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Future of religions

TransmutingSoul

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Why is it in us? Whom do we blame for it? What made your Allah create it? Do not try to defend what is indefensible.

It is all about how we see and choose to embrace life. There is no one to blame but our own selves. We were created to Love.

I personally see God does no need any persons defence.

Jesus said in very simple terms in john 13:34-35

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Regards Tony
 

TransmutingSoul

Veteran Member
Premium Member
It already has been. Millenia after millenia.

Whenever "faith" is invoked, disagreement surely follows.
People within the same religion can't even agree on their "faith".

Faith is gullibility.
On faith, you an believe anything.

There is no such disagreement when it comes to say gravity, plate tectonics, radiation, etc.
The reason is simple. Those things are independendly verifiable and supported by well-established evidence and reason.

If science where faith based, we'ld have thousands of "theories" of gravity, just like we have thousands of "theories" of gods.

You have shown Faith must be progressive, to which it is. Faith has reached the stage of finding there is only One God and in that knowledge, our scientific abilities will multiply a thousand fold.

Even theories like gravity take time to perfect and we still have room to further perfect our knowledge about gravity.

Regards Tony
 

TransmutingSoul

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I think in 5000 years, there is not a single Christian or Muslim, or most of other major religions. There will be new religions. People follow those new religions.

I see that people will still be taught History and know of the Names of Jesus and Muhammad.

I would expect any future religion will be united under One God, it may be we are then struggling to be united with beings from other worlds?

Regards Tony
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
Time will be our judge.
I fully agree, only time will tell. :)

“The world is in travail, and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is turned towards waywardness and unbelief. Such shall be its plight, that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its perversity will long continue. And when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then, and only then, will the Divine Standard be unfurled, and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 118-119
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
What do you think will become of major religions in the future? Will they change into something different? Will they die out? Will new ones form?
Below are some projections:

The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050

Why Muslims Are Rising Fastest and the Unaffiliated Are Shrinking as a Share of the World’s Population

The religious profile of the world is rapidly changing, driven primarily by differences in fertility rates and the size of youth populations among the world’s major religions, as well as by people switching faiths. Over the next four decades, Christians will remain the largest religious group, but Islam will grow faster than any other major religion. If current trends continue, by 2050 …
  • The number of Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians around the world.
  • Atheists, agnostics and other people who do not affiliate with any religion – though increasing in countries such as the United States and France – will make up a declining share of the world’s total population.
  • The global Buddhist population will be about the same size it was in 2010, while the Hindu and Jewish populations will be larger than they are today.
  • In Europe, Muslims will make up 10% of the overall population.
  • India will retain a Hindu majority but also will have the largest Muslim population of any country in the world, surpassing Indonesia.
  • In the United States, Christians will decline from more than three-quarters of the population in 2010 to two-thirds in 2050, and Judaism will no longer be the largest non-Christian religion. Muslims will be more numerous in the U.S. than people who identify as Jewish on the basis of religion.
  • Four out of every 10 Christians in the world will live in sub-Saharan Africa.
These are among the global religious trends highlighted in new demographic projections by the Pew Research Center. The projections take into account the current size and geographic distribution of the world’s major religions, age differences, fertility and mortality rates, international migration and patterns in conversion.

The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050
 
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Trailblazer

Veteran Member
I would expect any future religion will be united under One God,
I believe that in the future there will be only one religion, because that is what God has ordained for healing all the world.

“That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired Physician. This, verily, is the truth, and all else naught but error.”
The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 91


Nobody knows what that religion will be called, except God. ;)
 

TransmutingSoul

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I believe that in the future there will be only one religion, because that is what God has ordained for healing all the world.

“That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired Physician. This, verily, is the truth, and all else naught but error.”
The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 91


Nobody knows what that religion will be called, except God. ;)

I see that is sound reasoning, it may take another dispensation or two!

Regards Tony
 

Truthseeker

Non-debating member when I can help myself
It's My Birthday!
Below are some projections:

The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050

Why Muslims Are Rising Fastest and the Unaffiliated Are Shrinking as a Share of the World’s Population

The religious profile of the world is rapidly changing, driven primarily by differences in fertility rates and the size of youth populations among the world’s major religions, as well as by people switching faiths. Over the next four decades, Christians will remain the largest religious group, but Islam will grow faster than any other major religion. If current trends continue, by 2050 …
  • The number of Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians around the world.
  • Atheists, agnostics and other people who do not affiliate with any religion – though increasing in countries such as the United States and France – will make up a declining share of the world’s total population.
  • The global Buddhist population will be about the same size it was in 2010, while the Hindu and Jewish populations will be larger than they are today.
  • In Europe, Muslims will make up 10% of the overall population.
  • India will retain a Hindu majority but also will have the largest Muslim population of any country in the world, surpassing Indonesia.
  • In the United States, Christians will decline from more than three-quarters of the population in 2010 to two-thirds in 2050, and Judaism will no longer be the largest non-Christian religion. Muslims will be more numerous in the U.S. than people who identify as Jewish on the basis of religion.
  • Four out of every 10 Christians in the world will live in sub-Saharan Africa.
These are among the global religious trends highlighted in new demographic projections by the Pew Research Center. The projections take into account the current size and geographic distribution of the world’s major religions, age differences, fertility and mortality rates, international migration and patterns in conversion.

