A More Religious World [View all]

[cbayer]

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/09/09/a_more_religious_world_115382.html

By David Ignatius - September 9, 2012


WASHINGTON -- God had a good convention: The Almighty's name was mentioned (albeit at the last minute) in the Democratic platform. And He was invoked no less than 12 times in the Republican platform, in case He is keeping score.

But the real news is that God is having a strong millennium, according to some fascinating recent poll results gathered by the Pew Research Center. The data show that even as the developing world is getting more modern, it is also getting more religious, with especially sharp gains for both Christians and Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Pew studies are reassuring in that they indicate that the rise in Muslim and Christian belief in Africa is accompanied by a surprising degree of tolerance for others and support for democracy. They also show a deep fundamentalism, with Christian support for biblical law about equal to Muslim support for Shariah.

The big change in this picture of a devout world is the role of Europe. According to a December 2011 Pew study of "Global Christianity," faith in Jesus is no longer a Euro-centric phenomenon. In 1910, 66.3 percent of the world's Christians lived in Europe; by 2010, that had fallen to only 25.9 percent.

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