The provocation in the 2011 report involves martyrdom. For purposes of research, the report defines "martyrs" as "believers in Christ who have lost their lives, prematurely, in situations of witness, as a result of human hostility." The report estimates that there were, on average, 270 new Christian martyrs every twenty-four hours over the past decade, such that "the number of martyrs [in the period 2000-2010] was approximately one million." Compare this to an estimated 34,000 Christian martyrs in 1900.This is indeed interesting. We're often led to believe that atheism is growing, and perhaps it is in America and Europe, but, on the other hand, perhaps those reports of an ascendent atheism are overblown. I wouldn't be surprised. Atheism offers its adherents little more than a hopeless, empty life with no ultimate explanation for the universe, no ground for moral conviction, and no basis for human worth, dignity, or rights. Nothing but the prospect of meaningless life followed by eternal annihilation. Little wonder their numbers are declining.
As for the interesting, try the aggregate numbers. According to the report, there will be, by mid-2011, 2,306,609,000 Christians of all kinds in the world, representing 33% of world population -- a slight percentage rise from mid-2000 (32.7%), but a slight percentage drop since 1900 (34.5%). Of those 2.3 billion Christians, some 1.5 billion are regular church attenders, who worship in 5,171,000 congregations or "worship centers," up from 400,000 in 1900 and 3.5 million in 2000.
Compared to the world's 2.3 billion Christians, there are 1.6 billion Muslims, 951 million Hindus, 468 million Buddhists, 458 million Chinese folk-religionists, and 137 million atheists, whose numbers have actually dropped over the past decade, despite the caterwauling of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Co. One cluster of comparative growth statistics is striking: as of mid-2011, there will be an average of 80,000 new Christians per day (of whom 31,000 will be Catholics) and 79,000 new Muslims per day, but 300 fewer atheists every twenty-four hours.
We're also sometimes given to believe that Islam is burgeoning and will swamp the world in terms of sheer numbers before too long, but if this report is accurate Islam is actually losing ground vis a vis Christianity.
Weigel offers much more detail at the link and readers interested in this report should check it out. He closes with this:
The Big Lesson of the 2011 Status of Global Mission report can be borrowed from Mark Twain's famous crack about his alleged death: Reports of Christianity's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Christianity may be waning in western Europe, but it's on an impressive growth curve in other parts of the world, including that toughest of regions for Christian evangelism, Asia. Indeed, the continuing growth of Christianity as compared to the decline of atheism (in absolute numbers, and considering atheists as a percentage of total world population) suggests the possibility that the vitriolic character of the New Atheism -- displayed in all its crudity prior to Pope Benedict's September 2010 visit to Great Britain -- may have something to do with the shrewder atheists' fear that they're losing, and the clock is running.All this may be true on a global scale, but it's hard to escape the feeling that here in the United States the trends are less hopeful. Much of the growth of Christianity, at least a Christianity more muscular than the nominal nebulosity of much mainstream religion in America, is occurring in the third world. Perhaps we'll soon be receiving their missionaries here, coming to convert the heathen. Wouldn't that be ironic?
