Global Religious Landscape

At the Washington Post site, Max Fisher reports on some of the results of a new Pew Forum report on the global religious landscape . Fisher highlights the study’s findings about the reach of Christianity. It is, shall we say, encouraging for Christians.

First in sheer numbers: “Christians are by far the largest group, followed by Muslims. That difference of 8.3 percent might not sound like much, but keep in mind that 8.3 percent of the global population amounts to hundreds of millions of people. If you exclude the ‘unaffiliated,’ then Christians make up about 37.6 percent of all religiously affiliated people on Earth . . . . Europe, Africa, and Latin America have half a billion [Christians] each.”

Then there’s the global extent of Christianity: “The entire Western hemisphere is majority Christian, as is virtually all of Europe, much of sub-Saharan Africa, even small parts of Asia . . . . Christianity is the only religion in the world with a major presence on every continent.” Asia is the exception, but the small minorities of Christians in India, China, and Indonesia still represent hundreds of millions. Fisher writes, “Amazingly, there are actually more Christians in the Asia-Pacific region than in Christian-dominated North America.” Eighty-seven percent of Christians live in countries where Christians are a majority, and “two of the 10 countries with the world’s largest Christian populations are not actually Christian-majority: Nigeria, which is about half Muslim, and China.”

Fisher concludes: “overall, the story of Christianity in today’s world is still one of vast majorities, enormous populations, and historically unique reach. If there truly is a war on Christmas or any other facet of Christianity, then, in global terms, it doesn’t seem to be doing very well.”