My history professor said Islam will take over Christianity. Is she right?
quora.com
Aug 20, 2018 5:23 AM


Alex Piascik
Free Thinking Classical Liberal in Love with America
55w ago
If that’s what your history professor said verbatim, then she is guilty of sloppy (or no) thinking. Christianity is alive and well in Latin America and Africa, as well as having thriving communities in countries like India, South Korea (where 30% of the population is Christian), and China.
Europe has become “post-Christian”, and the U.S. certainly seems to be headed that way. But it’s not because Christianity is being displaced by Islam in the developed world, but has more to do with the humanistic thought that took over the West starting in the Renaissance and continuing with the European enlightenment, helped along by the radical discoveries in physics and cosmology of the last 100 years, as well as Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. For all the incredible discoveries made by physicists, astronomers, biologists, and anthropologists, they have not found definitive proof of a maker behind the model. Traditional theological ways of looking at the world have been undermined, but not replaced with anything new that gives people a sense of meaning or purpose behind the cosmos. This is what Nietzsche meant by the phrase “God is dead”, that the foundation of meaning and morality in the western world had come undone. So we’ve discovered that the universe is mind-bendingly cool, but why is it even here? This is where science falls silent. There are non-Christian societies where Western modes of thought have taken root and provoked a similar rejection of religion, most notably in Japan. This is the dilemma of the developed world, where we have these amazing discoveries that have provided us with unbelievable prosperity, but there is a painful lack of meaning and direction in the lives of many, particularly those in their teens and 20’s, which is the time of life when questions like “what do I want my life to be about” and “what is all this FOR??” fiercely arrive on the scene.
Radical Islam is largely a reaction against these discoveries and the modes of thought behind them. Radical Muslims correctly intuit that if they allow Western modes of thought to become dominant in their societies, then Islam will be undermined and people will adopt Western modes of thought, dress, attitudes towards sexuality, etc. We can already see this in a few countries, most notably Turkey, where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his allies established a secular republic based on Western models. Today in Iran there is a vibrant youth underground culture where people in their teens and 20’s secretly get together to party, listen to music and have fun in ways that the ruling elite would not approve of.
Muslims are very aware of this issue and many are no doubt tormented because they don’t want to sacrifice elements of their culture that are positive (for example, the importance of family life), but realize that the Islamic world is backward compared to the West. But don’t take my word for it, watch this video of Saudi writer and former Shura (Advisory Council) member Ibrahim Al-Buleihi:

So the right question to ask is not “will Islam take over Christianity?” but “who will win the war between secular and religious thought in the Islamic world?”

Stefan Papp
Data Evangelist, Libertarian Adventurer and Eudaimonian
53w ago
My opinion my might be a bit based as I am an Atheist.
What I see in Europe:
Now older people (60+) were in their youth often heavily influenced by religion education. They still got the teachings of “If you do not believe, you will end up bad”. For many of them it was pretty normal to be religious and Christianity was the only option.
Looking the decades down, I see less influence per each decade. I am now in my forties. There was a grasp of Christianity still, but no one threatened me with hell. it was still normal to be baptized and to go through various stages such as first communion but no friend of mine went to church on sunday. This was in the 90ties.
Looking now at my kids, it is pretty normal not be Christian in Vienna. There are less than 50% catholics in Vienna and the number continues to decrease.
What has changed? People in my home country have become more diverse. Country side might be still different. We have some very conservative places still, but even there people are changing. Many question religion and you can read all the question on religion very openly in the internet. Just browse in the internet and you will find a lot of good reasoning why the whole religious history can be interpreted as a fairy tale. This has not been there in the 60ties.
No, Christianity is decreasing here in Europe. I know a lot of people who do not believe in any God and still are officially part of the religion out of respect for their parents who would not understand their kids leaving. And with the old generation gone, people will also more and more stop baptizing the kids, etc.
Less people that follow, less money. There is religion tax that people pay to the catholic church. The less people the less money. Religion has still a lot of privileges. For instance the federal state pays religion tuition at school. With less people who are religious, these privileges go away and they will have to cut down on everything. The more extreme conservative groups such as monasteries are already dying out as no one wants to become a monk or nun any more. So all in all it does not look good. The church might adapt, become more open (The current pope is a sign for trying to open to new people), but in the end it does not seem to work out. If you learn history and understand how everything got together for many people religion will be a fairy tale. What I said now can be extended from Catholicism to other fields of Islam as well.
So, who will replace Christianity? Is it Islam. Looking at Europe, we have a huge islamic migration. People leave their home countries for a better life in Europe. Often they had a similar education like the people who are considered to be old christians. Very close minded, leaving religion is not an option.
However, at some point it also obvious that many young people from that groups are open to new ideas. Economy is not so good in Europe and with the migration of people from islamic countries people finally become more aware of cultural differences and there are programs to integrate those people. And also we gradually get there to say that those who do not want to share our values have to leave.
So all in all, in 100 years, religion itself as it is today will be a minority. I am sure that the monotheist religion will last for many more years to come, but the followers will be a minority.
What I am not sure about is if pure atheism will replace the old religions, or something new will be formed. I still doubt the rationalism of people and I can imagine that we face some new kind of religions that take various aspects of everything and form a new religion. If you look closely that is recipe for successful religions. When Christianity was formed, the world was changing too. The old ideas of the ancient roman beliefs did not match any more. So what happened in Rome? They formed a new religion out of many others and called it Christianity. Surprised? Have a look on all the pagan influences on Christianity and you will see it is a mix of Jewish religion, mithras cult, Egyptian beliefs and European pagan traditions.

