How many Catholic adherents? How many for each denomination? How many for ALL?

[BobRyan]

In this season of seeing the Catholic Church elect a new Pope - one thing that keeps surfacing in the news is that there are 1.4 billion Catholics.

Then recently I saw a program where two non-Catholics were talking -- saying that they are counted as part of the 1.4 billion Catholics since they were born into a Catholic home and Catholicism is one of the infant-baptism groups.

ask AI - reports this
"It's difficult to provide an exact number of Catholics who have switched to non-Catholic denominations. However, Pew Research Center data indicates that 43% of those raised Catholic no longer identify as Catholic."

It is difficult for any denomination to track the actual number of people currently members of their group - because people switch denominations, some decide not to be Christian at all or join non-Christian groups entirely - Muslim, Hindu etc.

But if the AI statement above is anywhere near representative for the Catholic Church - then 60% of that 1.4 billion number is closer to reality.

I think the denominations that practice believer's baptism may be slightly more accurate in what their numbers actually are.

But then there is also another layer of accuracy where some denominations remove a person's name from the books if that person can no longer be located by the local church that claims to hold their membership.

So this begs the question in general - what is the real true number of Christians in the world (not just what is the real number for a given denomination".

We tend to say 2 billion Christians world wide - but how close is that number to reality? (is it off by 30%? 50%)?

 

[chevyontheriver]

In this season of seeing the Catholic Church elect a new Pope - one thing that keeps surfacing in the news is that there are 1.4 billion Catholics.

Then recently I saw a program where two non-Catholics were talking -- saying that they are counted as part of the 1.4 billion Catholics since they were born into a Catholic home in this is one of the infant-baptism groups.

ask AI - reports this
"It's difficult to provide an exact number of Catholics who have switched to non-Catholic denominations. However, Pew Research Center data indicates that 43% of those raised Catholic no longer identify as Catholic."

It is difficult for any denomination to track the actual number of people currently members of their group - because people switch denominations, some decide not to be Christian at all or join non-Christian groups entirely - Muslim, Hindu etc.

But if the AI statement above is anywhere near representative for the Catholic Church - then 60% of that 1.4 billion number is closer to reality.

I think the denominations that practice believer's baptism may be slightly more accurate in what their numbers actually are.

But then there is also another layer of accuracy where some denominations remove a person's name from the books if that person can no longer be located by the local church that claims to hold their membership.

So this begs the question in general - what is the real true number of Christians in the world (not just what is the real number for a given denomination".

We tend to say 2 billion Christians world wide - but how close is that number to reality? (is if off by 30%)?

Well, you would have to ask them all.

And you better have your questions set because the way you ask the questions determines the answers you get.

So, what question do you ask?

 

[BobRyan]

So, what question do you ask?

1. Are you currently a Catholic Christian ..
2. do you view the Pope as the head of the church/denomination that you attend/are-a-member-of?

Or ....

If you identify as a Christian -- What church/denomination are you currently a member of?

 

[FireDragon76]

In this season of seeing the Catholic Church elect a new Pope - one thing that keeps surfacing in the news is that there are 1.4 billion Catholics.

Then recently I saw a program where two non-Catholics were talking -- saying that they are counted as part of the 1.4 billion Catholics since they were born into a Catholic home in this is one of the infant-baptism groups.

ask AI - reports this
"It's difficult to provide an exact number of Catholics who have switched to non-Catholic denominations. However, Pew Research Center data indicates that 43% of those raised Catholic no longer identify as Catholic."

It is difficult for any denomination to track the actual number of people currently members of their group - because people switch denominations, some decide not to be Christian at all or join non-Christian groups entirely - Muslim, Hindu etc.

But if the AI statement above is anywhere near representative for the Catholic Church - then 60% of that 1.4 billion number is closer to reality.

I think the denominations that practice believer's baptism may be slightly more accurate in what their numbers actually are.

There are alot of nominal Christians among Baptists, too.

But then there is also another layer of accuracy where some denominations remove a person's name from the books if that person can no longer be located by the local church that claims to hold their membership.

So this begs the question in general - what is the real true number of Christians in the world (not just what is the real number for a given denomination".

We tend to say 2 billion Christians world wide - but how close is that number to reality? (is if off by 30%)?

It's probably more or less accurate in terms of self-reporting. Catholicism is huge. Prior to modernity, many Christians were infrequent church attendees, too, just like today. Frequent church attendance wasn't mandated until the Counter-Reformation.

 

[BobRyan]

There are alot of nominal Christians among Baptists, too.

True. This thread is not intended to point to any one denomination as having no one who has an issue.

 

[chevyontheriver]

1. Are you currently a Catholic Christian ..
2. do you view the Pope as the head of the church/denomination that you attend/are-a-member-of?

Or ....

If you identify as a Christian -- What church/denomination are you currently a member of?

