https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jan/1/islam-poised-to-become-worlds-largest-religion/Islam poised to become the world’s largest religionIt advances with the cradle and the sword
By Don Feder - - Sunday, January 1, 2023
While Christians observed the birth of Jesus last week and Jews celebrated Hanukkah, most in the West failed to grasp an ominous reality: Sometime in this century, more people around the world will celebrate Ramadan than Christmas. Not a happy prospect.
There are now 2.2 billion Christians in the world. Islam is on its heels with 1.97 billion. But due to a higher Muslim fertility rate (2.9 children per woman on average, versus 2.6), Pew Research projects that sometime around 2075, Islam will be the world’s dominant religion.
Overall, the European fertility rate is 1.49, well below the replacement level of 2.1. Europe lost 1.1 million people last year. That’s the first rumbling of a coming earthquake. The fertility rate for European Muslims is 2.54. You don’t need to be a statistician to see which way the demographic winds are blowing.
It’s estimated that by 2085, 13 European countries will have Muslim majorities — this in a continent once known as Christendom. Christians are writing their own obituary by failing to heed the commandment to be fruitful and multiply.
For many, Christianity is a box to check on a census form, instead of something real.
In France, 40% do not believe in God. For the first time, Christians are a minority of the population of England and Wales — 46.2%, while 37% say they have no religion.
In the United States, a third of Generation Z describe themselves as not affiliated with any denomination. In America, Christianity is on a steady decline — from 91% as recently as 1976 to 73.7% in 2016 to 64% in 2022.
The process has been aided by the culture (Hollywood in particular), which rarely misses an opportunity to bash Christianity. Progressives have done their best to drive religion from the public square.
Elsewhere, Christianity has fared no better. It’s almost disappeared from the land of Jesus’ birth. The Church of the Nativity had Christmas Eve services broadcast around the world. Most who saw it don’t know that the Christian population of Bethlehem has gone from 85% in 1947 to 15% today.
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