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by danielh123 on March 24th, 2011

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What religion is growing the fastest?

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Answers. 11 helpful answers below.

  • by The Anonymous Witch on March 24th, 2011

    The Anonymous Witch

    in terms of percentage , Wicca is the fastest growing religion in the world right now

    -------Polling data from the 2008 ARIS study:-------
    This study was essentially a repeat of the 2001 poll. It involved 54,461 respondents.

    Between 1990 and 2008, an interval of 18 years, some of the more notable changes were.

    The percentage of American adults identify themselves with a specific religion dropped from 89.5% to 79.9%:
    Americans who identify themselves as Christian dropped from 86.2 to 76.0 -- a loss of 10.2 percentage points in 18 years -- about 0.6 percentage points per year. A similar decline was observed in Canada.

    Americans identifying themselves as Protestant dropped from 60.0 to 50.9%.

    Catholics declined from 26.2% to 25.1%

    The Catholic population in the Northeast fell: From 1900 to 2008, it went from 50% in New England to 36%, and from 44% to 37% in New York state. Apparently to immigration, it rose during the same interval from 29% to 37% in California, and 23% to 32% in Texas.

    Religious Jews declined from1.8% to 1.2%.

    Muslims increased from 0.3 to 0.6%.

    *The fastest growing religion (in terms of percentage) is WICCA -- a Neopagan religion that is sometimes referred to as Witchcraft.
    From 1990 to 2001: Numbers of adherents went from 8,000 to 134,000. Their numbers of adherents doubled about every 30 months. Wiccans in Australia have a very similar growth pattern, from fewer than 2,000 in 1996 to 9,000 in 2001.
    In Canada, Wiccans and other Neopagans showed the greatest percentage growth of any faith group. They totaled 21,080 members in 1991, an increase of 281% from 1990.

    From 2001 to 2008: The ARIS website does not appear to have released any specific numbers. They give numbers only for New Religious Movement ; Other Religions" -- a classification that includes Scientology, New Age, Eckankar, Spiritualist, Unitarian-Universalist, Deist, Wiccan, Pagan, Druid, Indian Religion, Santeria, and Rastafarian. However they state that: "Adherents of New Religious movements, including Wiccans and self-described pagans, have grown faster this decade than in the 1990s."
    It is curious that they use the term "self-described" to refer to pagans, while they report Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc. without the qualifier.

    However, ReligionLink does have data available. They state:
    "Specifically, the number of Wiccans more than doubled from 2001 to 2008, from 134,000 to 342,000, and the same held true for neo-pagans, who went from 140,000 in 2001 to 340,000 in 2008."
    "Experts say the growth reflects not only increasing numbers of neo-pagans, but also a rise in the social acceptability of paganism. As a result, more respondents would be willing to identify themselves as followers of some pagan tradition.



    15.0% (14.1%) do not follow any organized religion. There are more Americans who say they are not affiliated with any organized religion than there are Episcopalians, Methodists, and Lutherans combined.

    by these numbers it would seem wicca and other earth based pagan and neopagan beliefs and practices will be left in the end .
    remember the non religious witches , the druids , shawman, etc.... were not counted which would make the total number greatly higher . ;-)

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  • by hedge-rider on March 24th, 2011
    voted: christians

    hedge-rider

    In terms of the choices given in the poll, I chose "christians" because the other three are branches in that category.

    However, in terms of all religions, not just those listed, Anon. Witch's answer has the most back-up from national religious studies in the United States.

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  • by Stormarm on March 25th, 2011
    voted: Prostistant

    Stormarm

    Given your choices - and assuming (1) you meant PROTESTANT since there's no such thing as "Prostistant", and (2) you want the one with the fastest growth rate - Protestantism is growing faster than Christianity in general, both in terms of the growth rate by net births (i.e. births - deaths) and by net conversion rate.

