It's a defining moment in our history, especially our history in respects to Western Civilization. Adherents to Islam now outnumber adherents to Roman Catholicism - the largest single Christian Body in the world.
From the Yahoo! article:
"For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us," Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Formenti compiles the Vatican's yearbook.
He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population — a stable percentage — while Muslims were at 19.2 percent.
Granted though when you combine the total number of Christians as an umbrella group including the Orthodox, the Anglicans and the Protestants we're still the largest single religion. Also not taken into consideration are the divisions within the Islamic Religion between Sunnis, Shi'ia, Sufi and other sects.
But still the psychological effect on we (umbrella) as Christians does, and rightfully so, resonate deeply. After all look at the various regions. In Britian the Telegraph reported last week that Mosque attendee's within the decade will outnumber Mass goers.
As the Yahoo Article states:
"It is true that while Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer," the monsignor said.
Of course there is a bit of a discrepancy though, Christianity is still strong and growing exponentially in Sub-Saharan Africa, in the Americas and lest we forget in Asia. (Even though it is of note that Muslim and Christian Violence is most fervent in those lands of expansion within Africa and Asia). I'm reminded of the lecture at USC of the distinguished professor Philip Jenkins that tended to counter the sensationalism of the spread of Islam within the old world, Europe.
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