Will Islam become the world’s largest religion?

From Patheos-

A new study says that Islam will pass Christianity as the world’s largest religion by 2070.

The report says that in 2050, Muslims will make up 10% of the European population.  But they will number only 2.1% in the United States.

Interestingly, the study also says that the number of atheists and non-religious affiliated will decline globally.

This may very well be, but, like many statistical studies, it is mainly just an extrapolation of current numbers over time.  Muslims have a higher birth rate than Christians do, so if we graph that out, their numbers will be higher by 2070.

More here-

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2017/03/will-islam-become-the-worlds-largest-religion/

Study finds 84 percent of world has religious affiliation

From Catholic News Agency-

More than 80 percent of people around the world – about 5.8 billion individuals – identify with a religious group, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.

“Christians number 2.2 billion, or about one-in-three” of the 6.9 billion people in the world in 2010, the study found, adding that about “half of all Christians are Catholic.”

Released Dec. 18, the study examined censuses, surveys and population registers to determine the size, geographical distribution and age of the world’s major religions.

As of 2012, the world contained about 1.6 billion Muslims, 1 billion Hindus, almost 500 million Buddhists and 14 million Jews, the analysis said.

Furthermore, over 400 million people, or six percent of the global population, adhere to folk or religious traditions. Less than one percent – about 58 million people – belong to other religions, including Jainism, Sikhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Wicca and the Baha’i faith.

More here-

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/study-finds-84-percent-of-world-has-religious-affiliation/

Religious leaders meeting in Israel find they face similar challenges

From Anglican Journal Canada-

Leaders from different faiths who met recently in Israel see such gatherings as important for people who might fear to meet in their daily lives, but can share their experiences in an enclave of trust, says one of the organizers.

Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein, director of the Jerusalem-based Elijah Interfaith Institute said that religious people worldwide face similar challenges and expectations, so sharing a broad universal approach could be beneficial to their work. He was speaking at the conclusion of a five-day conference in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa.

"There has been a broad recognition of the commonalty of [religious] leadership which has allowed people to share strategies of how to lead [our faithful] and how to carry out the vocation of religious leadership," Goshen-Gottstein told Ecumenical News International in a telephone interview.

About 50 religious leaders representing Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism attended the fourth meeting of the Elijah Board of World Religious Leaders from Oct. 18 to 22. Representatives from the Vatican and of the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, also attended the meeting.

Rabbi Goshen-Gottstein noted the importance of the presence of several Muslim leaders at the event, saying that for some of them it was "courageous" to attend the conference. He said participants had been able to discuss difficult and painful regional topics in an atmosphere of confidence.

More here-

http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/religious-leaders-meeting-in-israel-find-they-face-similar-challenges/?cHash=a1ea3a7fb2

Muslim Priest and Buddhist Bishop-Elect Are Raising Questions About Syncretism

From Christianity Today-

Jesus saves, the Episcopal Church teaches, but a growing number of its clergy and leaders believe other faiths may lead to salvation as well. Long divided and distracted by questions of sexual ethics, the Episcopal Church (along with most mainline Protestant communities) are facing a cultural and theological shift towards religious pluralism—the belief that there are diverse paths to God.

The debate is not just academic. In two current cases, Episcopal clergy are under scrutiny for practicing and promoting other religions. On February 12 a devotee of Zen Buddhism was elected bishop of the Episcopal Church's Northern Michigan diocese. Meanwhile, a Seattle-area priest has been given until March 30 to decide whether she is a Muslim or a Christian as her bishop will not permit her to profess both faiths.

The Episcopal Church's problems with syncretism—the blending of belief systems—comes as no surprise to Wade Clark Roof, professor of Religious Studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara and a leading sociologist of religion. "Clearly there are people, including religious leaders, [who find] spiritual wisdom in faiths other than their own," he told Christianity Today.

The rest is here-

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/marchweb-only/112-53.0.html

All you need is love, archbishop tells the regulars

ARCHBISHOP of Canterbury Rowan Williams has declared a desire for people of different religions to unite to tackle global environmental crises.

He further said that Christian Christmas decorations in city centres will not cause offence to people of other faiths.

Dr Williams presented a vision of a multi-faith society based on tolerance and respect during a visit to a Cardiff church which meets in the upper room of a bar.

The Swansea-born nominal leader of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion said religious decorations were rarely removed at the request of people of faith.

He said: “[It’s] hardly ever because Muslims or Hindus are complaining. It’s usually because uncomfortable agnostics in the council offices think: ‘Oh, panic! It’s a multi-religious society. We’ve got to be careful, otherwise we’ll offend people.’”

He continued: “I have yet to hear any real-life Muslim, Jew, Buddhist or Hindu complain about the public presence of Christian symbols. They know they are in a country whose history is Christian... Most of them are happy to live with that if they feel, too, that their convictions are fully respected.”

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/2008/12/15/all-you-need-is-love-archbishop-tells-the-regulars-91466-22476459/

Anglican head to visit Hindu temple in England

LONDON (ICNS): In a gesture of peace and love the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has decided to visit a Hindu temple in central England.

Archbishop Williams, who is also the head of the Church of England is to visit the Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) temple Nov. 15. Archbishop Williams said he accepted invitation of the trustees of the temple, Europe's largest Hindu place of worship, as a sign of the "celebration of friendship and the facing of challenges with hope".

The “friendship move” assumes significance in Britain as it comes after a series of anti-Christian violence in Orissa.

The Archbishop had written to the Hindus in Britain in his Diwali greetings, urging them to work for "reconciliation where there has been division and hurt" and for "peace and the rejection of all resort to violence.”

Archbishop Williams will also plant an olive tree, a symbol of peace, - on the temple hill. The temple spreads over 22 acres in the suburbs of the city of Birmingham in west-central England. Its Authorities said the visit will reinforce the temple's multi-faith approach.

http://www.theindiancatholic.com/report.asp?nid=11677

Legality of Conversion

I remember being in Mumbai years ago and reading an editorial in the English language newspaper discussing whether or not Indian citizens should legally be allowed to change their religion. Here's a story from The Economist about that.

"But America’s religious free-for-all is very much the exception, not the rule, in human history—and increasingly rare, some would say, in the world today. In most human societies, conversion has been seen as an act whose consequences are as much social and political as spiritual; and it has been assumed that the wider community, in the form of the family, the village or the state, has every right to take an interest in the matter."

http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=11784873