Religious Change in America: PRRI survey results

[hislegacy]

Aaron Earls does a good job looking at 2023

7 Encouraging Trends in Global Christianity for 2023 - Lifeway Research

Even if many U.S. churches are facing challenges, global Christianity is advancing in ways previous generations could have only imagined.

research.lifeway.com

1. The religious are growing 2.5 times as fast as the nonreligious​

The global population is increasing at a 1.18% rate. The population of religious adherents has a 1.26% growth rate, while the nonreligious have a 0.56% growth rate. Four different religious groups are growing faster than the population as a whole, including the three largest—Christianity (1.18%), Islam (1.87%), and Hinduism (1.2%).​

​

2. Christianity continues to grow​

Growing at a 1.18% rate, Christianity continues to be the largest religion in the world, with an estimated 2.6 billion global adherents, up from slightly less than 2 billion in 2000. By 2050, the CSGC projects Christianity to top 3.3 billion.​

​

3. Evangelicals and Pentecostals are growing fastest​

Catholics (1.26 billion) are the largest group within Christianity but one of the slowest growing (0.93%). Evangelicals (1.79%) and Pentecostals (1.88%) are experiencing much faster growth, particularly Pentecostals.​

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In 1900, Pentecostals numbered fewer than 1 million. By 2000, they topped 440 million. Currently, they have almost 680 million and are projected to reach 1 billion before 2050.​

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The US could certainly be trending towards a post Christianity standing - not unlike the EU. However the Church in general is growing, particularly among Pentecostal Charismatics. I am an adjunct instructor in International Bible Schools. We currently have a student population of just over 22,000 students in 280 countries. What I find incredible, is the sheer growth in countries that do not support and in some cases outlaw Christianity.

 

[DaisyDay]

I feel like Jules trying to work out who the righteous man, the shepherd and Mr. Nine millimeter actually are...

We'd be the sighted. And the blind are those who are religious who think that there are trees. Which represent the supernatural.

'I feel the trees. I hear the trees. I know the trees are there!'

Trees may not be a good example - they are noisy as all get out, with their creaking, groaning and insane rattling of leaves in the breeze.

 

[Pommer]

Trees may not be a good example - they are noisy as all get out, with their creaking, groaning and insane rattling of leaves in the breeze.

Not to mention all of the noise they make when they fall over and no one is around to hear them.

 

[DaisyDay]

Not to mention all of the noise they make when they fall over and no one is around to hear them.

But do they make a noise then? Is sound defined by ears or vibrations?

 

[Bradskii]

Trees may not be a good example - they are noisy as all get out, with their creaking, groaning and insane rattling of leaves in the breeze.

I'm sitting on my desk at the moment and surrounded by greenery. It's quite nice. Except my neighbour's tree hangs more over my garden than his. So I get plenty of shade. But it's mission in life is to drop as many leaves into my garden as is possible.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

How does one show that believers do detect spiritual things? I would say their love for others is about the only recourse Christians have as evidence for the faith. The rest are metaphysical claims coupled with claims regarding a historical person, Jesus, both of which are often easily doubted.

What is striking is not those who quit believing but those who left because of the way people are being treated. A religion of love is unloving? To conclude it is false just seems to follow. I expect more of the same on both counts.

By the fruit. By the before and after.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

I dont believe that about non believers.

A blind person can still bump into a tree.

True, but bumping into a tree isn't seeing it. It's just detecting an obstacle.

 

[Bradskii]

By the fruit. By the before and after.

So if you don't know the before, can you tell someone is Christian by the way they behave after? By the fruit? Because if that's the way then we can start making a list of people where the fruit is rotten. But claim to be Christian.

 

[DaisyDay]

I'm sitting on my desk at the moment and surrounded by greenery. It's quite nice. Except my neighbour's tree hangs more over my garden than his. So I get plenty of shade. But it's mission in life is to drop as many leaves into my garden as is possible.

Leaves are great in the garden if you chop them up. The bane of my garden is a black locust tree that drops very fertile pods. As a street tree it belongs to the city.

 

[Bradskii]

Leaves are great in the garden if you chop them up. The bane of my garden is a black locust tree that drops very fertile pods. As a street tree it belongs to the city.

It's a gum tree. The leaves have a lot of eucalyptus oil in them. Boy, do they burn well. Toss a few into the chimenea and they practically explode.

 

[durangodawood]

True, but bumping into a tree isn't seeing it. It's just detecting an obstacle.

Its encountering a tree.

 

[DaisyDay]

It's a gum tree. The leaves have a lot of eucalyptus oil in them. Boy, do they burn well. Toss a few into the chimenea and they practically explode.