The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050
At the same time, however, the unaffiliated are expected to continue to increase as a share of the population in much of Europe and North America. In the United States, for example, the unaffiliated are projected to grow from an estimated 16% of the total population (including children) in 2010 to 26% in 2050.

The Baha'is are lumped in with other religions, which is projected to decline as a proportion of the total population.
 

Truthseeker

Non-debating member when I can help myself
It's My Birthday!
I see that is sound reasoning, it may take another dispensation or two!

Regards Tony
I don't think the world will ever unite under one religion, as I earlier reasoned out to Susan. I guess she disagrees with me.

“That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith.” The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 91

But does that mean the same religion? Consider this:

There is no reference in the writings stating that every single person will become Bahá’í, but at least half of them will. Rúḥíyyih Khánum used to say that Shoghi Effendi was asked this question quite often by pilgrims. He would answer by saying that, in this Dispensation, the totality of the peoples of the world will not become Bahá’ís, but the majority will.

‘Alí Nakhjavani, “Shoghi Effendi: The Range and Power of His Pen”

This is the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future.

, “Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh” , 70.2

This implies to me to begin with that one faith means that eternal faith proclaimed by all Messengers, that is the spiritual essence of them.

In my opinion, I also don't think the world will have one religion in the next Dispensation. The union of all it's peoples is clearly destined for this Dispensation.

God’s purpose is none other than to usher in, in ways He alone can bring about, and the full significance of which He alone can fathom, the Great, the Golden Age of a long-divided, a long-afflicted humanity. Its present state, indeed even its immediate future, is dark, distressingly dark. Its distant future, however, is radiant, gloriously radiant — so radiant that no eye can visualize it.

Shoghi Effendi, “The Promised Day is Come” , 286

This will indeed be the fitting climax of that process of integration which, starting with the family, the smallest unit in the scale of human organization, must, after having called successively into being the tribe, the city-state, and the nation, continue to operate until it culminates in the unification of the whole world, the final object and the crowning glory of human evolution on this planet. It is this stage which humanity, willingly or unwillingly, is resistlessly approaching. It is for this stage that this vast, this fiery ordeal which humanity is experiencing is mysteriously paving the way. It is with this stage that the fortunes and the purpose of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh are indissolubly linked. It is the creative energies which His Revelation has released in the “year sixty,” and later reinforced by the successive effusions of celestial power vouchsafed in the “year nine” and the “year eighty” to all mankind, that have instilled into humanity the capacity to attain this final stage in its organic and collective evolution. It is with the Golden Age of His Dispensation that the consummation of this process will be forever associated. It is the structure of His New World Order, now stirring in the womb of the administrative institutions He Himself has created, that will serve both as a pattern and a nucleus of that world commonwealth which is the sure, the inevitable destiny of the peoples and nations of the earth.

Shoghi Effendi, “The Promised Day is Come” , 290

I will add here that I believe that it is unreasonable for everyone to believe in one religion at any time, given how different people have different opinions, and different spiritual susceptibilities. Is it reasonable that everyone in the world will be a true seeker? Some people will always cling to the former religion.
 

Riders

Well-Known Member
I think only Christianity will survive and all the rest of religions will die out. What do you think?

Actually I have read by the year 2040 or 50 Muslims will become the biggest religion, they are fast becoming bigger then Christianity. So try the Muslims instead, if only one survives it'll be the Muslims.
 

Riders

Well-Known Member
However, that in no way indicates that the Baha'i Faith will decline (or not grow) since it is such a small percentage of that lump.

Right now the smaller religions like Buddhism Paganism and Baha'i are growing, as Christians drop out of church to join with other religions.
 