Pat Sonti
Undergraduate (Senior) at Texas A&M.
57w ago
Okay, let me introduce something else into this equation.
Is Islam the fastest growing religion in the world? By birth rate only, perhaps. My Muslim friends will argue that Islam is also the faith with the fastest growing apostasy rates on the planet. There are NO exit polls telling us who is leaving Islam. Converts to the faith aren't a reliable number. They, too, leave for various reasons. (Leaving Islam formally is far difficult an enterprise than leaving Christianity.)
Birth rates numbers are deceptive. They don't account for nominal belief, devout following, or apostasy. In France, for example, “cultural” attachment to Catholicism is a feature of their culture. Likewise, my so-called Muslim friends in the UAE, are culturally identifiable as “Muslim,” insofar as they fear societal pressures to call themselves atheist. (Visiting the mosque, and the imam, in my small town in Texas gave me a great insight into this whole debate of which religion will “take over” the other.)
In my opinion, I think birthrates, or converts, are not an accurate measure of any one faith “taking over” the other.
Personally, I think the fastest growing “religion” in the world is secular humanism (with vestigial remnants identifiable as either Christian or Muslim or some other faith).
Keep in mind also that Christianity is the most scrutinized faith in the world; Islam so far has been bereft of this type of scrutiny. As critical religious scholarship becomes more globalized, and institutionalized, with punitive measures for apostasy removed, Islam will face the same fallout in membership as Christianity has evidenced.
Not at all surprising, in any way.
To get a larger grasp of religion on the planet, I recommend The Golden Bough by James G. Frazer. Also read, Varieties of Religious Experience by William James.

Matthew Thompson
Freelance writer. (2017-present)
56w ago
Your Professor would be a good gambler because the numbers could play out that way.

It is possible that Islam could take over all the dominant world religions and even convert traditionally very Christian nations (such as Germany) purely by playing a numbers game.

For example: the average global fertility rate for a Muslim woman is 3.1 children, this is compared with the German rate of 1.5 (highest since 1982.)It’s hard to find a good number for Islamic fertility rate in Germany because of the recent influx due to the refugee crisis, but some sources in claim as of 2015 it is 2.1 - though it could be higher now in 2017.
I know in my lifetime I have tangibly seen a change in my nearest big city - London - of the increasing Muslim population. The Guardian reports that the Muslim population Has Doubled in only 10 years in England.
So all politic and religious theories aside, purely from a Mathematical view - yes, Islam looks as if it will overtake Christianity. It’s just a matter of time (and baby-making.)

Hope this helps.
Matthew.

Jamal S.A.
studied Master of Business Administration Degrees (1993)
55w ago
I am seeing a lot of non-Muslims talk about laws and rules about Islam. Apostasy is one of them, where death is the penalty. As a practicing Muslim, I haven't heard or seen in my lifetime that in the land where I was born and brought up (India) and where I am living (Singapore). Where these people are getting this wild imagination of death penalty?
One thing is very sure, Islam is not explained by who understood it clearly, and non-stakeholders such as Non-Muslims are commenting and opining on Islamic rules and penalties without first hand knowledge and imposing as Islam on other’s minds. This is a pure derogatory remark on someone’s faith.
Sliding birth rate in Christianity could be one reason, that causes the decline of the followers. The same could be applied for Islam’s growth, but education seems to be stopping this phenomenon. More and more Muslim children are studying today, which will help to reduce the birth rate as well. So, I don't believe this statement that Islam will take over Christianity in Europe.
There are other avenues, such as conversion. Contrary to popular belief, there are more Christian converts in developing countries.
Take for example, in Tamil Nadu(India), Christianity overtook Islam in the last 70 years, though both of them are minorities in Tamil Nadu. This was a surprise to me, as well.
Footnotes

Travis Perry
M.A. History & Thesis in Biblical History, Wayland Baptist University (2018)
56w ago
Lots of answers here already but none entirely accounted for one particular fact:
In a number of countries in the world, the actual numbers on religion are in fact unknown. This is ESPECIALLY true in regard to secret converts to Christianity.
Mission organizations on occasion report an underground church in North Korea. Nobody knows how big it is, but it is thought to be growing.
Official Chinese statistics list 80 million Chinese Christians, but (unsubstantiated) information indicates the number of Chinese Christians is in fact much higher, more like 300 million (and these reports also indicate most Chinese Christians keep their faith a secret from the government). It is also reported (and I know of no way to know if it is true or not) that Christianity is growing at an enormous rate in China.
Christianity is supposedly an underground movement in some Islamic countries as well. I happen to have known a few Middle Eastern Christians who were converts and who kept their identity as Christians secret. One of them reported to me that Iran has “millions” of secret converts to Christianity. (There is absolutely no way to verify this, of course.)
Note that the reverse basically does not apply. Since there is no official persecution for Christians who leave the faith, there are very few secret converts to Islam among Christians as far as I know. A Christian who becomes a Muslim will generally announce that to the world.
It IS quite clear that in Europe, a traditional stronghold of Christianity, Islam is growing much faster than Christianity. It is also true that Europe’s basic religion is secularism anyway, which is growing to a degree worldwide.
But in Africa and the Americas, Christianity is at least maintaining total numbers (secularism is only making partial “headway” there)—and Christianity may be enormously growing in Asia and the Middle East (“may be”—there is no way to verify numbers on secret converts).
However, just the idea that Christianity is growing in regions where Islam is NOT growing should make it clear that it is too early to say what will be the most common religion in the world 100 years from now.

Zain Amor
32w ago
Well she is right, as of now Islam is the fastest growing Relgion in the world, and if it continues to grow at this rate it will most definitely overtake Christianity as the largest Religion in the world in the near future.


