10 Facts About The Transforming Global Religious Landscape

The Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life conducted a comprehensive demographic study of over 230 countries and territories in 2012, and some of their results might surprise you.

Here are ten things that you should know about the current state of religion in today's world.

1. Religious 'Nones' Are Third-Largest Group
Religiously unaffiliated people are the third-largest "religious" group worldwide, behind Christians and Muslims. Roughly one-in-six people around the globe, 16.3%, are religious "nones."

MORE: 10 Facts About The Transforming Global Religious Landscape

The Global Religious Landscape

(Pew Research Report)
A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Major Religious Groups as of 2010

Executive Summary

Navigate this page:

• Geographic Distribution
• Living as Majorities and Minorities
• Young and Old
• About the Study
• Defining the Religious Groups
• Roadmap to the Report

Worldwide, more than eight-in-ten people identify with a religious group. A comprehensive demographic study of more than 230 countries and territories conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life estimates that there are 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children around the globe, representing 84% of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion.  MORE

Of Babies and Beans

(Dr. Albert Mohler) Adam Gopnik is a gifted essayist and writer whose contributions, often published in The New Yorker, are almost always thoughtful and interesting. Nevertheless, one of his most recent writings is deeply disturbing, and at the deepest level.

Reflecting on the debate between Vice President Joseph Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan, Gopnik registered alarm at “something genuinely disturbing and scary” that had been said by Paul Ryan. Gopnik first complained that Biden and Ryan should not have even been asked about the role their Roman Catholic faith plays in their thinking, specifically on the issue of abortion. (MORE)

Losing our Religion One in Five Americans now 'None"

RELIGION NEW SERVICE  BETHESDA, Md. (RNS) The number of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation has hit an all-time high -- about one in five American adults -- according to a new study released Tuesday (Oct. 9) by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

The number of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation has hit an all-time high - about one in five American adults - according to a new study, with the number of self-described atheists and agnostics hitting a peak of 6 percent of the U.S. population. Photograph taken inside a Catholic church in Kansas City, Mo. on Oct. 9, 2012. Credit: RNS photo by Sally Morrow

Labeled “nones” because they claim either no religious preference or no religion at all, their ranks have hit 46 million people. Much of the growth is among young people -- one in three U.S. adults under 30 are now considered nones.

The report also found that the number of self-described atheists and agnostics has hit a peak -- 13 million people, or 6 percent of the U.S. population. That’s a rise of 2 percentage points over five years. MORE

Principles for how Christians Should Relate to Those of Other Faiths

(John Piper)

Since September 11, 2001 the question how Christians and Muslims relate to each other has been more urgent. This question is part of the larger issue of how Christians are called to live in a pluralistic world. More specifically, how shall we as American Christians think and act with regard to freedom of religion in a pluralistic context defined by the ideals of representative democracy? In particular, how shall we bear witness to the supremacy of Christ in a world where powerful cultures and religions do not share the love of freedom or the ideals of democracy?

The elders of Bethlehem Baptist Church, on August 26, 2002, endorsed the following 20 principles as Biblically faithful guidelines for Christians. We commend them, first, to the church under our care for their guidance, second, to the wider Christian community for serious consideration and benefit, and, third, to non-Christian communities for the sake of mutual understanding. Our primary aim is to help Christians commend the uniqueness and supremacy of Jesus Christ with humility and courage so that others might honor him by faith and have eternal life.

1. Whether approved or disapproved by others, we should thankfully and joyfully hold firmly to the true Biblical understanding of God and the way of salvation he has provided and the life of love and purity and justice Christ has modeled and taught. (1 Corinthians 15:2; Hebrews 3:6; 4:14; 6:18; 10:23; Revelation 2:13, 25; 3:11)
2. Both in the church and the world we should make clear and explicit the whole counsel of God revealed in his inspired word, The Bible — both the parts that non-Christians approve and the parts that they don't. We should not conceal aspects of our faith in order to avoid criticism or disapproval. (Matthew 10:27-28; Ephesians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 4:2; Galatians 1:10)    (MORE)

Not Good…More Americans Tailoring Religion to Preferences

(USA Today)
If World War II-era warbler Kate Smith sang today, her anthem could be Gods Bless America.
People take part in a National Day of Prayer gathering in San Antonio in May. Polls show that in 1991, 24% of U.S. adults hadn't been to church in the past six months; today, it's 37%.
People take part in a National Day of Prayer gathering in San Antonio in May. Polls show that in 1991, 24% of U.S. adults hadn't been to church in the past six months; today, it's 37%.
That's one of the key findings in newly released research that reveals America's drift from clearly defined religious denominations to faiths cut to fit personal preferences.
The folks who make up God as they go are side-by-side with self-proclaimed believers who claim the Christian label but shed their ties to traditional beliefs and practices. Religion statistics expert George Barna says, with a wry hint of exaggeration, America is headed for "310 million people with 310 million religions."
"We are a designer society. We want everything customized to our personal needs — our clothing, our food, our education," he says. Now it's our religion.
MORE...

Changes in Religious Identities in the USA

Shifting Religious Identities (USA Today)  "Explore this interactive graphic showing data collected over 18 years from the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS). The 2008 results, to be released today, are based on 54,000 interviews with a margin of error of plus or minus 0.5%. It finds that, despite population growth and immigration adding nearly 50 million more adults, almost all denominations have lost ground since the first ARIS data was released in 1990.
FULL STORY: For many in USA, religion is now fill-in-the-blank
FAITH & REASON: What's your religious 'path?' Any? Many? or None?..."

"Stop Doing" List for Jesus?

What if the Religious Leaders had made a “Stop Doing” List for Jesus (Perry Noble) "Here are five things they MAY have asked Him to stop doing… “Dear Jesus, we need you to stop doing the following things…
#1 – You are really going to need to STOP healing on the Sabbath. You see, we’ve worked really hard creating a religious system that works for us…and even though people ARE being healed (we cannot deny that) we just do not approve of the day you are doing it. Sure, it’s miraculous…but the only miracles we are going to give approval of are the ones that take place in our system. And please understand…not adhering to our request in this matter could prove to be detrimental to your ministry. (Matthew 12:1-14)..."



 

Religious Liberty in the Arab World (Baptist Press)

"As revolution sweeps through the Arab world, a deeply troubling trend is emerging -- the absence of religious liberty as a key element in the transitioning governments and the failure of our government to publicly and vigorously defend this most fundamental of liberties. This reality is especially disturbing in Iraq and Afghanistan, nations liberated at great cost of American lives and treasure...."

How Much Do You Know About Religion? (The Pew Forum Quiz) "And how do you compare with the average American? Here's your chance to find out. Take our short, 15-question quiz, and see how you do in comparison with 3,412 randomly sampled adults who were asked these and other questions in the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey. This national poll was conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life from May 19 through June 6, 2010, on landlines and cell phones, in English and Spanish. ..."

 

Are there Dangers in being ‘Spiritual, but not Religious’? (CNN)""I'm spiritual but not religious." It's a trendy phrase people often use to describe their belief that they don't need organized religion to live a life of faith. But for Jesuit priest James Martin, the phrase also hints at something else: egotism.
"Being spiritual but not religious can lead to complacency and self-centeredness," says Martin, an editor at America, a national Catholic magazine based in New York City. "If it's just you and God in your room, and a religious community makes no demands on you, why help the poor?"..."