Surprising Report Reveals Atheism Is Declining Globally — How Should Christians Respond? — Hayden Royster Opinion | Charisma
Hayden Royster of LightWorkers outlines the realities Christians face today with the decline of atheism and the overall increase of spiritual interest among millenials.
A few months ago, the good folks at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity released the 2019 edition of their “Status of Global Christianity” report. There’s a lot of fascinating info in there. Some of the more significant stats are detailed in the LifeWay article, “7 Surprising Trends in Global Christianity in 2019,” like the fact that Christianity is growing faster than the population is, or that the percentage of unevangelized individuals in the world has shrunk from 54.3% in 1900 to 28.4% today.
Perhaps most fascinating, though, is the projected decrease in atheism worldwide. According to the report, atheism reached its peak in 1970, with over 165 million atheists worldwide. Since then, atheism has been steadily decreasing, with 138 million today, a number that’s expected to drop to 129 million by 2050. That’s huge. Right?
Well — it’s important, when reading stats like this, to take into account the host of other statistics that complicate the issue. For instance, a 2015 study from Pew Research showed that while the number of nonbelievers will likely shrink over the next 25 years, this decline will not be evenly distributed. Europe, America and China will continue to move away from religion while Christianity grows exponentially in Sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in what researcher Alan Cooperman calls “the secularizing West and the rapidly growing rest.” We also can’t forget that Millennials are three times as likely to consider themselves atheists when compared to Baby Boomers.
In other words, atheism may be projected to decline, but don’t get the party hats out just yet, believers. There are a lot of factors at play.
Click here, to read more about the article from Gospel for Asia Missions Box.
Learn more about Gospel for Asia: Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | SourceWatch | Integrity | Lawsuit Update | 5 Distinctives | 6 Remarkable Facts | Media Room | Poverty Solutions | Endorsements | 40th Anniversary | Lawsuit Response |