Islam as of now is the fastest growing Religion in the world, no other Relgion even comes close, why ?
The reason Islam is the fastest growing Religion in the world is because Globally, Muslims have the highest fertility rate:

Source for Charts: Projected Change in Global Population
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My history professor said Islam will take over Christianity. Is she right?
quora.com
Aug 20, 2018 5:23 AM


Alex Piascik
Free Thinking Classical Liberal in Love with America
55w ago
If that’s what your history professor said verbatim, then she is guilty of sloppy (or no) thinking. Christianity is alive and well in Latin America and Africa, as well as having thriving communities in countries like India, South Korea (where 30% of the population is Christian), and China.
Europe has become “post-Christian”, and the U.S. certainly seems to be headed that way. But it’s not because Christianity is being displaced by Islam in the developed world, but has more to do with the humanistic thought that took over the West starting in the Renaissance and continuing with the European enlightenment, helped along by the radical discoveries in physics and cosmology of the last 100 years, as well as Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. For all the incredible discoveries made by physicists, astronomers, biologists, and anthropologists, they have not found definitive proof of a maker behind the model. Traditional theological ways of looking at the world have been undermined, but not replaced with anything new that gives people a sense of meaning or purpose behind the cosmos. This is what Nietzsche meant by the phrase “God is dead”, that the foundation of meaning and morality in the western world had come undone. So we’ve discovered that the universe is mind-bendingly cool, but why is it even here? This is where science falls silent. There are non-Christian societies where Western modes of thought have taken root and provoked a similar rejection of religion, most notably in Japan. This is the dilemma of the developed world, where we have these amazing discoveries that have provided us with unbelievable prosperity, but there is a painful lack of meaning and direction in the lives of many, particularly those in their teens and 20’s, which is the time of life when questions like “what do I want my life to be about” and “what is all this FOR??” fiercely arrive on the scene.
Radical Islam is largely a reaction against these discoveries and the modes of thought behind them. Radical Muslims correctly intuit that if they allow Western modes of thought to become dominant in their societies, then Islam will be undermined and people will adopt Western modes of thought, dress, attitudes towards sexuality, etc. We can already see this in a few countries, most notably Turkey, where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his allies established a secular republic based on Western models. Today in Iran there is a vibrant youth underground culture where people in their teens and 20’s secretly get together to party, listen to music and have fun in ways that the ruling elite would not approve of.
Muslims are very aware of this issue and many are no doubt tormented because they don’t want to sacrifice elements of their culture that are positive (for example, the importance of family life), but realize that the Islamic world is backward compared to the West. But don’t take my word for it, watch this video of Saudi writer and former Shura (Advisory Council) member Ibrahim Al-Buleihi:

So the right question to ask is not “will Islam take over Christianity?” but “who will win the war between secular and religious thought in the Islamic world?”

Stefan Papp
Data Evangelist, Libertarian Adventurer and Eudaimonian
53w ago
My opinion my might be a bit based as I am an Atheist.
What I see in Europe:
Now older people (60+) were in their youth often heavily influenced by religion education. They still got the teachings of “If you do not believe, you will end up bad”. For many of them it was pretty normal to be religious and Christianity was the only option.
Looking the decades down, I see less influence per each decade. I am now in my forties. There was a grasp of Christianity still, but no one threatened me with hell. it was still normal to be baptized and to go through various stages such as first communion but no friend of mine went to church on sunday. This was in the 90ties.
Looking now at my kids, it is pretty normal not be Christian in Vienna. There are less than 50% catholics in Vienna and the number continues to decrease.
What has changed? People in my home country have become more diverse. Country side might be still different. We have some very conservative places still, but even there people are changing. Many question religion and you can read all the question on religion very openly in the internet. Just browse in the internet and you will find a lot of good reasoning why the whole religious history can be interpreted as a fairy tale. This has not been there in the 60ties.
No, Christianity is decreasing here in Europe. I know a lot of people who do not believe in any God and still are officially part of the religion out of respect for their parents who would not understand their kids leaving. And with the old generation gone, people will also more and more stop baptizing the kids, etc.
Less people that follow, less money. There is religion tax that people pay to the catholic church. The less people the less money. Religion has still a lot of privileges. For instance the federal state pays religion tuition at school. With less people who are religious, these privileges go away and they will have to cut down on everything. The more extreme conservative groups such as monasteries are already dying out as no one wants to become a monk or nun any more. So all in all it does not look good. The church might adapt, become more open (The current pope is a sign for trying to open to new people), but in the end it does not seem to work out. If you learn history and understand how everything got together for many people religion will be a fairy tale. What I said now can be extended from Catholicism to other fields of Islam as well.
So, who will replace Christianity? Is it Islam. Looking at Europe, we have a huge islamic migration. People leave their home countries for a better life in Europe. Often they had a similar education like the people who are considered to be old christians. Very close minded, leaving religion is not an option.
However, at some point it also obvious that many young people from that groups are open to new ideas. Economy is not so good in Europe and with the migration of people from islamic countries people finally become more aware of cultural differences and there are programs to integrate those people. And also we gradually get there to say that those who do not want to share our values have to leave.
So all in all, in 100 years, religion itself as it is today will be a minority. I am sure that the monotheist religion will last for many more years to come, but the followers will be a minority.
What I am not sure about is if pure atheism will replace the old religions, or something new will be formed. I still doubt the rationalism of people and I can imagine that we face some new kind of religions that take various aspects of everything and form a new religion. If you look closely that is recipe for successful religions. When Christianity was formed, the world was changing too. The old ideas of the ancient roman beliefs did not match any more. So what happened in Rome? They formed a new religion out of many others and called it Christianity. Surprised? Have a look on all the pagan influences on Christianity and you will see it is a mix of Jewish religion, mithras cult, Egyptian beliefs and European pagan traditions.

