I know this is a sensitive subject to many, but here we go anyway.
I was reading an interesting piece on BBC about the future of religion.
Here are some points.
We take it for granted that religions are born, grow and die – but we are also oddly blind to that reality.
3500 years ago, there was Zoroaster religion. It was the official faith of Persian empire and the first great monotheistic religion.
Today, Zoroastrianism is a dying faith.
When someone starts a religion today, we call it a cult. Yet that’s exactly how Christianity and Islam started.
It took 300 years for Christians to consolidate around a canon of scriptures.
Today, Christianity has grown huge, but at the same time split into thousands of sects… Orthodox, Catholic, Mormons… there are even some snake-handling Pentecostalists.
Today we accept that our faith has arrived at ultimate truth, and that it will not change… but history says otherwise.
Religion is what keeps the world law and order.
Is religion declining?
It is declining in the prosperous countries. But because the population in miserable countries is growing at a faster rate, in absolute numbers, religion is not declining yet.
There is a direct correlation between misery and religion. In 2011, people affected by an earthquake in New Zealand became significantly more religious than those who were not directly affected.
If Zoroastrianism was not adopted officially by the Persian empire, it would have failed, just as if Christianity was not adopted officially by the Roman Empire.
Finally, there are about 4200 religions in the world today. If you believe in 1 (say Christianity), that means you don’t believe in 4,199 others.
There’s no point gushing over someone who doesn’t believe in just one more.
In conclusion from the article, the future of religion is no religion.
Those figures are always controversial. How do they know that Christianity is declining in developed countries? How did they conduct that survey? Did they ask people on the street? Counting empty pews in a church on Sunday is not a survey.
Just because there are fewer numbers in churches doesn’t mean there are no Christians in developed countries. Labda wanaona TD Jakes pale YoutTube na TBN badala ya kuenda church. Wanaona Kiuna on TV.
They conduct surveys for long periods of time. They track attitudes for long. It is never a one off survey. It is true religion in prosperous countries is declining
Religion in itself will never end. Only sects will go extinct or morph into others. New forms of religion will always emerge. My guess is that in the long run paganism will replace Christianity and Islam
Furthermore if Christian numbers are in decline in the developed countries why do the likes of Joel Osteen in the U.S keep expanding their churches?! Riddle me that.
Siku hizi a 1000 seater church won’t cut it in the U.S. Siku hizi church ni stadium size. Plus these guys also have millions of views online and broadcast in different languages. Ngojeni democracy iingie China na North Korea proper as they accept more and more capitalist trends. Today there are about 50 million Christians in China most of them chini ya maji. Wapatie another 20 years then re-do the survey.
Those are the same surveys and polls that said Trump wouldn’t win. Zinakuwaga guesswork. The same surveys that missed the recent financial crash. The same surveys that gave us ‘global warming’. Lakini kukinyesha hivi wananyamaza.
Wanaketi chini ya maji… drought ikirudi, “Yeah we told you about global warming!”
Kunanyesha. "Well that’s why you see this abnormal rain! "
The Bible says “straight is the gate and narrow
is the way that leads to life and few find it. Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Moreover, identifying as a Christian isn’t enough. After all, Catholicism is considered the largest “Christian” organization but is really a heretic, apostate institution. God looks at the heart and discerns all the thoughts and intents therein. What you see as a decline in Christian numbers is the work of the Holy Spirit separating God’s people from the rest of the world.
Christianity will ONLY go away at the second coming of Christ. Many of you can call us names if you wish but the hard, cold truth is that the day of reckoning is near.
The problem people have with Christianity is equating it with what the see on TVs (mostly theatrics). Another thing is most have only theoretical understanding of who God is. He is practical and if you are after Him he usually makes his presence felt to you.
All these things happening in Christianity are just confirming what the Bible says. ie the faith of many will grow cold, people will be lovers of money/themselves etc. So if you have seen these things and confirmed them as true know that you have just proved the Bible to be true and if you don’t accept its message, you are already under judgement.
You are just in denial.
All polls and studies show religion declining in the US over the years.
Millennial and the newer generations are less and less religious.
It is the main reason why they are becoming liberal to secular ideas like gay marriage and abortion.
Joel Osteen opening 1 church does not negate the fact that 100 were closed.
Hehehe. Every field has its instrument to collect primary data. All are not surveys either. You must know that statistics don’t “tell the truth”. Rather we attempt to reduce uncertainty. You need to refresh your statistical knowledge