Major World Religions of Tommorrow

[Egyptian Phoenix]

Okay, so we see that Christianity's numbers are dwendling in Europe, and are beginning to go that way in the US and Canada as well. It's obvious Christianity won't be the world's largest religion in the future. That being said, what do you think the next largest religion will be? I've heard some say Islam, I think Buddhism and Paganism have a good chance as well. I'm also sure Christianity will retain high numbers for a long time to come, even if it isn't the largest.

[Sonic247]

I think idols in general will gain ground. I know it will be prevalent near the end.

[Egyptian Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Sonic247

I think idols in general will gain ground. I know it will be prevalent near the end.

Why do Christians have this idea that if their religion isn't the largest anymore it means the end is near? Don't you realize that spirituality changes over time just like many things?

[Nowhere Man]

Originally Posted by Yosef1986

Okay, so we see that Christianity's numbers are dwendling in Europe, and are beginning to go that way in the US and Canada as well. It's obvious Christianity won't be the world's largest religion in the future. That being said, what do you think the next largest religion will be? I've heard some say Islam, I think Buddhism and Paganism have a good chance as well. I'm also sure Christianity will retain high numbers for a long time to come, even if it isn't the largest.

I take that alongside progressions made in science and technology, any religion/philosophy which bases itself on rationality and reason will in the future take a dominant hold at the forefront.

Ancient mythological religions such as Christianity, Islam, Theistic Hinduism, Theistic "Buddhism" etc. Will certainly go the way of the Gods and join Baal, Thor, Zeus, Isis, Hercules, and Athena for a pizza party, wings, and a few beers to celebrate the good ole'days.

[Sonic247]

Originally Posted by Yosef1986

Why do Christians have this idea that if their religion isn't the largest anymore it means the end is near? Don't you realize that spirituality changes over time just like many things?

I don't know if it's near or not. I know people change.

[Odion]

Buddhism will become larger, I believe, especially in the West. Although I think that there is the possibility that mean Westerners will drop the belief in reincarnation as a literal belief, and I expect that it would be more Zen-like and have less emphasis on scripture.

However, since most people in the world stay as the religion of their parents, I don't think it will change that much any time soon, unless Buddhists start giving birth to 8 kids each minimum.

[Madhuri]

I wish Hinduism but I think Islam and Buddhuism will predominate in near future.

[Mister Emu]

It's obvious Christianity won't be the world's largest religion in the future.

How far into the future are you trying to predict? The most current numbers I've seen do not point to it being obvious "Christianity won't be the world's largest religion in the future"...

[footprints]

Originally Posted by Yosef1986

Okay, so we see that Christianity's numbers are dwendling in Europe, and are beginning to go that way in the US and Canada as well. It's obvious Christianity won't be the world's largest religion in the future. That being said, what do you think the next largest religion will be? I've heard some say Islam, I think Buddhism and Paganism have a good chance as well. I'm also sure Christianity will retain high numbers for a long time to come, even if it isn't the largest.

That is a hard one. I am not sure pertaining to the dwindling of christianity, from what I see, many are just rebelling against the direction of the church, not christianity itself.

Certainly Islam is on the rise, Paganism is becoming a trend in many countries, and Atheism and Secularism have much more growing to do. The west is embracing Buddhism and Taoism more and more and I doubt Judaism will ever fall. With a couple of billion people at their disposal and growing, Hinduism will always have a good strong hold.

With past history as a guide, we haven't seen yet what atheism and secularism will divide into and what new beliefs will be born from them, as children start rebelling against the beliefs of their atheist and secular parents. They could go back to established beliefs, then again they could create a new belief (which wouldn't really be new, just an old one reinvented), perhaps a cultural belief, such as the American indian et al.

Pretty much, I doubt the world will change that much, drastic climate change or other natural disasters, not withstanding.

[Egyptian Phoenix]

Atheism could be interesting. One can still have Philosophy and moral codes, even while being Atheist. I'd be interested to see what philosophies may come of Atheism. As for Judaism, well Judaism is a ethnic based religion, so yes it'll always have people who are Jews who want to keep their religious heritage. I believe Buddhism might change in the west as someone mentioned, but I hope it doesn't. There's nothing wrong with traditional Buddhism, and I'm very traditional in my practice of Mahayana. I know Paganism is growing, because there's 2 million Wiccans alone. That's not counting other groups like Kemetic, Asatru, Celtic-Shamanism, Druidism, etc, etc. Islam may very well be a dominant religion of tommorrow, but I believe we're going to see a big change in the Islamic world, something akin to the Rennescence in Europe after the Protestant Reformation.