Pat Sonti
Undergraduate (Senior) at Texas A&M.
57w ago
Okay, let me introduce something else into this equation.
Is Islam the fastest growing religion in the world? By birth rate only, perhaps. My Muslim friends will argue that Islam is also the faith with the fastest growing apostasy rates on the planet. There are NO exit polls telling us who is leaving Islam. Converts to the faith aren't a reliable number. They, too, leave for various reasons. (Leaving Islam formally is far difficult an enterprise than leaving Christianity.)
Birth rates numbers are deceptive. They don't account for nominal belief, devout following, or apostasy. In France, for example, “cultural” attachment to Catholicism is a feature of their culture. Likewise, my so-called Muslim friends in the UAE, are culturally identifiable as “Muslim,” insofar as they fear societal pressures to call themselves atheist. (Visiting the mosque, and the imam, in my small town in Texas gave me a great insight into this whole debate of which religion will “take over” the other.)
In my opinion, I think birthrates, or converts, are not an accurate measure of any one faith “taking over” the other.
Personally, I think the fastest growing “religion” in the world is secular humanism (with vestigial remnants identifiable as either Christian or Muslim or some other faith).
Keep in mind also that Christianity is the most scrutinized faith in the world; Islam so far has been bereft of this type of scrutiny. As critical religious scholarship becomes more globalized, and institutionalized, with punitive measures for apostasy removed, Islam will face the same fallout in membership as Christianity has evidenced.
Not at all surprising, in any way.
To get a larger grasp of religion on the planet, I recommend The Golden Bough by James G. Frazer. Also read, Varieties of Religious Experience by William James.

Matthew Thompson
Freelance writer. (2017-present)
56w ago
Your Professor would be a good gambler because the numbers could play out that way.

It is possible that Islam could take over all the dominant world religions and even convert traditionally very Christian nations (such as Germany) purely by playing a numbers game.

For example: the average global fertility rate for a Muslim woman is 3.1 children, this is compared with the German rate of 1.5 (highest since 1982.)It’s hard to find a good number for Islamic fertility rate in Germany because of the recent influx due to the refugee crisis, but some sources in claim as of 2015 it is 2.1 - though it could be higher now in 2017.
I know in my lifetime I have tangibly seen a change in my nearest big city - London - of the increasing Muslim population. The Guardian reports that the Muslim population Has Doubled in only 10 years in England.
So all politic and religious theories aside, purely from a Mathematical view - yes, Islam looks as if it will overtake Christianity. It’s just a matter of time (and baby-making.)

Hope this helps.
Matthew.

Jamal S.A.
studied Master of Business Administration Degrees (1993)
55w ago
I am seeing a lot of non-Muslims talk about laws and rules about Islam. Apostasy is one of them, where death is the penalty. As a practicing Muslim, I haven't heard or seen in my lifetime that in the land where I was born and brought up (India) and where I am living (Singapore). Where these people are getting this wild imagination of death penalty?
One thing is very sure, Islam is not explained by who understood it clearly, and non-stakeholders such as Non-Muslims are commenting and opining on Islamic rules and penalties without first hand knowledge and imposing as Islam on other’s minds. This is a pure derogatory remark on someone’s faith.
Sliding birth rate in Christianity could be one reason, that causes the decline of the followers. The same could be applied for Islam’s growth, but education seems to be stopping this phenomenon. More and more Muslim children are studying today, which will help to reduce the birth rate as well. So, I don't believe this statement that Islam will take over Christianity in Europe.
There are other avenues, such as conversion. Contrary to popular belief, there are more Christian converts in developing countries.
Take for example, in Tamil Nadu(India), Christianity overtook Islam in the last 70 years, though both of them are minorities in Tamil Nadu. This was a surprise to me, as well.
Footnotes

Travis Perry
M.A. History & Thesis in Biblical History, Wayland Baptist University (2018)
56w ago
Lots of answers here already but none entirely accounted for one particular fact:
In a number of countries in the world, the actual numbers on religion are in fact unknown. This is ESPECIALLY true in regard to secret converts to Christianity.
Mission organizations on occasion report an underground church in North Korea. Nobody knows how big it is, but it is thought to be growing.
Official Chinese statistics list 80 million Chinese Christians, but (unsubstantiated) information indicates the number of Chinese Christians is in fact much higher, more like 300 million (and these reports also indicate most Chinese Christians keep their faith a secret from the government). It is also reported (and I know of no way to know if it is true or not) that Christianity is growing at an enormous rate in China.
Christianity is supposedly an underground movement in some Islamic countries as well. I happen to have known a few Middle Eastern Christians who were converts and who kept their identity as Christians secret. One of them reported to me that Iran has “millions” of secret converts to Christianity. (There is absolutely no way to verify this, of course.)
Note that the reverse basically does not apply. Since there is no official persecution for Christians who leave the faith, there are very few secret converts to Islam among Christians as far as I know. A Christian who becomes a Muslim will generally announce that to the world.
It IS quite clear that in Europe, a traditional stronghold of Christianity, Islam is growing much faster than Christianity. It is also true that Europe’s basic religion is secularism anyway, which is growing to a degree worldwide.
But in Africa and the Americas, Christianity is at least maintaining total numbers (secularism is only making partial “headway” there)—and Christianity may be enormously growing in Asia and the Middle East (“may be”—there is no way to verify numbers on secret converts).
However, just the idea that Christianity is growing in regions where Islam is NOT growing should make it clear that it is too early to say what will be the most common religion in the world 100 years from now.

Zain Amor
32w ago
Well she is right, as of now Islam is the fastest growing Relgion in the world, and if it continues to grow at this rate it will most definitely overtake Christianity as the largest Religion in the world in the near future.


