How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020

Pew Research Center just released their overview of how religious populations worldwide changed between 2010 and 2020. It's a good read with some interesting information packed in there.


Christians are still the top religious population in terms of pure numbers...


But the populations of Muslims and the religiously unaffiliated are the ones growing right now.

Agreed. Many people are 'born' Muslim vs making a choice which is often reflected in these counts. Becoming a Christian is a 2nd birth and choice.

DirtDiver said:

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Agreed. Many people are 'born' Muslim vs making a choice which is often reflected in these counts. Becoming a Christian is a 2nd birth and choice.

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IDK about the bolded. I'm Muslim and during college I went through a questioning phase. I read more about my particular sect's theology and philosophy and came right back to it, which I'd class as a choice. I'd imagine many Muslims have a similar experience, except that most sects of Islam don't have any rebirth or baptism ceremonies to mark the occasion.

canadiaggie said:

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DirtDiver said:

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Agreed. Many people are 'born' Muslim vs making a choice which is often reflected in these counts. Becoming a Christian is a 2nd birth and choice.

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IDK about the bolded. I'm Muslim and during college I went through a questioning phase. I read more about my particular sect's theology and philosophy and came right back to it, which I'd class as a choice. I'd imagine many Muslims have a similar experience, except that most sects of Islam don't have any rebirth or baptism ceremonies to mark the occasion.

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I would guess the percentages of non-devout Muslims and Christians is probably similar. But I think what the poster was getting at is that in most Christian countries, leaving your faith doesn't really impact you socially. This wasn't the case in say 1950 and before. You would stay a "Christian" in terms of these population counts, even if you weren't in practice. Now that it's no longer socially unacceptable, people do leave their faith and it's reflected in the counts. In much of the Islamic world, there are severe consequences for publicly renouncing your faith, so the choice isn't really there.

No doubt many Muslims, like yourself, have inspected the faith and chose to stick with it. I don't think the poster would deny that was a personal choice you made

The Banned said:

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canadiaggie said:

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DirtDiver said:

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Agreed. Many people are 'born' Muslim vs making a choice which is often reflected in these counts. Becoming a Christian is a 2nd birth and choice.

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IDK about the bolded. I'm Muslim and during college I went through a questioning phase. I read more about my particular sect's theology and philosophy and came right back to it, which I'd class as a choice. I'd imagine many Muslims have a similar experience, except that most sects of Islam don't have any rebirth or baptism ceremonies to mark the occasion.

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I would guess the percentages of non-devout Muslims and Christians is probably similar. But I think what the poster was getting at is that in most Christian countries, leaving your faith doesn't really impact you socially. This wasn't the case in say 1950 and before. You would stay a "Christian" in terms of these population counts, even if you weren't in practice. Now that it's no longer socially unacceptable, people do leave their faith and it's reflected in the counts. In much of the Islamic world, there are severe consequences for publicly renouncing your faith, so the choice isn't really there.

No doubt many Muslims, like yourself, have inspected the faith and chose to stick with it. I don't think the poster would deny that was a personal choice you made

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Ah, got it. That I wholly agree with, which was what I was getting at in my initial reply.

DirtDiver said:

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Agreed. Many people are 'born' Muslim vs making a choice which is often reflected in these counts. Becoming a Christian is a 2nd birth and choice.

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Somehow I don't think everyone in the survey stating they are Christian had some epiphany about their faith. There's a lot of cultural Christians especially in the "Bible Belt" and developing nations.

Sapper Redux said:

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DirtDiver said:

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Agreed. Many people are 'born' Muslim vs making a choice which is often reflected in these counts. Becoming a Christian is a 2nd birth and choice.

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Somehow I don't think everyone in the survey stating they are Christian had some epiphany about their faith. There's a lot of cultural Christians especially in the "Bible Belt" and developing nations.

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For all the reasons already outlined in this thread do you think that's going to more prevalent among global cultural Christians or cultural Muslims?

In 2025 I seriously doubt a lot of atheists are running around in Georgia claiming to be Christians on a survey. You cats tend to wear your apostasy has a medal of honor now days in 'Merica.

Every time I see these surveys I think of a man living in Ur some time ago. He was living in the greatest civilization on earth at the time. It had stood for 3,000 years.

Dude went crazy. Started claiming the Creator of the Universe wanted him to leave the greatest civilization on earth and go wander in the desert instead. He said this God fella told him he will become The Father of Nations.

3,800 years later...well...crazy coincidence I guess?

I've got to disagree on that point about atheists, or at least the implication it applies to most atheists. There still exists a social stigma against atheists that we're all well aware of, especially in the more religious parts of this country.

