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Uthman
03-31-2008, 11:49 AM
Islam has surpassed Roman Catholicism as the world's largest religion, the Vatican newspaper said Sunday. "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 per cent of the world population - a stable percentage - while Muslims were at 19.2 per cent.

"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.

Formenti said that the data refer to 2006.

The figures on Muslims had been put together by Muslim countries and then provided to the United Nations, he said, adding that the Vatican could only vouch for its own data.

When considering all Christians and not just Catholics, Christians make up 33 per cent of the world population, Formenti said.

Source
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DAWUD_adnan
03-31-2008, 07:59 PM
Islam is now the biggest (sorry if this is old)
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism as the biggest single religious denomination in the world, the Vatican said on Sunday.

Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who compiled the Vatican's newly-released 2008 yearbook of statistics, said Muslims made up 19.2 percent of the world's population and Catholics 17.4 percent.

"For the first time in history we are no longer at the top: the Muslims have overtaken us," Formenti told Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano in an interview, saying the data referred to 2006.

He said that if all Christian groups were considered, including Orthodox churches, Anglicans and Protestants, then Christians made up 33 percent of the world's population -- or about 2 billion people.

The Vatican recently put the number of Catholics in the world at 1.13 billion people. It did not provide a figure for Muslims, generally estimated at around 1.3 billion.

Formenti said that while the number of Catholics as a proportion of the world's population was fairly stable, the percentage of Muslims was growing because of higher birth rates.

He said the data on Muslim populations had been compiled by individual countries and then released by the United Nations, adding the Vatican could only vouch for its own statistics.

(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi; editing by Andrew Roche)
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'Abd al-Baari
03-31-2008, 08:01 PM
Assalamu Alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakaatuh,

Subhan'Allah!
That's great news :shade:

JazakAllah Khayr akhee for sharing!

WaAlaykumus Salaam
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AvarAllahNoor
03-31-2008, 08:21 PM
It did state in the Independent - Islam is the world's fastest growing religion as major Islamic countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran have some of the fastest growing populations.

So it's not due to large conversions. More to larger families.
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'Abd al-Baari
03-31-2008, 08:26 PM
:sl:/Peace

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran have some of the fastest growing populations.
And they are also some of the poorest/war-stricken countries, so they have a higher death rate too:?

I think conversions do have a fairly big part in this

WaAlaykumus Salaam
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AvarAllahNoor
03-31-2008, 08:29 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Ibn Umayr
:sl:/Peace
And they are also some of the poorest/war-stricken countries, so they have a higher death rate too:?

I think conversions do have a fairly big part in this

WaAlaykumus Salaam
Yes they do. But it's best to put all the facts out there. It's great. Does not bother me one single bit. Conversions are a major thing for Chrisitanity and Islam, Sikhism isn't. Just like Judaism and Hindusim isn't. :)
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Khayal
03-31-2008, 08:43 PM
:sl:

Wow!!

MashaAllaah, Alhamdulilah. :)

thanx 4 sharing.

:w:
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Amadeus85
03-31-2008, 09:31 PM
this article combines the Muslim sects/denominational-types, and compares that number to a single Christian-type denomination, rather than all.
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AvarAllahNoor
03-31-2008, 09:43 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Aaron85
this article combines the Muslim sects/denominational-types, and compares that number to a single Christian-type denomination, rather than all.
True. about over 2000 + denominations in Christianity I'm told.
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SATalha
03-31-2008, 10:01 PM
It is He (Allah) who sent down His Messenger (Muhammad (peace be upon him)) with the Guidance and the Deen of Truth (Islam), so that it may prevail (be dominant) over all other systems (ways of life which includes Capitalism, Communism etc.), even though the disbelievers hate it!”

(Surah As-Saff: 9)

May it continue, with or without us. Allah Hu Akbar.
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BlackMamba
03-31-2008, 10:02 PM
Well the vast majority of Muslims are Sunni, I think its 90%. So there are probably more Sunni Muslims than Catholics
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FatimaAsSideqah
03-31-2008, 10:06 PM
As Salaam Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu

Masha'Allah! Great news.
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FatimaAsSideqah
03-31-2008, 11:48 PM
I can do bit to add extra of news.