Pollsters are slowly becoming more saavy about all of this. For example, they now often ask a follow-up question of Catholics, which is 'how often do you go to mass?'. Turns out self-identified Catholics come in multiple flavors, including a popular flavor that hardly ever darkens the door of a church but still say they are Catholic. And funny but they are counted as 'Catholic' though they aren't discernibly active at all. Your questions miss that distinction. Don't know if you wanted to make that distinction though.

 

[BobRyan]

Pollsters are slowly becoming more saavy about all of this. For example, they now often ask a follow-up question of Catholics, which is 'how often do you go to mass?'. Turns out self-identified Catholics come in multiple flavors, including a popular flavor that hardly ever darkens the door of a church but still say they are Catholic

When it comes to "accuracy" I am not too concerned that someone who still identifies as Catholic almost never goes to church. I consider it valid to count them as Catholic and not atheist, or Baptist, or Hindu etc. But I also agree it would be nice to know across the board how many practicing Christians there are in the world.

. And funny but they are counted as 'Catholic' though they aren't discernibly active at all. Your questions miss that distinction. Don't know if you wanted to make that distinction though.

yeah I was not looking for that. I am just looking at the 1.4B number itself because if that number is over-inflating the number of people today who identify as Catholic by 40% or more that is one problem. If over half of that 40% are actually active members of other Christian denominations and so they show up multiple times in the total count.. well the numbers become less useful.

 

[Freth]

Interesting note... I was looking at some numbers, and Seventh-day Adventists are 23 million or thereabouts. If this is true, we are much more prominent than other denominations give us credit for. We have higher numbers than many denominations. And, as was shown in another thread, we are the most diverse by far. I suspect the numbers are closer than other denominations would like to admit. In another thread on this same forum, we aren't even listed as a part of the major Protestant denominations, despite the fact that we are a large denomination. It's like they don't want to acknowledge that we exist.

 

[Bob Crowley]

Looking through the numbers, it appears there are about 2.3 to 2.6 billion Christians worldwide.

List of Christian denominations by number of members - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A lot of those figures would be based on government census figures. What percentage of those Christians are active in their faith is another question. I know very well that in our parish there are nowhere near as many Catholics attending church regularly as there are who do not attend, but they would still count as "Catholic". If they all came to church we couldn't fit them in.

Our parish has an increasing number of people attending, and an increasing number of baptisms. But some of those are due to non-practicing Catholic parents who want their children to be able to attend a Catholic school as they haven't got much time for the trendy state school system.

My guess is a similar argument could be made about some Protestant and Orthodox denominations in that there would be a lot of nominal Protestants and most likely Orthodox. I went to an Orthodox baptism once and as far as I know neither parent attended church, and sadly have since divorced. They were just doing what was expected of them.

So I'd guess the number of Christians who reallly believe their fatih would be considerably less than the official figures.

Islam is not all that far behind with an estimated 2 billion adherents, but I suspect they take their faith more seriously. I sometimes wonder if God is using them as a challenge to the West for that reason - they take Him "seriously" even if we obviously disagree with their theology.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Looking through the numbers, it appears there are about 2.3 to 2.6 billion Christians worldwide.

List of Christian denominations by number of members - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A lot of those figures would be based on government census figures. What percentage of those Christians are active in their faith is another question. I know very well that in our parish there are nowhere near as many Catholics attending church regularly as there are who do not attend, but they would still count as "Catholic". If they all came to church we couldn't fit them in.

Our parish has an increasing number of people attending, and an increasing number of baptisms. But some of those are due to non-practicing Catholic parents who want their children to be able to attend a Catholic school as they haven't got much time for the trendy state school system.

My guess is a similar argument could be made about some Protestant and Orthodox denominations in that there would be a lot of nominal Protestants and most likely Orthodox. I went to an Orthodox baptism once and as far as I know neither parent attended church, and sadly have since divorced. They were just doing what was expected of them.

So I'd guess the number of Christians who reallly believe their fatih would be considerably less than the official figures.

Islam is not all that far behind with an estimated 2 billion adherents, but I suspect they take their faith more seriously. I sometimes wonder if God is using them as a challenge to the West for that reason - they take Him "seriously" even if we obviously disagree with their theology.

So many Muslims only keep up the appearance. Because it is dangerous to stop keeping up the appearance of being Muslim.

 

[BobRyan]

Interesting note... I was looking at some numbers, and Seventh-day Adventists are 23 million or thereabouts. If this is true, we are much more prominent than other denominations give us credit for. We have higher numbers than many denominations. And, as was shown in another thread, we are the most diverse by far. I suspect the numbers are closer than other denominations would like to admit. In another thread on this same forum, we aren't even listed as a part of the major Protestant denominations, despite the fact that we are a large denomination. It's like they don't want to acknowledge that we exist.

Christianity Today listed SDAs as "the fifth largest" Christian denomination world-wide in 2015...

The Season of Adventists: Can Ben Carson's Church Stay Separatist amid Booming Growth? - Christianity Today

The denomination gains one million each year. Some want to be more evangelical.

www.christianitytoday.com

So as related to that number -- how many of them are still counted as Catholic because they were born into a Catholic home and baptized as infants. hmm.