Islam as of now is the fastest growing Religion in the world, no other Relgion even comes close, why ?
The reason Islam is the fastest growing Religion in the world is because Globally, Muslims have the highest fertility rate:

quora.com
Aug 20, 2018 5:23 AM


Alex Piascik
Free Thinking Classical Liberal in Love with America
55w ago
If that’s what your history professor said verbatim, then she is guilty of sloppy (or no) thinking. Christianity is alive and well in Latin America and Africa, as well as having thriving communities in countries like India, South Korea (where 30% of the population is Christian), and China.
Europe has become “post-Christian”, and the U.S. certainly seems to be headed that way. But it’s not because Christianity is being displaced by Islam in the developed world, but has more to do with the humanistic thought that took over the West starting in the Renaissance and continuing with the European enlightenment, helped along by the radical discoveries in physics and cosmology of the last 100 years, as well as Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. For all the incredible discoveries made by physicists, astronomers, biologists, and anthropologists, they have not found definitive proof of a maker behind the model. Traditional theological ways of looking at the world have been undermined, but not replaced with anything new that gives people a sense of meaning or purpose behind the cosmos. This is what Nietzsche meant by the phrase “God is dead”, that the foundation of meaning and morality in the western world had come undone. So we’ve discovered that the universe is mind-bendingly cool, but why is it even here? This is where science falls silent. There are non-Christian societies where Western modes of thought have taken root and provoked a similar rejection of religion, most notably in Japan. This is the dilemma of the developed world, where we have these amazing discoveries that have provided us with unbelievable prosperity, but there is a painful lack of meaning and direction in the lives of many, particularly those in their teens and 20’s, which is the time of life when questions like “what do I want my life to be about” and “what is all this FOR??” fiercely arrive on the scene.
Radical Islam is largely a reaction against these discoveries and the modes of thought behind them. Radical Muslims correctly intuit that if they allow Western modes of thought to become dominant in their societies, then Islam will be undermined and people will adopt Western modes of thought, dress, attitudes towards sexuality, etc. We can already see this in a few countries, most notably Turkey, where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his allies established a secular republic based on Western models. Today in Iran there is a vibrant youth underground culture where people in their teens and 20’s secretly get together to party, listen to music and have fun in ways that the ruling elite would not approve of.
Muslims are very aware of this issue and many are no doubt tormented because they don’t want to sacrifice elements of their culture that are positive (for example, the importance of family life), but realize that the Islamic world is backward compared to the West. But don’t take my word for it, watch this video of Saudi writer and former Shura (Advisory Council) member Ibrahim Al-Buleihi:

So the right question to ask is not “will Islam take over Christianity?” but “who will win the war between secular and religious thought in the Islamic world?”

Stefan Papp
Data Evangelist, Libertarian Adventurer and Eudaimonian
53w ago
My opinion my might be a bit based as I am an Atheist.
What I see in Europe:
Now older people (60+) were in their youth often heavily influenced by religion education. They still got the teachings of “If you do not believe, you will end up bad”. For many of them it was pretty normal to be religious and Christianity was the only option.
Looking the decades down, I see less influence per each decade. I am now in my forties. There was a grasp of Christianity still, but no one threatened me with hell. it was still normal to be baptized and to go through various stages such as first communion but no friend of mine went to church on sunday. This was in the 90ties.
Looking now at my kids, it is pretty normal not be Christian in Vienna. There are less than 50% catholics in Vienna and the number continues to decrease.
What has changed? People in my home country have become more diverse. Country side might be still different. We have some very conservative places still, but even there people are changing. Many question religion and you can read all the question on religion very openly in the internet. Just browse in the internet and you will find a lot of good reasoning why the whole religious history can be interpreted as a fairy tale. This has not been there in the 60ties.
No, Christianity is decreasing here in Europe. I know a lot of people who do not believe in any God and still are officially part of the religion out of respect for their parents who would not understand their kids leaving. And with the old generation gone, people will also more and more stop baptizing the kids, etc.
Less people that follow, less money. There is religion tax that people pay to the catholic church. The less people the less money. Religion has still a lot of privileges. For instance the federal state pays religion tuition at school. With less people who are religious, these privileges go away and they will have to cut down on everything. The more extreme conservative groups such as monasteries are already dying out as no one wants to become a monk or nun any more. So all in all it does not look good. The church might adapt, become more open (The current pope is a sign for trying to open to new people), but in the end it does not seem to work out. If you learn history and understand how everything got together for many people religion will be a fairy tale. What I said now can be extended from Catholicism to other fields of Islam as well.
So, who will replace Christianity? Is it Islam. Looking at Europe, we have a huge islamic migration. People leave their home countries for a better life in Europe. Often they had a similar education like the people who are considered to be old christians. Very close minded, leaving religion is not an option.
However, at some point it also obvious that many young people from that groups are open to new ideas. Economy is not so good in Europe and with the migration of people from islamic countries people finally become more aware of cultural differences and there are programs to integrate those people. And also we gradually get there to say that those who do not want to share our values have to leave.
So all in all, in 100 years, religion itself as it is today will be a minority. I am sure that the monotheist religion will last for many more years to come, but the followers will be a minority.
What I am not sure about is if pure atheism will replace the old religions, or something new will be formed. I still doubt the rationalism of people and I can imagine that we face some new kind of religions that take various aspects of everything and form a new religion. If you look closely that is recipe for successful religions. When Christianity was formed, the world was changing too. The old ideas of the ancient roman beliefs did not match any more. So what happened in Rome? They formed a new religion out of many others and called it Christianity. Surprised? Have a look on all the pagan influences on Christianity and you will see it is a mix of Jewish religion, mithras cult, Egyptian beliefs and European pagan traditions.

