SOOOOOO It's summer and the job search continues, even though it could be argued that I have one. With the economy being in such a silly place people are either hiring like mad or they won't hire anyone. That isn't what I wanted to talk about today though.
A few Sundays back the pastor at the church my parents attend gave a few interesting stats on population growth and culture spread. Essentially what he was trying to point out is that in roughly 40 years Europe will be a Muslim continent. This is due to the fact that the ratio between Muslim and non Muslim children born, is 8 to 1.
The pastor wasn't trying to scare the congregation with these stats. He was merely trying to point out that this world will be very different in the next little while and our children with have to live in that world etc...
The way that he described it was specifically in terms of a loss of western culture in our country and Europe. Again it wasn't intended to strike fear but by the reactions of many in the congregation would be what I consider to be fearful ones. This made me think: Is the loss of western culture such a bad thing? I will admit that the portrayal of history in Europe may change which I think is sad that they may loose their heritage but that happens for example: any of the great conqueror races of the past.
Really, do we want to be holding onto this terribly materialistic and anti religious society? Most Muslims are more accepting of Christians than most westerners are. I am talking about the non-extremist ones; most of them share values that are similar to a Christian style of value system. The Muslim culture is suffering the same problem that the Christian culture is, many are in name only. In Turkey the giant mosques that used to be full all the time are nearly empty.
I do not think this spread of culture is necessarily a bad thing. It may in fact open even more avenues for the Christian message to be spread.
Anyways that was just something I have been pondering over a week or two. Here is a link to the stats I was talking about.
Muslim Demographics
I guess instead of saying have a good day it will soon be safety and peace be with you.
Correction of mistakes
1 hour ago
2 comments:
Andrew I haven't talked to you in a while, its good to see you blog every now and then.
I have often wondered about this too, the whole shifting demographics and all. You bring up an interesting point regarding the increase of Muslims. It is true that many Muslims regard Christians as people of the book. I do fear if they will be as friendly towards our more secular friends. Perhaps by that time atheism, agnosticism, and religious indifference will be a thing of the past, but if it isn't I wonder if there is reason to fear.
I also wonder if this increase of Muslim population will create a major shift on issues pertaining to religios freedom and the seperation of church and state. I know a lot places in Europe have no such thing as seperation between church and state but I still am curious to know if the increase of Muslims will lead to a higher chance of something like the implementation of Sharia Law in our countries. That is something I fear.
What I also wonder is if radical Islam in the Middle East will modernize or undergo a sort of reformation in which many of the conflicting issues today will disappear.
You may be interested to read a book called "The Next Christendom" by Philip Jenksins which talks of the growth of Christianity in places like China, South Korea, part of South America, and parts of Africa. Of interest to you would be the parts discussing the growth of Christianity in densely populated Muslim regions in Africa.
Thanks for the book recommendation mark! I'll have to check it out.
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