I'm certainly open about my beliefs with family and friends, but I avoid religious conversations in most other real life settings. A lot of the people I interact with in my career are explicitly Christian and politically conservative. Two things I am very much not. So my preference is just to not talk about such things.

Of course I do I have one interesting story about an exception for that. Many years ago when I was joining the Army and was going through reception (basically the very first day of military service) we were filling out a bunch of the initial paperwork and when we got to the part about religion the drill sergeant there very explicitly told us that even if we were atheist to not to mark down atheist but to instead say "No Religious Preference". I was a bit offended by that and marked it down as atheist anyway but in retrospect I think he was probably trying to help us avoid any unwanted attention due to that religious choice.

Silent For Too Long said:

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Sapper Redux said:

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DirtDiver said:

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Agreed. Many people are 'born' Muslim vs making a choice which is often reflected in these counts. Becoming a Christian is a 2nd birth and choice.

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Somehow I don't think everyone in the survey stating they are Christian had some epiphany about their faith. There's a lot of cultural Christians especially in the "Bible Belt" and developing nations.

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For all the reasons already outlined in this thread do you think that's going to more prevalent among global cultural Christians or cultural Muslims?

In 2025 I seriously doubt a lot of atheists are running around in Georgia claiming to be Christians on a survey. You cats tend to wear your apostasy has a medal of honor now days in 'Merica.

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There are a lot of people who need to step back and realize that what they assume about people who are not like them might, just might, be wrong.

Sapper Redux said:

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Silent For Too Long said:

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Sapper Redux said:

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DirtDiver said:

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Agreed. Many people are 'born' Muslim vs making a choice which is often reflected in these counts. Becoming a Christian is a 2nd birth and choice.

---

Somehow I don't think everyone in the survey stating they are Christian had some epiphany about their faith. There's a lot of cultural Christians especially in the "Bible Belt" and developing nations.

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For all the reasons already outlined in this thread do you think that's going to more prevalent among global cultural Christians or cultural Muslims?

In 2025 I seriously doubt a lot of atheists are running around in Georgia claiming to be Christians on a survey. You cats tend to wear your apostasy has a medal of honor now days in 'Merica.

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There are a lot of people who need to step back and realize that what they assume about people who are not like them might, just might, be wrong.

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So you are saying there are a considerable amount of atheists in 2025 in Judeo Christian countries that lie on questionnaires about their religious affiliation?


First. Evidence? Do you lie on these questionnaire Sapper? Do you have any evidence this is done regularly?

Do you have any evidence its done at as high of a rate as its done in Muslim countries? That would defy all logic but if you have actual evidence please post it.

Secondly, Why? What's the motivation? It's an anonymous questionnaire? Afriad God is watching you?

You're demanding evidence against a claim you pulled straight from your ass. Do YOU have evidence in favor of your claim? People lie on surveys or don't answer them all the time for any number of reasons. Or the questions don't cover the complexity of a person's beliefs. We have gone through multiple national political polling cycles where these issues have been litigated ad nauseum. People who state publicly that they have no belief tend to be more educated, so you can either take that to mean there are no poorly educated atheists, or, there are people with no belief or questioning their beliefs who don't feel comfortable expressing that. And given that there are states in the South where it's still illegal to hold office as an atheist, and surveys show large numbers of Christians who hold that atheists are inherently immoral or evil, there's no reason to believe there aren't large numbers of hidden atheists.

https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/101/3/1580/6501180?login=false

There are zero surprises here

Yeah man, it might happen more then once. Is that the point you are making?

Now let me help you out, because, like always, your reading comprehension leaves much to be desired.

DO YOU THINK THIS HAPPENS MORE IN JUDEO CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES OR MUSLIM ONES?

I'm willing to bet you one million dollars its more prevalent in Muslim countries. I would bet my life on it. Are you actually asserting that's not the case? Or, just like always, did you stumble on to this thread trying to make a point that its 100% meaningless when taking the thread in its full context?

Now, let's take a look at what you posted:

Quote:

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This study uses new survey data from a nationally representative sample of US adults,

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Now. Take your time here Sapper. I know you can do this. Why would that survey be insufficient data to offer as contradictory evidence that the false positive incidence of religious affiliation is higher in Muslim countries. Is the US a Muslim country?

Think real hard now. I believe in you.

canadiaggie said:

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Muslim numbers are never accurately adjusted for religiously unaffiliated because, contrary to popular belief, there are a lot of non-religious or nonpracticing Muslims who just won't be outwardly agnostic/atheist because it is easier to just be a cultural Muslim

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I also wonder about the birthrate of Muslims in the West where better medical practices lower infant mortality rates and the impact that has on overall numbers. It seems a trend that having more educated women seems to result in lower birth rates.