Muslims more numerous than Catholics: Vatican

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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism as the biggest single religious denomination in the world, the Vatican said on Sunday.
Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who compiled the Vatican’s newly-released 2008 yearbook of statistics, said Muslims made up 19.2 percent of the world’s population and Catholics 17.4 percent.

uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKL3068682420080330
 
Fortunately, truth is not a numbers game.

I do want to point out the erroneous statement in the article, however. The article states that Muslims outnumber Catholics as the worlds single largest religious denomination. But Muslims are not a single denomination, having many internal divisions, just as Christianity does.

Therefore, this is not really an apples to apples comparison. Comparing the number of Catholics to the number of Sunnis would be more relevant.
 
eliasaph99 said:
Fortunately, truth is not a numbers game.

I do want to point out the erroneous statement in the article, however. The article states that Muslims outnumber Catholics as the worlds single largest religious denomination. But Muslims are not a single denomination, having many internal divisions, just as Christianity does.

Therefore, this is not really an apples to apples comparison. Comparing the number of Catholics to the number of Sunnis would be more relevant.
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Thats a good point.
 
Also to point out that some if not most members were forced to become members. To back this up, I should make the point that the statistics do not show the comparison between church-going Catholics and mosque-going muslims.
 
eliasaph99 said:
Fortunately, truth is not a numbers game.

I do want to point out the erroneous statement in the article, however. The article states that Muslims outnumber Catholics as the worlds single largest religious denomination. But Muslims are not a single denomination, having many internal divisions, just as Christianity does.

Therefore, this is not really an apples to apples comparison. Comparing the number of Catholics to the number of Sunnis would be more relevant.
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Or better yet, christians (33%) to muslims (19.2%).

Nohome
 
The other day a muslim guy in some chatroom tried to convert me, I wasn’t amused by the fact that he tried to convert me, but rather his argument was that ‘since islam is the fastest growing religion’ it must be true.

So taking that into consideration, when Christianity was the fastest growing religion, it was true? :confused:

Also, many arab families, have 8 - 9 children. And some in upwards of 100 (supported by the royal families [sheikhs]) It’s more of a born into thing, rather than converting.

If it’s converting, at least 10% I bet is force conversion put into official documentation, but really constitutes to nothing. My only real worry with these ‘numbers’ is that some extremists may decide to wage holy war to convert the rest of us, not that they haven’t already.
 
Well, by the time I am no longer able to have children there will be more Catholics than Muslims. 😃

Baby #1 is due any day now!
 
I find this alarming; once, Christianity, particularly Catholicism, is the largest single religious group. Now, Islam has overtaken it. If the trend continues, Islam will become larger than Christianity as a whole. Yes, truth is not a numbers game, but we should also remember that to the victor goes the spoils, and it might be just a matter of time before we see history rewritten.
 
eliasaph99 said:
Fortunately, truth is not a numbers game.

I do want to point out the erroneous statement in the article, however. The article states that Muslims outnumber Catholics as the worlds single largest religious denomination. But Muslims are not a single denomination, having many internal divisions, just as Christianity does.

Therefore, this is not really an apples to apples comparison. Comparing the number of Catholics to the number of Sunnis would be more relevant.
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That is the first thing I thought of too when I read the article.
The correct comparison would be Christians to Muslims as both contain sects. Catholics would out number any single Islamic sect.
 
I was shocked to see that this happened only now. I thought Muslims long since outnumbered Catholics. The last time I checked it was something like 1.7 billion to 1.1 billion (though I can’t find the source right now).
 
Something to consider:

Muslims have more children.

This isn’t about who is winning the race in the door-to-door Mormon style door knocking missionary work.

But then again, it isn’t about hunkering down and having as many babies as possible from 16-45 either.

Add up all the abortions - both surgical and chemical that take place annually - and have now taken place for decades - among a post-Christian cultures that treat children and families as burdens rather than the wealth families truly are, and we begin to see what has happened and is happening.

On another forum there is a poster who keeps asking “why is Islam more attractive than Catholicism?” which to me was like asking my grandmother - one of 13 Quebecois kids growing up on a farm*** “Why was Catholicism more attractive to all 13 of the LaVoy children?” ***The answer: Because Henri and Yvonne LaVoy made it the exclusive attraction!

As long as the bastions of Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular (Europe) continues to depopulate, any group or movement that continues to replace and expand population will grow larger.

