Know the facts

I recently had a short discussion with a classmate about the popularity of Christianity. He was under the impression that 33% of the world's population are protestants. He attributed the growth of Christianity to the efforts of missionaries and the evangelical mission or "calling" tasked to many Christians as part of their doctrine.

A 2010 report published by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public life offers evidence to the contrary. Their report was completed as a joint effort along with the Templeton Foundation. The report showed that in 1910 35% of the world's population were estimated to have been Christians, the majority being in Europe and North America. The population at that time was estimated to be around 1.8 billion. In 2010 the data reflects interesting changes. The Christian population is now estimated at 32% with very large Christian groups represented in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Also the population is now roughly 7 billion strong.

What my classmate misunderstood or misrepresented was the fact that this 32% included Catholicism and Greek Orthodox, as well as Mormonism, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and even the Amish. The American attitude toward other flavors of Christianity was recently reflected by the words of Pastor Robert Jeffress during Rick Perry's lack-luster attempt to be the GOP presidential nominee. He referred to Mormonism as a cult but Perry as a "genuine follower of Jesus Christ." American Christianity generally falls into several broad categories, many of which would not consider Mormonism Christianity. They would hardly consider many other flavors Christianity as well.

The data also shows that much of the Christian population is represented by Africa, with 519 million Christians. This is a misrepresentation of what most people understand as Christian. Many Africans simply blended their indigenous beliefs with what missionaries taught them. Many still practice rituals venerating ancestors and fear spirits that have simply been labeled as demons or the devil. It would hardly be recognized as Christianity by an average American. However, the same average American would proudly claim that 1/3 of the world's population is Christian.

What this data also shows is that despite the attempts of missionaries and the "calling" of Christians to evangelize, the percentage of Christians in the world has not substantially changed. There are only more Christians in the world today because there are more people in the world today and they are such a diverse group they should hardly share one label. According to percentages there are no more or less Christians in the world today than there were a hundred years ago. They are just replacing themselves and growing accordingly with the population. This would indicate their missionary attempts have been largely unsuccessful.



Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. (2010, December). Global Christianity. Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Global-Christianity-worlds-christian-population.aspx