in Washington. With that change, the First Amendment will likely regain its strength.
If there is a God, I hope he heaps blessings upon you and yours.
Op-ed by James Turnage
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An Update On America’s Changing Religious Landscape
The religious landscape of the United States continues to change at a rapid clip. In Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. Meanwhile, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular, now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.
Both Protestantism and Catholicism are experiencing losses of population share. Currently, 43% of U.S. adults identify with Protestantism, down from 51% in 2009. And one-in-five adults are Catholic, down from 23% in 2009. Meanwhile, all subsets of the religiously unaffiliated population a group also known as religious nones have seen their numbers swell. Self-described atheists now account for 4% of U.S. adults, up modestly but significantly from 2% in 2009 agnostics make up 5% of U.S. adults, up from 3% a decade ago and 17% of Americans now describe their religion as nothing in particular, up from 12% in 2009. Members of non-Christian religions also have grown modestly as a share of the adult population.
Other key takeaways from the new analysis include:
Meanwhile, the number of religiously unaffiliated adults in the U.S. grew by almost 30 million over this period.
Growth Of Other Religious Groups
A young population coupled with high fertility rates will proliferate Muslims to account for 32% of the global population by 2060. The number of Christians will grow slightly by only 34%, slightly faster than the global population growth rate but far much slower than Muslims. Other religious groups are projected to account for a smaller percentage of the global population in 2060 than they did in 2015. Although it is projected that these religious groups will grow slightly, they will not keep up with the rising global population.
Hindus will grow slightly by 27% while Jews, who are the smallest religious group, are expected to grow by 15%. Adherents of various folk religions such as African traditional religions, Australian aboriginals, and Chinese folk religions will grow by only 5% with the Unaffiliated increasing with only 3%. The population of Buddhists and other smaller religious groups such as Jains and Taoists is expected to decline by 7% by 2060 due to low fertility rates and increasing aging population in China, Thailand, and Japan where they are concentrated.
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The Fastest Growing Religion In America
Part 1 of 3
Disciples should stand out in a crowd today more than ever. A new religion has infiltrated the hearts and minds of not only American culture but of Americas churches. What was once simply an inherent trait of human nature running directly counter to the central characteristic of a disciple of Jesus Christ has now been formalized into a religion that is substantially outgrowing and undermining Christianity.
A religion is defined as a particular system of faith and worship or the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power. In the 1980s and 1990s, Baby Boomers were dubbed the Me Generation as conspicuous consumption, career ambition and narcissism precipitated an explosion of self-help books and me-first TV shows like Seinfeld. Millennials born during those two decades have become commonly referred to as Generation Me for their obsession with their own personal identity. However, Selfism didnt attain the status of a full-fledged religion until prevailing social norms recently began to dictate required acceptance of each persons power to define every aspect of his/her being:
- What they do with their own bodies
Three Decades Ago America Lost Its Religion Why
Not religious has become a specific American identityone that distinguishes secular, liberal whites from the conservative, evangelical right.
The idea of American exceptionalism has become so dubious that much of its modern usage is merely sarcastic. But when it comes to religion, Americans really are exceptional. No rich country prays nearly as much as the U.S, and no country that prays as much as the U.S. is nearly as rich.
Americas unique synthesis of wealth and worship has puzzled international observers and foiled their grandest theories of a global secular takeover. In the late 19th century, an array of celebrity philosophersthe likes of Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freudproclaimed the death of God, and predicted that atheism would follow scientific discovery and modernity in the West, sure as smoke follows fire.
Stubbornly pious Americans threw a wrench in the secularization thesis. Deep into the 20th century, more than nine in 10 Americans said they believed in God and belonged to an organized religion, with the great majority of them calling themselves Christian. That number held steadythrough the sexual-revolution 60s, through the rootless and anxious 70s, and through the greed is good 80s.
The obvious question for anybody who spends at least two seconds looking at the graph above is: What the hell happened around 1990?
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Selfisms Leaders & Priorities
Those ideas are promulgated most eagerly by a powerful contingent of leaders across Capitol Hill, Hollywood, media, academia and secular humanism. Those same individuals stand to benefit most from both self-promotion and promotion of Selfism because they have become the objects of worship in America today. Yes, celebrity worship is pervasive in our nation.
We aspire to be like the famous self-absorbed celebrities who tout Selfist principles at every opportunity. Countless TV shows and magazines dedicated to covering each waking moment of our nations most popular actors, politicians, musicians and athletes are filled with seemingly unassailable quotes and advice from those celebrities about Selfisms top priorities:
- Self fulfilment
- Seeking happiness
- Acceptance, not just tolerance
Where Are They Going
To be sure, some are rejecting religion entirely. But others are simply fed up with the confines of traditional religion, and instead choose to join organizations like the ULC that offer a hands-off approach to faith.
Nowhere is this trend more visible than in the wedding industry. According to data tracking company The Wedding Report, nearly 25 percent of couples asked a close friend or family member to perform their wedding last year. And that number is on the rise, up from 16.4 percent back in 2010.
Couples are finding that not only is it more cost effective to have a loved one get ordained to perform their wedding, it also makes for a far more meaningful ceremony. Many religious “nones” are uncomfortable with a traditional priest or minister officiating their wedding and who can blame them? If you’re not religious, why hire somebody that doesn’t share your views to conduct the most important ceremony of your life?
And if religious “nones” keep growing at the current pace, this alternative option is likely to become even more common.
