Record
W E S T E R N A U S T R A L I A’ S A WA R D - W I N N I N G C AT H O L I C N E W S P A P E R S I N C E 1 8 7 4
the
We d n e s d a y, 4 J a n u a r y 2 0 1 2
the
Parish.
the
N at i o n .
the
World.
$2.00
therecord.com.au
2011
THE YEAR THAT WAS The last 12 months saw everything from Archbishop Barry Hickey’s announcement that he had submitted his resignation to a million youth gathered in Spain for World Youth Day ... Pages 6-17
Little big stars Children delighted Rockingham parishioners with their performances in the lead up to Christmas - Page 5
Christianity the global biggest, but growth is slow By Sarah Motherwell CHRISTIANITY enters 2012 with stagnant growth despite having the largest number of followers worldwide, according to a study released in the US last month. While the number of Christians has tripled in the last 100 years, the proportion of Christians in the global population (est 6.9 billion) stands at a third; the same as it did a century ago. The findings are contained in a report by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre, drawing on around 2,400 sources.
Christians are so geographically widespread, the report said, no one place can claim to be the global centre of Christianity, with Christians spanning 200 countries. Australia’s Christian population mirrored the global trend of lacklustre growth despite nearly 70 per cent ascribing their religious affiliation to a Christian denomination in the 2006 census. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Christian denominations showed smaller proportional growth in numbers compared with non-Christian religions and people with no religious
affiliation in the years 1996 to 2001. Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism showed the largest growth while just over a quarter of people stated they had no religion or did not answer the question adequately. The number of practising Christians in Australia remains relatively small. The 2003 National Church Life Survey of Wellbeing and Security found only 19 per cent of Australians ‘frequently attended’ church (at least once a month). Churchgoers are on average older than the general population and more likely to be born overseas.
There are 1.1 billion Catholics worldwide. The remaining Christian population is broken up between 37 per cent Protestants, 12 per cent Orthodox Christians and 1 per cent for other Christians such as Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Catholic population superpower Brazil, which has the largest Catholic population in the world (est 134 million), is suffering from similar problems. A study published by the Brazilian-based Getulio Vargas Foundation found that secularism has gained a foothold among
Brazilian youths. Commentators have suggested the decline in Brazil is a result of the country’s booming economy and youths’ disagreement with Church positions on issues often to do with sex and gender. Christianity remains, however, the largest religious grouping worldwide. Islam has the second-largest number of adherents with a little less than a quarter of the world’s population. In spite of Christianity’s origins, the Middle East has the lowest number of Christians of any major geographic region.