Muslims more numerous than Catholics

VATICAN CITY - Islam has surpassed Roman Catholicism as the world's largest religion, the Vatican newspaper said Sunday.

"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.

"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.

Formenti said that the data refer to 2006. The figures on Muslims were put together by Muslim countries and then provided to the United Nations, he said, adding that the Vatican could only vouch for its own data.

When considering all Christians and not just Catholics, Christians make up 33 percent of the world population, Formenti said.

Spokesmen for the Vatican and the United Nations did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment Sunday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080330/...atican_muslims
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Mikayeel
04-01-2008, 12:47 AM
As Salaam Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu

mashAllah! things like that make me proud to be part of it!
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mediadave
04-01-2008, 01:06 AM
Well, this is a bit like saying "Canada haas a bigger population than New York City!". Even the Sunni-Catholic comparison isn't ideal, since there are many Christians who share Catholic canon but who do not belong to Churches loyal to Rome.

Even so, I guess congratulations - Both Catholics and Muslims are growing, but Muslims are growing faster.

But just you wait till we get back the Orthodox Churches! And the Chinese official Church is working alongside the Catholic church now too, won't be long before it's reunited. Even the Church of England is in talks with the Vatican. Indeed, you will soon find that the Catholic Church is like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - ready to snap together into one all powerful Behemoth.

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Uthman
04-01-2008, 10:12 AM
Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism to become the world's largest single religious denomination, according to L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.

In an interview with the paper Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, compilier of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican yearbook, said "For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us." He said that figures for 2006 showed that Catholics accounted for 17.4 per cent of the world population while Muslims accounted for 19.2 per cent.

Asked for an explanation Monsignor Formenti observed 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". He said the figure for the Muslim global population was derived from data submitted to the United Nations by Muslim countries.

However Christians as a whole, including Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants and Anglicans make up 33 per cent of the world population. Mosnignor Formenti said Latin America remained "the stronghold" of Catholicism, and the American continent as a whole had nearly half the world's total. He noted the decline in numbers of Catholic priests, and said the number of nuns was also suffering a "drastic reduction".

The figures were released as both the Vatican and Muslim leaders sought to pursue a recently initiated Muslim-Catholic dialogue despite tensions over Pope Benedict XVI's high profile baptism at Easter of Magdi Allam, a converted Italian Muslim journalist of Egyptian origin. Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the opinions of Mr Allam, an outspoken critic of Islam as inherently violent and repressive, were not in any way "the official expression of the positions of the Pope or the Holy See".

The Vatican puts the number of Catholics in the world at 1.13 billion people, while the figure for Muslims is estimated at around 1.3 billion.

Rome has Europe's largest mosque, opened in 1995 and paid for by Muslim countries, mainly by Saudi Arabia, which at present bans Christian worship but is reported to be considering allowing the construction of a church on Saudi soil as part of negotiations for the establishment of diplomatic relations.

In a provocative short story entitled "The Last Christmas" (L'Ultimo Natale) the popular Italian writer Valerio Massimo Manfredi imagines a future in which Islam has become the dominant religion in Italy, with the Pope obliged to leave St Peter's and make way for an Imam.

Source
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Uthman
04-01-2008, 10:15 AM
Muslims outnumber Catholics, Vatican says
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'Abd al-Baari
04-01-2008, 10:21 AM
Assalamu Alaykum,

JazakAllah Khayr akhee :)
This has already been posted though

http://www.islamicboard.com/general/...ion-world.html
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aamirsaab
04-01-2008, 10:27 AM
:sl:
Thread merged.
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Uthman
04-01-2008, 10:28 AM
Didn't see it - sorry! :)
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Uthman
04-01-2008, 10:47 AM
Upon closer inspection, I posted this 22 hours ago. But due to technical problems and the like, took a while to get approved. Not that it matters.

Anyway, I think this sentence describes the situation most appropriately:

Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism to become the world's largest single religious denomination
The new thread title is perhaps slightly misleading.
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SATalha
04-01-2008, 11:59 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by mediadave
Well, this is a bit like saying "Canada haas a bigger population than New York City!". Even the Sunni-Catholic comparison isn't ideal, since there are many Christians who share Catholic canon but who do not belong to Churches loyal to Rome.

