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WHICH·RELIGION
·
Will Ultimately
Convert theWorld?
The world at present is deeply divided between Christendom, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and
myriads of smaller religions. Yet the whole world will be converted ultimately to
one
religion. Do
you know which one it will be? You may be surprised!
I
SN'T IT STRANGE? No religion has
been successful in converting even
a ma]ority of humanity?
If
there is
any religion that is better than all the
others, one might wonder why the
majority in the wor ld do not belong
to it.
lndeed, why don't all the people
belong to it?
As it is, out of more than fo)lr
billion people on earth, more than
three billion are non-Christians.
Slightly more than
3Y2
billion are
non-Hindus. Almost that many are
non-Moslems.
That's a lot of nonbelievers!
It isn' t that no one has tried.
Throughout history zealots, mission–
aries, prophets, teachers- vast ar–
mies of them- have set out to con–
vert those who believed differently
from them. Beliefs have evolved.
They have been modified, compro–
mised, reformed, united, split-but
above al!, they have been propagated.
Conversions are deemed essential, if
for no other reason than to assure the
survival of religion.
Peaceful and voluntary conver–
sions have, in general, been pre–
ferred. But various religions have
been known to resort to warfare to
obtain converts or, at least, to wipe
out the infidel who wasn' t able to
"see the light."
There is no way to estímate the
amount of blood that has been shed
April 1980
by
Clayton Steep
in the name of religion. From the
time Cain murdered Abel, through
al! the "holy wars" and the Crusades
and the lnquisition up to our present
day, religious differences have re–
sulted in killing and maiming.
Religion against religion. And,
incredibly, religion against itself.
Prominent on television screens have
been the scenes of Moslem slaying
Moslem in Iran. For the past
1O
years the world has witnessed the
spectacle of professing Christians in
Northern lre la nd spilling each
other's blood. Two thousand dead so
far.
When a ll is said and done, as far as
converting the whole world is con–
cerned, it is clear that neither the
violent nor the nonviolent methods
have worked. From the point of view
of any of man's religions, the majori–
ty of the world is still unconverted.
The World's Largest
.. .
T he professing Christian religion with
its one billion adherents is the world's
largest. But healthwise, it is not well
enough to convince all the outsiders
that it is what itclaims to be- the light
and hopeofhumanity.
Pollster George Gallup Jr. recent–
ly compiled an extensive study on
religious trends. His findings suggest
that in Western Europe "Christian–
ity may be in serious trouble. Sharp
downtrends recorded in terms of
belief in God and belief in an after–
life."
In November, 1979, figures pre–
sented to the Church of England's
general synod showed that member–
ship of its electoral rolls had dipped
by nearly 12 percent in the past five
years.
Commenting on sizable gains for
Christianity in Third World coun–
tries, a survey put together by the
Center for the Study of World Evan–
gelization indicated that there will
also be unprecedented defections
from Christianity. T hat amounts toa
standstill at best.
Americans, Mr. Gallup's story
reported, appear quite religious on
the surface-92 percent believe in
God; 89 percent pray; 78 percent are
religiously affiliated; but only 41
percent attend services on a typical
weekend.
Many Americans, statistician Gal–
lup observes, "belong toa category of
'not-quite-Christians' who believe,
but without strong convictions; who
want the rewards of faith without
obligations; who say they a re Chris–
tians or J ews, but tend to keep the
news to themselves."
lndications are "that many parents
and children alike are spiritual illiter–
ates," giving only vague answers when
questioned about the central tenets of
their faith. While 98 percent of Ameri–
can homes have at least one Bible, few
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