Future of Religion?

[Verto]

Originally posted by Lancer
Eventually Christians will be persecuted and the religion will go underground. Suffering will be great as informers abound and brother turns in brother... Then the end is near.

Payback's a *****.


EDIT: Not that I think this will happen, or encourage it, or anything. Just saying.

[Verto]

Originally posted by FrostyBoy
2.1 Billion Christians? I don't believe that for a second. It sounds as if all Caucasians are automatically labeled as Christians.

That's gonna be a huge number because of the RCC - lots of Catholics who don't practice, don't believe, etc, but are still 'Christians'.

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by FrostyBoy
2.1 Billion Christians? I don't believe that for a second. It sounds as if all Caucasians are automatically labeled as Christians.

I'm aware there's a huge number of Christians in Korea, Phils, Africa and elsewhere, but it still sounds over the top.

About 9/10s of my denomination is non-white. Same with many denominations.

JM
(And we are all two segregated here in the US.)

[DanS]

Two possibilities:

(1) We will have contact with an alien civ, in which case all bets are off, considering that we have an Earth-centric view of religion; and

(2) We will populate other suns other than Sol, in which case there will be a proliferation of Christian and other cults, given a long time of communication between Earth-centric religions.

Machine-man interface is a given. Won't be a bit of difference for religion.

[DarkCloud]

Well, frostyboy- there's at least 1 billion Catholics which is the largest Christian domination. I would assume it's okay to assume 1 billion additional christians? If it is assumed that the majority of Americans are not catholic, that would get the total christian #s up to 1.2 billion; then add in all the lutherans, etc in europe, gets us to 1.4 billion; assuming 100 million Russian orthodox- that's 1.5 billion- and those are just the "easy" Christians to count...

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by FrostyBoy
2.1 Billion Christians? I don't believe that for a second. It sounds as if all Caucasians are automatically labeled as Christians.

I don't know there are about a billion Catholics.

[trev]

The traditional Orthodox, Catholic, Reformed churches will change dramatically, this is a certainty given the age of the regular attendees and priests/ministers, especially in Europe. How? A good question, some in Australia at least are moving to an increase in lay ministry (congregations teaching themselves) which has also seen a greater emphasis on the bible as the true word of God. In congregations where this change is not occurring, they are slowly but surely dying.
Apart from this there is a shift towards fundamentalist/pentecostal churches which attract younger people and continually modernize and update their worship practices and music providing a evangelizing form of christianity which is generally expanding in numbers.
Generally worldwide I would expect a minor decline in % of christians worldwide, but those remaining christians will be more evangelistic and enthusiastic with their faith.

[Heraclitus]

So basically an Americanization of global Christianity and the spread of Christian fundamentalism to all parts of Christendom?

[Elok]

Dude, haven't you heard the joke?

Q: How many Orthodox Christians does it take to change a light bulb?

A: .....CHANGE?

[trev]

Dude, haven't you heard the joke?
Q: How many Orthodox Christians does it take to change a light bulb?
A: .....CHANGE?

Looks like the slow death for them if true, generally it is only the older generation of immigrants who are now attending these churches in Australia.
Churches formed around the 1700's and 1800's, with less formalized structures than the Orthodox/Catholic traditions are moving from Liberal viewpoints to more lay participation and bible centered teachings though from my observations in Australia.

So basically an Americanization of global Christianity and the spread of Christian fundamentalism to all parts of Christendom?

The main holdout against Christian fundamentalism is Europe, and a few Catholic dominated countries, the remainder of Christendom is already Fundamentalist generally, or rapidly moving that way, Protestants are expanding very quickly in Latin America and Africa south of the Muslim belt, but Americanization would be wrong description as African,Asian and Latin American evangelists are now more active in spreading the Bible's teaching than preachers from North America. European inspired liberalism is declining rapidly now though.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by rah
There will always be a need for certain people to try to explain what science can not. These people are usually the most stubborn people since they feel they have to know they're right about everything. By being able to just use God to explain what they don't know, they never have to challange any of their beliefs.

If we ever really can prove what happens after life, then religion won't be near as necessary. Unless it proves there is a God, of course.

Just as atheists are stubborn in their belief that no god exists, and absolutely hate being having their non-faith challenged by assertions of religiously faithful, eh?

[MrFun]

Originally posted by OzzyKP

Either way, all you atheists are screwed.

Ozzy speaks the truth.

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by trev European inspired liberalism is declining rapidly now though.

[Heraclitus]

Are we then headed for a showdown between Fundamentalist Islam and Fundamentalist Protestant Christianity?

[Sandman]

The most likely outcome is that religion will eventually disappear as people live longer, earn more and are better educated.