Even so, I guess congratulations - Both Catholics and Muslims are growing, but Muslims are growing faster.

But just you wait till we get back the Orthodox Churches! And the Chinese official Church is working alongside the Catholic church now too, won't be long before it's reunited. Even the Church of England is in talks with the Vatican. Indeed, you will soon find that the Catholic Church is like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - ready to snap together into one all powerful Behemoth.

Read about Church attendance

and again:

It is He (Allah) who sent down His Messenger (Muhammad (peace be upon him)) with the Guidance and the Deen of Truth (Islam), so that it may prevail (be dominant) over all other systems (ways of life which includes Capitalism, Communism etc.), even though the disbelievers hate it!”
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Heera Singh
04-01-2008, 12:43 PM
is quantity more important, or quality?

How many Christians actually practice christianity? How many Hindus actually practice Hinduism? How many Muslims actually practice Islam? How many Sikhs actually practice Sikhi?

at the end of the day, I believe, there aren't many TRUE followers of any faith...
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Keltoi
04-01-2008, 01:52 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Heera Singh
is quantity more important, or quality?

How many Christians actually practice christianity? How many Hindus actually practice Hinduism? How many Muslims actually practice Islam? How many Sikhs actually practice Sikhi?

at the end of the day, I believe, there aren't many TRUE followers of any faith...
True, I would be more proud of 20 true followers than 1 million who simply claim an identity.
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Heera Singh
04-01-2008, 04:10 PM
exactly... people just want some sort of identity to fit in somewhere.. so they say they are a 'follower' of a certain way of life or faith..
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SATalha
04-01-2008, 05:34 PM
Yes but at the end of the day this increase is showing that people generaly are more inclined towrads the Truth and Good. So no matter how much they are practising or not, the fact that they have made this move towards the truth, this is enough for me.
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mediadave
04-01-2008, 05:35 PM
Read about Church attendance
Well, I've read a lot about empty mosques on here...But Heera Singh has it right.
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Uthman
04-01-2008, 05:40 PM
I tend to agree with Heera Singh as well. :)

With regards to church attendance and 'empty mosques':

http://www.islamicboard.com/world-af...urchgoers.html
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islamirama
04-07-2008, 04:14 AM
Study: Muslims to Outnumber Catholics in Britian within 10 Years

Jeremy Reynalds
ASSIST News Service

LONDON (ANS) -- The increasing influence of Islam on British culture is disclosed in upcoming research.

Jonathan Petre in a story published in Britain's Telegraph newspaper reported that the study shows the number of Muslims worshiping at mosques in England and Wales will overtake the numbers of Roman Catholics going to church in just over a decade.

The Telegraph reported that the projections, to be published next month, estimate that if those trends continue, the number of Catholics attending Sunday Mass will fall to 679,000 by 2020.
By that time, statisticians predict, the number of Muslims praying in mosques on Fridays will have increased to 683,000.

Church spokesmen noted, the Telegraph reported, that an increasing number of Anglicans worship at other times of the week.

The Telegraph said that the figures, based on British government and academic sources and the latest edition of Christian Research's Religious Trends, come amid growing tensions over the place of Muslims in British society.

They follow heated debate over the extent to which Islamic law should be recognized, and claims that “no-go” areas for non-Muslims are emerging in parts of the country.

The Telegraph reported that Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, provoked criticism by saying the introduction of some aspects of sharia (Islamic law) into British society was “unavoidable.”

The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali, faced death threats after writing in The Sunday Telegraph that Islamic extremism was turning some communities into “no-go” areas, “where adherence to this ideology has become a mark of acceptability.”

Peter Brierley, a former Government statistician who edited the latest Religious Trends, said that the continuing growth of the Muslim population since the 2001 census would have significant implications for society.

A story by Cyril Dixon in Britain’s Daily Express newspaper said that the report’s findings are bound to cause additional concerns about the spread of Islam.

The Daily Express recently revealed controversial plans to let Islamic imams (ministers) teach the Koran nationwide in state schools across Britain.

The Express reported that the man who compiled the latest figures, Peter Brierley, a former government statistician, said the trends were bound to have “massive implications” for society.