Pat Sonti
Undergraduate (Senior) at Texas A&M.
57w ago
Okay, let me introduce something else into this equation.
Is Islam the fastest growing religion in the world? By birth rate only, perhaps. My Muslim friends will argue that Islam is also the faith with the fastest growing apostasy rates on the planet. There are NO exit polls telling us who is leaving Islam. Converts to the faith aren't a reliable number. They, too, leave for various reasons. (Leaving Islam formally is far difficult an enterprise than leaving Christianity.)
Birth rates numbers are deceptive. They don't account for nominal belief, devout following, or apostasy. In France, for example, “cultural” attachment to Catholicism is a feature of their culture. Likewise, my so-called Muslim friends in the UAE, are culturally identifiable as “Muslim,” insofar as they fear societal pressures to call themselves atheist. (Visiting the mosque, and the imam, in my small town in Texas gave me a great insight into this whole debate of which religion will “take over” the other.)
In my opinion, I think birthrates, or converts, are not an accurate measure of any one faith “taking over” the other.
Personally, I think the fastest growing “religion” in the world is secular humanism (with vestigial remnants identifiable as either Christian or Muslim or some other faith).
Keep in mind also that Christianity is the most scrutinized faith in the world; Islam so far has been bereft of this type of scrutiny. As critical religious scholarship becomes more globalized, and institutionalized, with punitive measures for apostasy removed, Islam will face the same fallout in membership as Christianity has evidenced.
Not at all surprising, in any way.
To get a larger grasp of religion on the planet, I recommend The Golden Bough by James G. Frazer. Also read, Varieties of Religious Experience by William James.

Matthew Thompson
Freelance writer. (2017-present)
56w ago
Your Professor would be a good gambler because the numbers could play out that way.

It is possible that Islam could take over all the dominant world religions and even convert traditionally very Christian nations (such as Germany) purely by playing a numbers game.

For example: the average global fertility rate for a Muslim woman is 3.1 children, this is compared with the German rate of 1.5 (highest since 1982.)It’s hard to find a good number for Islamic fertility rate in Germany because of the recent influx due to the refugee crisis, but some sources in claim as of 2015 it is 2.1 - though it could be higher now in 2017.
I know in my lifetime I have tangibly seen a change in my nearest big city - London - of the increasing Muslim population. The Guardian reports that the Muslim population Has Doubled in only 10 years in England.
So all politic and religious theories aside, purely from a Mathematical view - yes, Islam looks as if it will overtake Christianity. It’s just a matter of time (and baby-making.)

Hope this helps.
Matthew.

Jamal S.A.
studied Master of Business Administration Degrees (1993)
55w ago
I am seeing a lot of non-Muslims talk about laws and rules about Islam. Apostasy is one of them, where death is the penalty. As a practicing Muslim, I haven't heard or seen in my lifetime that in the land where I was born and brought up (India) and where I am living (Singapore). Where these people are getting this wild imagination of death penalty?
One thing is very sure, Islam is not explained by who understood it clearly, and non-stakeholders such as Non-Muslims are commenting and opining on Islamic rules and penalties without first hand knowledge and imposing as Islam on other’s minds. This is a pure derogatory remark on someone’s faith.
Sliding birth rate in Christianity could be one reason, that causes the decline of the followers. The same could be applied for Islam’s growth, but education seems to be stopping this phenomenon. More and more Muslim children are studying today, which will help to reduce the birth rate as well. So, I don't believe this statement that Islam will take over Christianity in Europe.
There are other avenues, such as conversion. Contrary to popular belief, there are more Christian converts in developing countries.
Take for example, in Tamil Nadu(India), Christianity overtook Islam in the last 70 years, though both of them are minorities in Tamil Nadu. This was a surprise to me, as well.
Footnotes

Travis Perry
M.A. History & Thesis in Biblical History, Wayland Baptist University (2018)
56w ago
Lots of answers here already but none entirely accounted for one particular fact:
In a number of countries in the world, the actual numbers on religion are in fact unknown. This is ESPECIALLY true in regard to secret converts to Christianity.
Mission organizations on occasion report an underground church in North Korea. Nobody knows how big it is, but it is thought to be growing.
Official Chinese statistics list 80 million Chinese Christians, but (unsubstantiated) information indicates the number of Chinese Christians is in fact much higher, more like 300 million (and these reports also indicate most Chinese Christians keep their faith a secret from the government). It is also reported (and I know of no way to know if it is true or not) that Christianity is growing at an enormous rate in China.
Christianity is supposedly an underground movement in some Islamic countries as well. I happen to have known a few Middle Eastern Christians who were converts and who kept their identity as Christians secret. One of them reported to me that Iran has “millions” of secret converts to Christianity. (There is absolutely no way to verify this, of course.)
Note that the reverse basically does not apply. Since there is no official persecution for Christians who leave the faith, there are very few secret converts to Islam among Christians as far as I know. A Christian who becomes a Muslim will generally announce that to the world.
It IS quite clear that in Europe, a traditional stronghold of Christianity, Islam is growing much faster than Christianity. It is also true that Europe’s basic religion is secularism anyway, which is growing to a degree worldwide.
But in Africa and the Americas, Christianity is at least maintaining total numbers (secularism is only making partial “headway” there)—and Christianity may be enormously growing in Asia and the Middle East (“may be”—there is no way to verify numbers on secret converts).
However, just the idea that Christianity is growing in regions where Islam is NOT growing should make it clear that it is too early to say what will be the most common religion in the world 100 years from now.

Zain Amor
32w ago
Well she is right, as of now Islam is the fastest growing Relgion in the world, and if it continues to grow at this rate it will most definitely overtake Christianity as the largest Religion in the world in the near future.