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Why Muslims Are Rising Fastest And The Unaffiliated Are Shrinking As A Share Of The Worlds Population
The religious profile of the world is rapidly changing, driven primarily by differences in fertility rates and the size of youth populations among the worlds major religions, as well as by people switching faiths. Over the next four decades, Christians will remain the largest religious group, but Islam will grow faster than any other major religion. If current trends continue, by 2050
- The number of Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians around the world.
- Atheists, agnostics and other people who do not affiliate with any religion though increasing in countries such as the United States and France will make up a declining share of the worlds total population.
- The global Buddhist population will be about the same size it was in 2010, while the Hindu and Jewish populations will be larger than they are today.
- In Europe, Muslims will make up 10% of the overall population.
- India will retain a Hindu majority but also will have the largest Muslim population of any country in the world, surpassing Indonesia.
- In the United States, Christians will decline from more than three-quarters of the population in 2010 to two-thirds in 2050, and Judaism will no longer be the largest non-Christian religion. Muslims will be more numerous in the U.S. than people who identify as Jewish on the basis of religion.
- Four out of every 10 Christians in the world will live in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Movement To #endselfism
Now that Selfism has become a theocracy, the rights of Christians are in jeopardy:
- to worship freely
- to express themselves honestly
- to refuse to comply with unbiblical principles
- to avoid exposure to the increasing filth pushed out by Selfist proponents who run our schools, governments and media
Efforts to protect Selfists from imposition of Christian values has escalated into imposition of Selfist values on Christians, increasingly violating their rights. #EndSelfism is as much about rescuing American culture from slippery slope of Selfism away from God as it is about the defense of our freedoms as Christians which will deteriorate as the new religion of Selfism continues to grow and the religion of Christianity continues to decline.
Ironically, the movement to #EndSelfism must begin with the Church. Theres a self-inflicted reason why Christianity is in decline not only in growth, but in influence, impact and perception. As this blog has argued since its inception 2 ½ years ago, the Church bears responsibility for its challenges because it:
- redefined church as a place rather than as individuals belonging to the Lord , contributing to building institutions and not disciples, the original purpose of the Church
- redefined its target customer in its pursuit of church members, rather than equipping members to pursue the lost in the community
In an upcoming blog post, well also show the path Christians and churches can take to #EndSelfism.
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Is Islam The Worlds Fastest
Youve probably heard that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world. Based on current trends, the Pew Research Center projects that by 2050 the number of Muslims will be nearly equal to the number of Christians around the world.
To some, this implies Islam attracts multitudes every year and the number of its adherents is growing. When Christians encounter such analysis, they assume the claim is true and can become discouragedespecially when we compare this with statistics of nominal Christians abandoning their faith.
Many assume Islam is ascendant among world religions while Christianity is decliningthat Islam is persuasive and convincing while Christianity is not. But these statistics can be misleading because the increase isnt caused by people converting to Islam. Also, these stats dont reflect the growing number of Muslims leaving their faith.
What Are The Fastest Growing Churches In The Us
Posted February 16, 2011
The two fastest-growing church bodies in the United States and Canada, according to a newly published report, are ones whose beliefs are known to conflict with traditional Christian teaching.
Jehovahs Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, regarded by many Christians as cults, reported the largest membership increases in a year, according to the National Council of Churches 2008 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches.
Although Jehovahs Witnesses currently rank 25th in size with over 1.06 million members, they reported a 2.25 percent increase in membership since the publication of the 2007 Yearbook. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also known as the Mormon church grew 1.56 percent and is listed by the NCC as the fourth largest church.
Notably, however, both Jehovahs Witnesses and the Mormon church are not accepted within many Christian circles as part of the larger Body of Christ over a number of controversial beliefs that the two religions hold. Identification of the former religion as Christian, among other controversies, is debated largely due to their rejection of the Trinity, which most Christians regard as a fundamental doctrine. Latter-day Saints, meanwhile, are often criticized for their belief in divine books of scripture, aside from the Bible, including the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.
Largest 25 Churches
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The Fastest Growing Religions In The World
For decades, Christianity has remained the largest religious group in the world accounting for 31% of the Earths 7.3 billion people. Islam follows at second place accounting for 24% of the global population, with the other 45% of the population identifying as none , Hindus , Buddhists , and Unaffiliated and adherent folk religions . Therefore, as of 2015, Christianity and Islam made up for more than half of the global population. The global population is estimated to grow by 32% by the year 2060 with Muslims expected to have grown by 70%, making it the fastest growing religious group. The Pew Research Center estimates that in the second half of 21st century, the number of Muslims will have surpassed the number of Christians.
Rapid Muslim Population Growth
The rapid growth of Muslims in the world is expected to be fueled by natural demographic factors such as a young population and high fertility rates. Muslims are the youngest major religious group in the world with a median age of 24. Their highest concentration is in Africa and the Middle East where the global population growth rate is estimated to be the highest. Unlike in other religious groups where women have an average of two children, Muslim women have a higher fertility rate with an average of three children in their lifetime. These dynamics also hold true for regions with a high distribution of Muslims. In India, for example, the number of Muslims is growing faster than the native Hindu religion and is expected to rise to 333 million by 2060. The only regions identified to receive the smallest composition of Muslims is the Caribbean and Latin America as very few Muslims are allowed in the regions.
Religious switching is a major factor that will contribute to the growth of Muslims by 2060. While religious switching is expected to hinder the growth of Christianity by an estimated 72 million, it is expected to have no negative effects on Muslims since they have strict sanctions regarding religious switching.
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