Nicola Bourque, professor of religious studies at Glasgow University, told the Express, “Attendance at Catholic churches is declining. Many people are Catholic but don’t go to church.
These days, mosques act as a community center in a way that churches don’t.”

The National Union of Teachers – Britain’s biggest teaching union – is behind calls to teach the Koran.

The Express reported that Steve Sinnott, the general secretary, said it would “reunite” divided communities, and also demanded that Christian schools admit pupils from other faiths.

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/religiontoday/11571824/
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islamirama
04-07-2008, 04:15 AM
Priest burns himself to death over Islam

A retired priest committed suicide by setting himself on fire in a German monastery in protest at the spread of Islam and the Protestant Church’s inability to contain it.

Roland Weisselberg, 73, poured a can of petrol over his head and set light to himself in the grounds of the Augustine monastery in the eastern city of Erfurt, where Martin Luther spent six years as a monk at the beginning of the 16th century.


Witnesses said that Weisselberg climbed into a building site next to the monastery church, where a Reformation Day service was being held. He shouted “Jesus and Oskar” before the flames engulfed him. The latter name was an apparent reference to Oskar Brüsewitz, a priest who burnt himself in 1976 in protest against the Communist regime in East Germany. Monastery staff tried to put out the flames and Weisselberg was still conscious as a nun prayed with him before he was taken to hospital. He died a day later, on Wednesday.

Media reports said that he had tried to kill himself inside the church but changed his mind when he found the side door was locked.

The Provost of Erfurt, Elfriede Begrich, told reporters that Weisselberg’s widow had said that he killed himself because he was alarmed at the spread of Islam and the Church’s stance on the issue.

She described Weisselberg as an erudite man who had addressed repeatedly the Church’s position on Islam in meetings over the past three to four years. He had written to her, urging her to take the matter more seriously, she said.

The Protestant Bishop of Saxony, Axel Noack, said the suicide had shocked the community and that he hoped it would not hurt relations between Christians and Muslims.

“We in the East are still among ourselves when we discuss Islam,” said Bishop Noack, adding that there were not many Muslims in the area.

Relations with Muslims have been a matter of intense debate in Germany in recent months, stoked by the cancellation of a Mozart opera in Berlin amid fears that it could provoke Muslim violence, and a speech by the Pope in September in which he quoted from a medieval text linking the spread of the Islamic faith to violence.

The Berlin Deutsche Oper has said that it will stage the opera, which has a scene showing the severed heads of the Prophet Muhammad, Jesus and Buddha.
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snakelegs
04-07-2008, 06:03 AM
that's just bizarre! sounds like a plain ole nut case.
how does a priest have a widow? - i don't think they're allowed to marry.
i think i'll skip the opera. :D
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glo
04-07-2008, 06:34 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by snakelegs
that's just bizarre! sounds like a plain ole nut case.
how does a priest have a widow? - i don't think they're allowed to marry.
i think i'll skip the opera. :D
In the Protestant Church the clergy can marry ...
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snakelegs
04-08-2008, 02:13 AM
thanks glo. that's what you get for lazy reading. i saw priest and immediately thought catholic even though i know better. :-[
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glo
04-08-2008, 07:21 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by snakelegs
thanks glo. that's what you get for lazy reading. i saw priest and immediately thought catholic even though i know better. :-[
To be honest, I would associate the title 'priest' with the catholic church, and titles such as 'pastor' and 'minister' with the protestant church.

Perhaps it isn't quite as simple as that.
Or perhaps the article got it wrong ...
Who knows?
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mediadave
04-08-2008, 06:38 PM
To be honest, I would associate the title 'priest' with the catholic church, and titles such as 'pastor' and 'minister' with the protestant church.

Perhaps it isn't quite as simple as that.
Or perhaps the article got it wrong ...
Who knows?
Interesting, I would associate 'priest' with protestant and 'father' with Catholic. Actually, are non Catholic priests called fathers?
(And there are certain Catholic churches - eastern rite churches, etc - where the priests can marry. And married priests that defect from protestant churches to Catholicism are allowed to stay married.)

This guy, though his terror was clearly real, was clearly mentally disturbed and its a pity it wasn't caught up on before he did this. Sad.
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