Islam as of now is the fastest growing Religion in the world, no other Relgion even comes close, why ?
The reason Islam is the fastest growing Religion in the world is because Globally, Muslims have the highest fertility rate:

Source for Charts: Projected Change in Global Population
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My history professor said Islam will take over Christianity. Is she right?
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Aug 20, 2018 5:23 AM


Alex Piascik
Free Thinking Classical Liberal in Love with America
55w ago
If that’s what your history professor said verbatim, then she is guilty of sloppy (or no) thinking. Christianity is alive and well in Latin America and Africa, as well as having thriving communities in countries like India, South Korea (where 30% of the population is Christian), and China.
Europe has become “post-Christian”, and the U.S. certainly seems to be headed that way. But it’s not because Christianity is being displaced by Islam in the developed world, but has more to do with the humanistic thought that took over the West starting in the Renaissance and continuing with the European enlightenment, helped along by the radical discoveries in physics and cosmology of the last 100 years, as well as Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. For all the incredible discoveries made by physicists, astronomers, biologists, and anthropologists, they have not found definitive proof of a maker behind the model. Traditional theological ways of looking at the world have been undermined, but not replaced with anything new that gives people a sense of meaning or purpose behind the cosmos. This is what Nietzsche meant by the phrase “God is dead”, that the foundation of meaning and morality in the western world had come undone. So we’ve discovered that the universe is mind-bendingly cool, but why is it even here? This is where science falls silent. There are non-Christian societies where Western modes of thought have taken root and provoked a similar rejection of religion, most notably in Japan. This is the dilemma of the developed world, where we have these amazing discoveries that have provided us with unbelievable prosperity, but there is a painful lack of meaning and direction in the lives of many, particularly those in their teens and 20’s, which is the time of life when questions like “what do I want my life to be about” and “what is all this FOR??” fiercely arrive on the scene.
Radical Islam is largely a reaction against these discoveries and the modes of thought behind them. Radical Muslims correctly intuit that if they allow Western modes of thought to become dominant in their societies, then Islam will be undermined and people will adopt Western modes of thought, dress, attitudes towards sexuality, etc. We can already see this in a few countries, most notably Turkey, where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his allies established a secular republic based on Western models. Today in Iran there is a vibrant youth underground culture where people in their teens and 20’s secretly get together to party, listen to music and have fun in ways that the ruling elite would not approve of.
Muslims are very aware of this issue and many are no doubt tormented because they don’t want to sacrifice elements of their culture that are positive (for example, the importance of family life), but realize that the Islamic world is backward compared to the West. But don’t take my word for it, watch this video of Saudi writer and former Shura (Advisory Council) member Ibrahim Al-Buleihi:

So the right question to ask is not “will Islam take over Christianity?” but “who will win the war between secular and religious thought in the Islamic world?”

Stefan Papp
Data Evangelist, Libertarian Adventurer and Eudaimonian
53w ago
My opinion my might be a bit based as I am an Atheist.
What I see in Europe:
Now older people (60+) were in their youth often heavily influenced by religion education. They still got the teachings of “If you do not believe, you will end up bad”. For many of them it was pretty normal to be religious and Christianity was the only option.
Looking the decades down, I see less influence per each decade. I am now in my forties. There was a grasp of Christianity still, but no one threatened me with hell. it was still normal to be baptized and to go through various stages such as first communion but no friend of mine went to church on sunday. This was in the 90ties.
Looking now at my kids, it is pretty normal not be Christian in Vienna. There are less than 50% catholics in Vienna and the number continues to decrease.
What has changed? People in my home country have become more diverse. Country side might be still different. We have some very conservative places still, but even there people are changing. Many question religion and you can read all the question on religion very openly in the internet. Just browse in the internet and you will find a lot of good reasoning why the whole religious history can be interpreted as a fairy tale. This has not been there in the 60ties.
No, Christianity is decreasing here in Europe. I know a lot of people who do not believe in any God and still are officially part of the religion out of respect for their parents who would not understand their kids leaving. And with the old generation gone, people will also more and more stop baptizing the kids, etc.
Less people that follow, less money. There is religion tax that people pay to the catholic church. The less people the less money. Religion has still a lot of privileges. For instance the federal state pays religion tuition at school. With less people who are religious, these privileges go away and they will have to cut down on everything. The more extreme conservative groups such as monasteries are already dying out as no one wants to become a monk or nun any more. So all in all it does not look good. The church might adapt, become more open (The current pope is a sign for trying to open to new people), but in the end it does not seem to work out. If you learn history and understand how everything got together for many people religion will be a fairy tale. What I said now can be extended from Catholicism to other fields of Islam as well.
So, who will replace Christianity? Is it Islam. Looking at Europe, we have a huge islamic migration. People leave their home countries for a better life in Europe. Often they had a similar education like the people who are considered to be old christians. Very close minded, leaving religion is not an option.
However, at some point it also obvious that many young people from that groups are open to new ideas. Economy is not so good in Europe and with the migration of people from islamic countries people finally become more aware of cultural differences and there are programs to integrate those people. And also we gradually get there to say that those who do not want to share our values have to leave.
So all in all, in 100 years, religion itself as it is today will be a minority. I am sure that the monotheist religion will last for many more years to come, but the followers will be a minority.
What I am not sure about is if pure atheism will replace the old religions, or something new will be formed. I still doubt the rationalism of people and I can imagine that we face some new kind of religions that take various aspects of everything and form a new religion. If you look closely that is recipe for successful religions. When Christianity was formed, the world was changing too. The old ideas of the ancient roman beliefs did not match any more. So what happened in Rome? They formed a new religion out of many others and called it Christianity. Surprised? Have a look on all the pagan influences on Christianity and you will see it is a mix of Jewish religion, mithras cult, Egyptian beliefs and European pagan traditions.