Riders

Well-Known Member
I think some religions may change to a philosophy instead of religion. Christianity may change to Philosophy.
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
I will add here that I believe that it is unreasonable for everyone to believe in one religion at any time, given how different people have different opinions, and different spiritual susceptibilities. Is it reasonable that everyone in the world will be a true seeker? Some people will always cling to the former religion.
Your opinion is based upon they way religious people are now, but it is not the way they will be on the future. What would have been the point of the coming of Baha'ullah if He could not even unite the human race, including uniting all the religions under one common banner? That is exactly what Shoghi Effendi said was the mission of Baha'u'llah and what was destined to happen during the His Dispensation. God holds our destiny in His Hands so what happens in the future is not about what people like or want, it is about what God wants, God's will for humanity.

“One of the great events,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has, in His “Some Answered Questions,” affirmed, “which is to occur in the Day of the manifestation of that Incomparable Branch [Bahá’u’lláh] is the hoisting of the Standard of God among all nations. By this is meant that all nations and kindreds will be gathered together under the shadow of this Divine Banner, which is no other than the Lordly Branch itself, and will become a single nation. Religious and sectarian antagonism, the hostility of races and peoples, and differences among nations, will be eliminated. All men will adhere to one religion, will have one common faith, will be blended into one race, and become a single people. All will dwell in one common fatherland, which is the planet itself.”
The Promised Day Is Come, pp. 119-121


Baha'u'llah wrote that humanity should all be adhering to what He revealed in this new Day of God, and that we should disregard the religious traditions of past ages, since they do not rest on any foundation and have been influenced by corrupt human desires so they are devoid of truth.

“This is the Day when the loved ones of God should keep their eyes directed towards His Manifestation, and fasten them upon whatsoever that Manifestation may be pleased to reveal. Certain traditions of bygone ages rest on no foundations whatever, while the notions entertained by past generations, and which they have recorded in their books, have, for the most part, been influenced by the desires of a corrupt inclination. Thou dost witness how most of the commentaries and interpretations of the words of God, now current amongst men, are devoid of truth.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 171
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
Right now the smaller religions like Buddhism Paganism and Baha'i are growing, as Christians drop out of church to join with other religions.
That is true. Christianity is growing slower that all the other Abrahamic religions, except Judaism, which is an ethnic religion. In contrast to universalizing religions like Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i Faith, ethnic religions usually consist of beliefs and rituals handed down from generation to generation within an ethnicity and culture and they are not religions that tend to convert.

The growth rates of the Abrahamic religions from 1910-2010 were as follows: Judaism .11%, Christianity 1.32%, Islam 1.97%, and Baha’i Faith 3.54%.

From 2000-2010 Islam became the fastest growing religion (1.86 %) and the Baha’i Faith was the second fastest growing religion (1.72%).

Statistics from: Growth of religion - Wikipedia

The growth rates of the Baha’i Faith were higher than Islam from 1910 to 2010 because it includes the “formative age” of the Baha’i Faith (1921-1944) FOURTH PERIOD: THE INCEPTION OF THE FORMATIVE AGE OF THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH 1921–1944

Growth of the Baha’i Faith has slowed down since 2000 because the new goal is consolidation and community building, so the emphasis is not spreading the Faith all over the world as it was before in the 20th century.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Buddhists

The number of Buddhists around the world is expected to increase between 2010 and 2030, rising from 488 million to about 511 million. However, the global Buddhist population is projected to decline after 2030, falling to 486 million by 2050, roughly where it was in 2010.45

During the same period, the world’s population is expected to increase considerably. As a result, the percentage of the world’s population that is Buddhist is forecast to decrease from about 7% in 2010 to 5% in 2050.

The projected decline in the share of the world’s population that is Buddhist is a result of Buddhists’ aging population and low fertility rate relative to other religious groups.

The annual growth rate of the world’s population is expected to decline gradually in the coming decades, falling from 1.1% in 2010-2015 to 0.4% between 2045 and 2050. The annual growth rate of Buddhists also is expected to decline. The Buddhist growth rate is 0.5% in 2010-2015. After 2030, the growth rate of the global Buddhist population is forecast to enter negative territory, ending with a negative rate of growth in 2045-2050 of minus 0.4%. This represents a projected decline in the Buddhist population after 2030.

Projected Changes in the Global Buddhist Population
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
He gives the commandment. Why did he not give a mind which would not generate hateful thoughts? Why the disruptive thoughts of this religion or that religion arise when he sends his prophets, sons, messengers, manifestations, mahdis. Your Allah is scheming devil. Says one thing, does something different.
 

TransmutingSoul

Veteran Member
Premium Member
He gives the commandment. Why did he not give a mind which would not generate hateful thoughts? Why the disruptive thoughts of this religion or that religion arise when he sends his prophets, sons, messengers, manifestations, mahdis. Your Allah is scheming devil. Says one thing, does something different.

How can you know love, if you do not have the lack of Love, which we know as hate?

Regards Tony
 
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