Atheism in decline
Report suggests population of “religiously unaffiliated” will decrease in coming decades.
New research suggests that the atheist and agnostic population is shrinking. A report by the Pew Research Centre suggests the population of “religiously unaffiliated” or atheists and others who don’t identify with a religion, are in decline.
While 16 percent of the population were unaffiliated to a religion in 2010, Pew predicts by 2015 that number will fall to 13 percent.
While Christianity is on the decline in Europe, where Islam continues to gain ground, it is expected there will be massive growth among the Christian population in Afrca.
Dwight Longenecker writing at pathos.com warns however that projections are based on demographic trends, which cannot predict variables such as massive revivals like the revival of Christianity in Europe in the mid to late nineteenth century, or mass conversions spurred on by supernatural events like the ones credited to an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Mexico in the sixteenth century.
Bottom line, says Longenecker, is that religion is here to stay. Read more of the report here.
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