Pat Sonti
Undergraduate (Senior) at Texas A&M.
57w ago
Okay, let me introduce something else into this equation.
Is Islam the fastest growing religion in the world? By birth rate only, perhaps. My Muslim friends will argue that Islam is also the faith with the fastest growing apostasy rates on the planet. There are NO exit polls telling us who is leaving Islam. Converts to the faith aren't a reliable number. They, too, leave for various reasons. (Leaving Islam formally is far difficult an enterprise than leaving Christianity.)
Birth rates numbers are deceptive. They don't account for nominal belief, devout following, or apostasy. In France, for example, “cultural” attachment to Catholicism is a feature of their culture. Likewise, my so-called Muslim friends in the UAE, are culturally identifiable as “Muslim,” insofar as they fear societal pressures to call themselves atheist. (Visiting the mosque, and the imam, in my small town in Texas gave me a great insight into this whole debate of which religion will “take over” the other.)
In my opinion, I think birthrates, or converts, are not an accurate measure of any one faith “taking over” the other.
Personally, I think the fastest growing “religion” in the world is secular humanism (with vestigial remnants identifiable as either Christian or Muslim or some other faith).
Keep in mind also that Christianity is the most scrutinized faith in the world; Islam so far has been bereft of this type of scrutiny. As critical religious scholarship becomes more globalized, and institutionalized, with punitive measures for apostasy removed, Islam will face the same fallout in membership as Christianity has evidenced.
Not at all surprising, in any way.
To get a larger grasp of religion on the planet, I recommend The Golden Bough by James G. Frazer. Also read, Varieties of Religious Experience by William James.

Matthew Thompson
Freelance writer. (2017-present)
56w ago
Your Professor would be a good gambler because the numbers could play out that way.

It is possible that Islam could take over all the dominant world religions and even convert traditionally very Christian nations (such as Germany) purely by playing a numbers game.

For example: the average global fertility rate for a Muslim woman is 3.1 children, this is compared with the German rate of 1.5 (highest since 1982.)It’s hard to find a good number for Islamic fertility rate in Germany because of the recent influx due to the refugee crisis, but some sources in claim as of 2015 it is 2.1 - though it could be higher now in 2017.
I know in my lifetime I have tangibly seen a change in my nearest big city - London - of the increasing Muslim population. The Guardian reports that the Muslim population Has Doubled in only 10 years in England.
So all politic and religious theories aside, purely from a Mathematical view - yes, Islam looks as if it will overtake Christianity. It’s just a matter of time (and baby-making.)

Hope this helps.
Matthew.

Jamal S.A.
studied Master of Business Administration Degrees (1993)
55w ago
I am seeing a lot of non-Muslims talk about laws and rules about Islam. Apostasy is one of them, where death is the penalty. As a practicing Muslim, I haven't heard or seen in my lifetime that in the land where I was born and brought up (India) and where I am living (Singapore). Where these people are getting this wild imagination of death penalty?
One thing is very sure, Islam is not explained by who understood it clearly, and non-stakeholders such as Non-Muslims are commenting and opining on Islamic rules and penalties without first hand knowledge and imposing as Islam on other’s minds. This is a pure derogatory remark on someone’s faith.
Sliding birth rate in Christianity could be one reason, that causes the decline of the followers. The same could be applied for Islam’s growth, but education seems to be stopping this phenomenon. More and more Muslim children are studying today, which will help to reduce the birth rate as well. So, I don't believe this statement that Islam will take over Christianity in Europe.
There are other avenues, such as conversion. Contrary to popular belief, there are more Christian converts in developing countries.
Take for example, in Tamil Nadu(India), Christianity overtook Islam in the last 70 years, though both of them are minorities in Tamil Nadu. This was a surprise to me, as well.
Footnotes

Travis Perry
M.A. History & Thesis in Biblical History, Wayland Baptist University (2018)
56w ago
Lots of answers here already but none entirely accounted for one particular fact:
In a number of countries in the world, the actual numbers on religion are in fact unknown. This is ESPECIALLY true in regard to secret converts to Christianity.
Mission organizations on occasion report an underground church in North Korea. Nobody knows how big it is, but it is thought to be growing.
Official Chinese statistics list 80 million Chinese Christians, but (unsubstantiated) information indicates the number of Chinese Christians is in fact much higher, more like 300 million (and these reports also indicate most Chinese Christians keep their faith a secret from the government). It is also reported (and I know of no way to know if it is true or not) that Christianity is growing at an enormous rate in China.
Christianity is supposedly an underground movement in some Islamic countries as well. I happen to have known a few Middle Eastern Christians who were converts and who kept their identity as Christians secret. One of them reported to me that Iran has “millions” of secret converts to Christianity. (There is absolutely no way to verify this, of course.)
Note that the reverse basically does not apply. Since there is no official persecution for Christians who leave the faith, there are very few secret converts to Islam among Christians as far as I know. A Christian who becomes a Muslim will generally announce that to the world.
It IS quite clear that in Europe, a traditional stronghold of Christianity, Islam is growing much faster than Christianity. It is also true that Europe’s basic religion is secularism anyway, which is growing to a degree worldwide.
But in Africa and the Americas, Christianity is at least maintaining total numbers (secularism is only making partial “headway” there)—and Christianity may be enormously growing in Asia and the Middle East (“may be”—there is no way to verify numbers on secret converts).
However, just the idea that Christianity is growing in regions where Islam is NOT growing should make it clear that it is too early to say what will be the most common religion in the world 100 years from now.

Zain Amor
32w ago
Well she is right, as of now Islam is the fastest growing Relgion in the world, and if it continues to grow at this rate it will most definitely overtake Christianity as the largest Religion in the world in the near future.


Islam as of now is the fastest growing Religion in the world, no other Relgion even comes close, why ?
The reason Islam is the fastest growing Religion in the world is because Globally, Muslims have the highest fertility rate:

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