    In terms of all major religions (over 14 Million followers/members), Christianity wins hands down in all but one category: Total size, total growth, total growth rate, net births, net conversions, and net conversion rate.

    In terms of net birth rate, however, Animists, Muslims, Ethnoreligionists, Hindus, Sikhs, and Jews all have a higher NetBirthRate than Christians (all sects) and even higher than the fast breeding branches of Christianity: evangelicals and Pentecostals.

    Looking at the smaller religions (under 14 million), Zoroastrians have the highest total growth rate (2.28% per year), followed by Baha'is (2.01%). In terms of net conversion rate both rank #2 (0.51%) and #3 (0.37%), with Spiritism ranking #1 (0.66%). Christianity is then #4 at 0.13%.

    But within Christianity, (Protestant) non-denominational Christians have a net conversion rate of 1.02% and total growth of 2.18% per year (or about 8.4 Million people per year), followed by crypto-Christians (those in underground churches in Communist states, or secret converts from Islam in Islamic states) with a conversion rate of 0.57% and total growth rate of 1.71% or about 2.1 Million people per year, followed by self-identified evangelicals and then Pentecostals. (There is, however, a great deal of overlap between all 4 categories, and many non-denom, evangelical, and Pentecostal "converts" came from other branches of Christianity, most of them Catholic or the liberal mainline Protestant denominations.

    Note: this information is based on an extensive, 20 year global study (1980-2000) that is now 10 years out of date. The evangelical boom in the US, Canada, and Australia that happened in those decades has probably lost some momentum since 2000, though it continues to be quite vital in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

    Though I have no data on it, I have observed a significant upswing in conversions from Protestantism - especially conservative Protestantism - to Catholicism or Orthodoxy in these last 10 years ... and it's most prominent among Protestant clergy and academics. It also includes many who were raised Catholic, left Catholicism for evangelical Protestantism, and then returned to the Catholic Church in earnest after many years.

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  • by krystall21 on March 25th, 2011

    krystall21

    dows every one forget about the Satanists?!?! WTF!!!

    HAIL SATAN!!!

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  • by Marky Mark on March 24th, 2011

    Marky Mark

    Justinbieberism.



    ========================================================================
    There are several different religions claiming to be the "fastest growing religion". Such claims vary because of different definitions of "fastest growing", and whether the claim is worldwide or regional. There are also many unreliable claims and rumours, especially for conversion rates, that often spread as urban legends.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claims_to_be_the_fastest-growing_religion
    ========================================================================

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  • by vew573 on March 24th, 2011
    voted: christians

    vew573

    Per ABC News. Feb.17 ,2011...The penticostal relgions are up 1,500.000 members. However, Jehovah's Witnesses has had a 4% increase, the largest increase of any group.


    Source. America's Religious Marketplace ABC News Video.

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  • by Vintage... on March 24th, 2011

    Vintage...

    Could be Islam, by birth rate alone.

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  • by BLUE LOTUS 935618 on March 25th, 2011

    BLUE LOTUS 935618

    spaghettie monster??

    jk.

    spirituality is the fastest growing religion...
    based on what i call my wish.
    please let it be spirituality...

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  • by lizzie4MM. on March 24th, 2011
    voted: christians

    lizzie4MM.

    i think it depends on the country.
    in america i would say christianity.
    its the only one that gets put in my face.

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  • by laie_techie on March 24th, 2011

    laie_techie

    Your options make no sense. Seventh Day Adventists, Catholics, and Protestants are Christians. In fact, I believe that SDAs are often classified as Protestants.

    Are you measuring growth in terms of raw numbers or by percentage?

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  • by Ombliss22 on March 24th, 2011

    Ombliss22

    The one i invented yesterday is growing an infinity percent per day so far. So must be the fastest growing one.

    In other words you need to define a time frame or all of them can legitimately claim to be the fastest growing.

    People who count atheism as a religion should say that because of all the chinese outbreeding the theistic.

    and your poll is skewed as there is only a choice of christian.

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