Soccer Dad

What's trending in africa is trending in china?

Which of the world's largest faiths, Christianity or Islam, is experiencing the greater ideological reassertion and demographic surge?

"Islam" is surely nearly everyone's answer. As American Christians experiment with ever-milder versions of their faith, Muslims display a fervor for extreme interpretations of Islam. As Europe suffers the lowest population growth rates ever recorded, Muslim countries have some of the highest.

But, argues Philip Jenkins recently in the Atlantic Monthly, Islam is the wrong answer. He shows how Christianity is the religion currently undergoing the most basic rethinking and the largest increase in adherents. He makes a good case for its militancy most affecting the next century.

From A Christian Boom by Daniel Pipes November 26, 2002

Lots of people seem excited by this article, which begins: "Ten thousand Chinese become Christians each day, according to a stunning report by the National Catholic Reporter's veteran correspondent John Allen, and 200 million Chinese may comprise the world's largest concentration of Christians by mid-century, and the largest missionary force in history."

It could happen, I suppose, and my colleague Rosalind Hackett, who studies these things, has suggested that militant Christianity, not Islam, is likely to be the religious force of the 21st century.

A Christian China? Instapundit August 9, 2007

Both items seem to be data points showing an growth in Christianity. Might that have a liberalizing effect on Africa and Asia? Or are Instapundit's doubts justified?

And is the Christian boom in any way related to the positive view many in Africa hold for Israel? (I know that Rubenstein wrote that this friendliness towards Israel was also manifest in Muslim majority countries. But Europe is majority Christian yet its attitude toward Israel seems guided somewhat by fear of its Muslim minority.)

christianity, religion.

Posted by SoccerDad at August 10, 2007 6:17 AM | TrackBack