 

[fhansen]

There are many "cultural Christians" in the world, and the older and more established the denomination the more likely that this will be the case. I tend not to trust anyone based solely on their affiliation.

 

[fhansen]

Christianity Today listed SDAs as "the fifth largest" Christian denomination world-wide in 2015...

The Season of Adventists: Can Ben Carson's Church Stay Separatist amid Booming Growth? - Christianity Today

The denomination gains one million each year. Some want to be more evangelical.

www.christianitytoday.com

So as related to that number -- how many of them are still counted as Catholic because they were born into a Catholic home and baptized as infants. hmm.

Soon, if not already, the SDAs may lose their "persecuted minority status" eligibility.

 

[jas3]

So as related to that number -- how many of them are still counted as Catholic because they were born into a Catholic home and baptized as infants. hmm.

You keep bringing up infant baptism as if there would otherwise be a significant dropoff in the number of children between ages 0-12 who would otherwise be baptized in a credobaptist denomination. Most parents are still making decisions like church attendance for their kids by the time they would receive a "believer's baptism."

 

[RileyG]

In this season of seeing the Catholic Church elect a new Pope - one thing that keeps surfacing in the news is that there are 1.4 billion Catholics.

Then recently I saw a program where two non-Catholics were talking -- saying that they are counted as part of the 1.4 billion Catholics since they were born into a Catholic home and Catholicism is one of the infant-baptism groups.

ask AI - reports this
"It's difficult to provide an exact number of Catholics who have switched to non-Catholic denominations. However, Pew Research Center data indicates that 43% of those raised Catholic no longer identify as Catholic."

It is difficult for any denomination to track the actual number of people currently members of their group - because people switch denominations, some decide not to be Christian at all or join non-Christian groups entirely - Muslim, Hindu etc.

But if the AI statement above is anywhere near representative for the Catholic Church - then 60% of that 1.4 billion number is closer to reality.

I think the denominations that practice believer's baptism may be slightly more accurate in what their numbers actually are.

But then there is also another layer of accuracy where some denominations remove a person's name from the books if that person can no longer be located by the local church that claims to hold their membership.

So this begs the question in general - what is the real true number of Christians in the world (not just what is the real number for a given denomination".

We tend to say 2 billion Christians world wide - but how close is that number to reality? (is it off by 30%? 50%)?

There are some C& E Catholics ie. Christmas & Easter Catholics only. There are some who identify as Catholic but do not practice the faith. 43%? That's an awfully high number.

I think it's pretty hard to get an EXACT number.

 

[RileyG]

There are alot of nominal Christians among Baptists, too.



It's probably more or less accurate in terms of self-reporting. Catholicism is huge. Prior to modernity, many Christians were infrequent church attendees, too, just like today. Frequent church attendance wasn't mandated until the Counter-Reformation.

True. Many nominal mainline Protestants, as well. Many don't go to Church but call themselves "spiritual, but not religious."

 

[RileyG]

1. Are you currently a Catholic Christian ..
2. do you view the Pope as the head of the church/denomination that you attend/are-a-member-of?

Or ....

If you identify as a Christian -- What church/denomination are you currently a member of?

I am Catholic and I view the Pope, the holy Father, as the visible head of the Catholic Church on earth, and Jesus as our invisible head.

 

[trophy33]

Interesting note... I was looking at some numbers, and Seventh-day Adventists are 23 million or thereabouts. If this is true, we are much more prominent than other denominations give us credit for. We have higher numbers than many denominations. And, as was shown in another thread, we are the most diverse by far. I suspect the numbers are closer than other denominations would like to admit. In another thread on this same forum, we aren't even listed as a part of the major Protestant denominations, despite the fact that we are a large denomination. It's like they don't want to acknowledge that we exist.

According to official statistics, about 21 million people worldwide attended Jehovah's Witnesses' 2024 observance of the Memorial of Christ's death (also termed the Lord's Evening Meal).

Demographics of Jehovah's Witnesses - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There are also about 18 millions of Mormons worldwide.

To be "about 20 million people" worldwide is not so extraordinary, for international religious organizations.

 

[FireDragon76]

True. Many nominal mainline Protestants, as well. Many don't go to Church but call themselves "spiritual, but not religious."

I think that's been misunderstood as a term by some religious people. Some that use that label are actually involved in "organized religion", just in nontraditional or non-creedal forms (the Unity Church, for instance, which is a religion that Marianne Williamson was/is affiliated with ) or they attend Mainline Protestant churches but have an eclectic spirituality. A significant minority of mainline Protestants fall in that category, and I know a few folks at church like that. The main thing that label represents, is a rejection of dogma as the basis of religion . Since our denomination doesn't believe creeds are tests of faith, nobody is going to go down a detailed list of what you believe, and what you don't believe, to be accepted in fellowship.

 

[BobRyan]

I am Catholic and I view the Pope, the holy Father, as the visible head of the Catholic Church on earth, and Jesus as our invisible head.

you are the sort of person that we would like to see for that entire 1.4 B number they are giving out. IT would be 100% accurate in that case.