Probably not good for mulch then. I bet that smells great.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

So if you don't know the before, can you tell someone is Christian by the way they behave after? By the fruit? Because if that's the way then we can start making a list of people where the fruit is rotten. But claim to be Christian.

You have to have the knowledge. Can I tell where any random person I don't know stands with the Lord? No. He could be kind and generous because that is who He is now that the Lord changed him - OR he could be a nefarious serial killer with an agenda to lure me in, for all I know. Or anything in between.

I can only judge an action, not its motivation (unless I'm well-acquainted with the person). Can a good person do something stupid that doesn't really represent who he is, or even have a period like that, and then change? Yes, as anyone who has raised teens knows. Or as anyone who is familiar with an alcoholic or drug addict or even philanderer knows.

Can a person who is redeemed persist in and pursue evil acts repeatedly without remorse consistently over time? No.

Or as I always told the kids: You can sin as a Christian; you just can never enjoy it.

An unredeemed person has no conscience about doing anything he wants to do momentarily, good or bad.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

So if you don't know the before, can you tell someone is Christian by the way they behave after?

We cannot really know their motivations and beliefs unless they tell us.

 

[BCP1928]

You have to have the knowledge. Can I tell where any random person I don't know stands with the Lord? No. He could be kind and generous because that is who He is now that the Lord changed him - OR he could be a nefarious serial killer with an agenda to lure me in, for all I know. Or anything in between.

I can only judge an action, not its motivation (unless I'm well-acquainted with the person). Can a good person do something stupid that doesn't really represent who he is, or even have a period like that, and then change? Yes, as anyone who has raised teens knows. Or as anyone who is familiar with an alcoholic or drug addict or even philanderer knows.

Can a person who is redeemed persist in and pursue evil acts repeatedly without remorse consistently over time? No.

Or as I always told the kids: You can sin as a Christian; you just can never enjoy it.

An unredeemed person has no conscience about doing anything he wants to do momentarily, good or bad.

The possession of a conscience and a moral code is a universal characteristic of humans. It may not be exactly the same moral code as yours, but everybody's got one.

 

[mindlight]

Aaron Earls does a good job looking at 2023

7 Encouraging Trends in Global Christianity for 2023 - Lifeway Research

Even if many U.S. churches are facing challenges, global Christianity is advancing in ways previous generations could have only imagined.

research.lifeway.com

1. The religious are growing 2.5 times as fast as the nonreligious​

The global population is increasing at a 1.18% rate. The population of religious adherents has a 1.26% growth rate, while the nonreligious have a 0.56% growth rate. Four different religious groups are growing faster than the population as a whole, including the three largest—Christianity (1.18%), Islam (1.87%), and Hinduism (1.2%).​

​

2. Christianity continues to grow​

Growing at a 1.18% rate, Christianity continues to be the largest religion in the world, with an estimated 2.6 billion global adherents, up from slightly less than 2 billion in 2000. By 2050, the CSGC projects Christianity to top 3.3 billion.​

​

3. Evangelicals and Pentecostals are growing fastest​

Catholics (1.26 billion) are the largest group within Christianity but one of the slowest growing (0.93%). Evangelicals (1.79%) and Pentecostals (1.88%) are experiencing much faster growth, particularly Pentecostals.​

​

In 1900, Pentecostals numbered fewer than 1 million. By 2000, they topped 440 million. Currently, they have almost 680 million and are projected to reach 1 billion before 2050.​

​

The US could certainly be trending towards a post Christianity standing - not unlike the EU. However the Church in general is growing, particularly among Pentecostal Charismatics. I am an adjunct instructor in International Bible Schools. We currently have a student population of just over 22,000 students in 280 countries. What I find incredible, is the sheer growth in countries that do not support and in some cases outlaw Christianity.

This is a more helpful perspective than the original OP. The USA needs to be set in a global context. US-European influence is declining with its spiritual credibility and Christian's devotion is a major factor in that.

Atheists and Agnostics are also-rans in the global context and a major reason for the rot on the local level in the USA and in Europe.

The big players remain the two big monotheistic religions Christianity and Islam. The real fight here is between Christianity and Islam.

Hinduism is mainly in India and its global impact is less significant.

The fragmentation of real Christianity away from organized churches and toward conservative evangelical and Pentecostal groups is also interesting. It speaks of a growing distrust of the levers of power within church hierarchies and how the church-state linkage of the European imperial era is breaking down into a global form of Christianity that is more counter-cultural than mainstream. This was the pattern of the early church and indeed of much of the church of the East down the last two millennia. The church becomes harder to measure when it disappears from the public square as it is doing.