Religion
Related: About this forumOur Christian Earth: The astounding reach of the world’s largest religion, in charts and maps
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/18/our-christian-earth-the-astounding-reach-of-the-worlds-largest-religion-in-charts-and-maps/Filipino Christians crowd into Manilas streets for the annual procession of the Feast of the Black Nazarene. (David Greedy Getty Images)
Christmas is an official government holiday in the United States, one that coincides with a smaller and informal but well-known tradition: debating whether or not there is a war on Christmas. In this thinking, American Christians are obligated to stand up and fight against this secular progressivism that wants to diminish the Christmas holiday, as prominent Fox News host Bill OReilly recently argued. We have to start to fight back against these people. This is often portrayed as a global fight; OReilly, in one of his books, suggested that the war on Christmas is part of an effort to mold [the U.S.] in the image of Western Europe.
This movement to defend one of Christianitys most important holiday can sometimes seem to begin from the assumption that Christianity itself is on the defensive in the world, a besieged minority or at least under threat of being made one.
A very different picture emerges from a just-out Pew report, The Global Religious Landscape. There are a number of fascinating trends and details in the study, but its worth examining what it indicates about the place of Christianity in the world. And, based on this data, the worlds largest religion seems to be doing just fine.
For simplicitys sake, lets examine what the visualizations of Pews research show us. (Youll notice that the data is from 2010; its not up-to-the-minute, but, given the challenges of a global survey and the slow rate at which global trends move, its still relatively current.) First, here is a chart of the worlds major religions by number of adherents.
Jim__
(14,077 posts)I'm surprised to see most European nations - even East European nations and Russia showing Christianity as the majority religion - I would have expected more unaffiliated (only the Czech Republic and the Baltic States (all of them?) show as unaffiliated) and Albania as majority Muslim:
cbayer
(146,218 posts)I like his conclusion:
"If there truly is a war on Christmas or any other facet of Christianity, then, in global terms, it doesnt seem to be doing very well."
okasha
(11,573 posts)than "Folk Religionists" for this chart. How about "Indigenous Religionists?" The "folk" is more than subtly disparaging--as in "folk art"--never quite up to museum standards, y'know--or "folk dance"--not the Bolshoi, old thing.
Edited to add: Looks to me like Christmas is winning the "war." Also to correct typos.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)I think it carries dignity and tradition with in it.
And 'folk art' has attained a very good pedigree - as pertains what you're referencing.
okasha
(11,573 posts)but maybe that's just my indigenous self.
The term "folk art" has economic strings attached to it. Maria Martinez, the great San Idelfonso Pueblo ceramicist, stopped being a "folk artist" when Santa Fe galleries started selling her larger pots for $55,000.00. (Not a typo!) Those economic strings, of course, are also class distinctions--the educated vs. the gullible, wealthy vs. poor.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)dimbear
(6,271 posts)Neat map.