I would like to post some statistics from my Millennium Edition of The New York Times Almanac. This is a list of the Adherents of World Religions as of 1996 (I am only listing each religion and the percentage of the world population belonging to each group): Atheists.................3.8% Baha'i...................0.1 Buddhism.................5.6 Chinese folk religions...3.8 Christianity............33.7 Confucianism.............0.1 Ethnic religions.........1.8 Hinduism................13.7 Jainism..................0.1 Judaism..................0.2 Mandeanism.................z Moslem..................19.4 New-Religions............1.8 Nonreligious............15.3 Parseeism..................z Sikhism..................0.3 Shintoism..................z Spiritism................0.2 Other religions............z Note: z = less than 0.1 percent It should be clear to everyone that Christianity far outstrips all other religions in number of adherents. In fact, about 1/3 of the world's population, or approximately 1,955,229,000 people on this earth claim Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. Now, I would like to quote Luke 13:23,24: 23 Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, 24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. Well, if Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man comes unto the Father but by him, and whosoever believes in him shall have everlasting life, and all that...it seems there's going to be quite a bottleneck at that strait gate, which few shall supposedly find, don't you think? Edit note: I apologize for the edit, but I had inadvertently omitted Judaism when I first posted this message. ------------------ www.indigenousrocks.com [This message has been edited by Searcher (edited February 15, 2000).]
I had been looking for some numbers to show that christains were not the minority, but could never find them. Thank you! And people think the traffic problem in the Silicon Valley is bad!!! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ------------------ All I know is what I understand. All I understand is what I know. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! [This message has been edited by 666 (edited February 15, 2000).]
666, You're welcome! Apparently Christians can only consider themselves the minority if they compare their numbers to the number of non-Christians in general. ------------------ www.indigenousrocks.com
Searcher, Yes, I agree. Also... we all have the opportunity to be saved through God's great gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. We have all the information we need. It's up to each of us to choose our eternal destiny. Accept the gift or reject it. It's our choice.
Searcher, * "Apparently Christians can only consider themselves the minority if they compare their numbers to the number of non-Christians in general." You're onto something with that. A quick analogy concerning racism in America: What is white? What is ... "colored"? Essentially, the best diversity my high school could manage was the idea that "there are more of them than there are of us, so what's the problem?" Them, of course, being the sum total of African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans ... anyone whose skin wasn't lily-white. (They did, however, subscribe to a goofy Vonnegut notion that Asian-Americans were somehow "honorary whites".) Sure, there's more "minorities" than there are the "majority". That's how the majority casts itself as the minority, by demonizing its opposition en masse. But this idea isn't restricted just to my high school. You can hear it on Springer or Montel, if you try. But wait ... you can also hear it bandied about on Politically Incorrect with some regularity. It pops up in magazines and in newspaper editorials, and if you're real careful, it worms its way into the news on Frontline, and into editorial policy on the Turner stations. In other words, it seems to be everywhere. The situation is definitely set for the execution of this kind of philosophy, and Christians do make an effort to distinguish themselves from the rest of the world. If it were cars, we might look at Fords and Chevys. My Ford rocks for me, I might say. It's the ultimate car. True, but for me. As to anyone who doesn't drive a Ford ... well, I can say, "My car does for me what their car does for them...gets me to work on time," or I can say, "Anyone who doesn't drive a Ford is an evil freak!" Thus, if we consider this idea in relation to religion in general, I might be able to say, "I get from the goddess what Truestory gets from Jesus." Or I might be able to say, "The goddess is supreme, and woe unto those who do not believe." In either case, jalopies or Jesus ... which idea simply recognizes your attribute, and which one distinguishes it in opposition to others? To stay specifically within the Christian form, as we seem to be exploring, do Christian individuals see their faith alongside other faiths, or in opposition to them? Do Christian individuals see themselves as among the human race, or superior to it? If the former options are the answers, then what is the problem translating that idea to a more unified practice? If the latter options are the answers, then they just fill in the blanks as to why it looks that way. But I guess those are the problems of being a minority in a hostile world. Nobody likes your savior, and it probably has nothing to do with the bloody footprints you've left in the sand from here back to ancient Rome. Go figure. thanx, Tiassa ------------------ The whole business with the fossilized dinosaur eggs was a joke the paleontologists haven't seen yet. (Good Omens, Gaiman & Pratchett)
Searcher~ Huh! I'm surprised Paganism isn't listed in there! I wonder what the numbers are for us "tree hugging dirt worshipper"s.
MoonCat-- If we count up all the tree-hugging dirt-worshipping pagans, do we lump them together? Or do Christians suddenly split into Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopal, ad infinitum? And then what happens to the Muslims (Shi'ite, Sunni, ...)? Or should we assert that it's all psychobabble and that we're all part of the One True Human Race? Or something like that .... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! thanx, Tiassa ------------------ The whole business with the fossilized dinosaur eggs was a joke the paleontologists haven't seen yet. (Good Omens, Gaiman & Pratchett)
MoonCat, Good point! I guess we would be lumped in either with "New-Religions" (neopaganism), or "Other religions". Bummer. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ------------------ www.indigenousrocks.com
Tiassa~ I imagine they would pretty much have to lump all us Pagans together - which would be fine with me. Just like I doubt most Christians mind being lumped together for these kinds of stats. If you tried to seperate pagans by individual faiths...well...you'd need a heck of a lot of pages in that list because there is so much variation amongst us! And variations upon variation. And variations upon that... Even witches can't stick to the same tradition, we're all different, with a different set of diety-names, different rituals... LOL, and then there's the "eclectic" witches, that do a little bit of everything! Where the heck would you stick them? LOL. You'd have to do a whole seperate survey. "13.2% of Americans are Pagan. And of this 13.2 percent, 1% are Gaians, 15% are Gardnerian Wicaans, 12% are Dianic Wiccans, "...and on and on and on. (those numbers are all made up off the top of my head, by the way, I have no idea what the real numbers are) Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I would definitely be interested in such a survey though. Searcher - you're the lady with the super-duper internet skills... let me know if you find anything like this, now my curiosity is piqued! This survey is from 1996, too. With the huge resurgance of Paganism that's been happening for the last few years (well, since the 70's, I guess), I bet the Pagan numbers would have grown quite a bit in those 4 years. We won't outnumber Christians any time soon, but I hope we at least would deserve to be on the list!
