Christianity

As of 2004, Christianity is the world's most widely practiced religion, with 2 billion adherents (followed by Islam with 1.3 billion, Hinduism with 841 million, and the nonreligious with 774 million). Christianity has many branches, including 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, 367 million Protestants in a number of traditions, 216 million Orthodox, 84 million Anglicans, 414 million Independents (unaffiliated with the major streams of Christianity), and 31.7 million "marginal" groups (Jehovah's Witnesses, Latter Day Saints (Mormons), etc.), these last being denominations which describe themselves as Christian but are not standardly recognized as such by other denominations.

Although Christianity is the largest religion in the world and there are massive missionary efforts under way, as a whole it is declining in terms of the overall population. While the population of the world grows at roughly 1.25% per year, Christianity is growing at about 1.12% per year. By contrast, Islam is growing at 1.76% per year. The slow growth can be attributed to most of the Christian population residing in affluent nations where the birth rate is quite low. By contrast, Islamic nations have a higher birth rate and by effect have a larger growth percentage.

For more, see:

• Christianity: Denominations
• Christian eschatology
• John 3:16
• The essence of Christianity

Facts, figures, demographics and trends in Christianity

• WORLD RELIGION RESOURCES
• Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents

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External links

Extracts from the article "Christianity" from wikipedia