Having said that, keep an eye on sub-saharan Africa and on SE Asia. The fertility rates are higher there (they haven’t learned to fear large families as representing a “drain on their wealth” yet) and Christianity is outpacing Islam in conversions.
 
ASimpleSinner said:
On another forum there is a poster who keeps asking “why is Islam more attractive than Catholicism?” which to me was like asking my grandmother - one of 13 Quebecois kids growing up on a farm*** “Why was Catholicism more attractive to all 13 of the LaVoy children?” ***The answer: Because Henri and Yvonne LaVoy made it the exclusive attraction!
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You have cerainly put your finger on the most important point in all of this. God bless your parents,Actually, He has in abundance.

Here’s how I responded to an Iraqi Christian who wrote with troubled about this news.

I think this has happened for several reasons. 1. As the article indicated they produce many offspring and Catholics tend to contracept them out of existence. This is disobedient to Church teaching and because so many do so without seeming consequence, 2. Many Catholics figure they can pick and choose what areas they are going to follow and which they aren’t. 3. For the time being Muslims tend to be more effective in their “evangelistic” efforts. They have a very simple, though erroneous, message. They are very effective in their prison outreach and we not so much. Because they have more children there are more young people who proclaim their message and in many areas “convert or die” is very effective.

Their are some encouraging signs. There are many new Catholic converts willing to go out of their way to be obedient and to evangelize. There are many Muslims who are sick of the violent ways of many Muslims and are rebelling against them and converting.

But I must say, in my experience as a college teacher, I’ve found a higher percentage of Muslims who are passionate about their false religion than I do Catholics about our true relgion. Part of it is poor training and part of it is that secular colleges have an open door policy toward teaching Islam and a closed door policy against teaching the Catholic faith. A higher percentage of Catholics know Islam than know Catholicism. What a fix we’ve got ourselves into.

Carson

One more thing: Many Catholics, seem to be too passive. I could be wrong but it seems like some figure that since the priest is religious they don’t need to be.
 
GregoryPalamas said:
One more thing: Many Catholics, seem to be too passive. I could be wrong but it seems like some figure that since the priest is religious they don’t need to be.
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Me to coworker: “There is a Mass at the Cathedral everyday at 12:05, I am going today, would you like to come?”

Coworker to me: “Go to church on a weekday? What do I look like a nun?”

To be clear GP, grandma was one of 13, I wasn’t!

At any rate, even if Catholics woke up and considered 3 or 4 children reasonable…

…and I know working class families with as many or more - kids share bedrooms, they don’t have cable (what are they missing!), they don’t get a new car - and new car payment! - every time the old one is paid off, they are not living on Ramen or begging for food, they don’t spend two year saving up for 7 days at Disney World…

Sometimes when talk of Mormon growth comes up people think that the success in growth is largely related to the young people who knock on doors and go on mission trips for 24 months… IT isn’t. Little secret? They baptize - on average - 1.9 converts per mission, and 1 out of 2 leave within 24 months. Another little secret? Growth for them has also been a function of having children.

Children are NOT burdens or accessories!
 
Milliardo said:
I find this alarming; once, Christianity, particularly Catholicism, is the largest single religious group. Now, Islam has overtaken it. If the trend continues, Islam will become larger than Christianity as a whole. Yes, truth is not a numbers game, but we should also remember that to the victor goes the spoils, and it might be just a matter of time before we see history rewritten.
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What spoils does one win exactly?

The world and all that is in it? Let them have it.

Although I don’t relish the idea, remember that once we came out from the catacombs. The candles on the altar at Mass are there to remind us that in our infancy, Mass was celebrated underground in the dark (perhaps figuratively) in many locations. It may be that before the end, the Church will have to return to the catacombs.

Remember that Christ promised us that the Church would prevail against the Gates of Hell. He did not promise that the Gates wouldn’t get a good rally now and then.
 
What becomes apparent is an attitude that superior numbers make you better than everyone else, this is human nature and often unavoidable.

Could cultural aspects be part of the equation? What is it that Islam is doing that increases their popularity? Or should I ask; what is it that Catholics and Christians are doing that is allowing our popularity to slip?

It just seems to me that Islam’s cultural bonds are strong, while that of Western Christianity is weakening.

Thoughts?
 
I think that Muslims also allow polygamy, therefore more children with more wives too.

Here’s the rub, we all know the end of the story.Jesus came to save all people…not just Christians and God wins! Thank you God for your divine mercy.
 
So I guess now really wouldn’t be the greatest time for that new crusade everybody’s talking about. 😛
 
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