Source: Religion News Service
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, May 15, 2002: Excerpts from a report by William bole of Religion News Service: “One of the often-heard comments since Sept. 11 is that Islam is growing so rapidly it will soon become the world’s largest religion, overtaking Christianity in just a couple of decades. Many of these projections are traceable to the work of Harvard University scholar Samuel P. Huntington, who has put forward the idea of a ‘clash of civilizations.’ But a new book about Christianity in the Third World says Huntington and others are missing the global demographic picture. Islam is indeed expanding as Christianity loses its force in the Western world, particularly Europe, says historian and religious studies scholar Philip Jenkins, author of ‘The Next Christendom.’ But the numbers of Christians are exploding in the southern hemisphere, he reports. In his book, newly published by Oxford University Press, Jenkins argues that the post-Sept. 11 commentaries have overlooked the dramatic upsurge of Christianity in places like Africa. ‘Basically, you’re talking about Africa being 9 percent Christian back in 1900, and close on 50 percent today. That’s a huge change,’ Jenkins said in a telephone interview from his home in State College, Penn., where he teaches at Penn State University. ‘Somewhere in the 1960s, the number of Christians in Africa outpaced the number of Muslims in Africa. A great, historic change — and nobody paid attention to it.’ As of 2000, there were approximately 2 billion Christians and 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide, according to the World Christian Encyclopedia, which Jenkins draws upon extensively in his book. While disputing Huntington’s prediction of a reversal of numerical fortunes, Jenkins does think Christians and Muslims are heading toward a clash that could become cataclysmic. But he sees Islam as facing off in the future not primarily with Western Christianity, but with Christian countries in the developing world. In a worst-case scenario, he pictures Christian and Islamic countries of the southern hemisphere locked in religious conflicts reminiscent of the Middle Ages. ‘Imagine the world of the 13th century armed with nuclear warheads and anthrax,’ Jenkins writes.”