Europe and the U.S. today have similarly low TFR (total fertility rate), about 1.7 births in the average woman's life.
Historian Philip Jenkins has linked this global phenomenon to another, namely the decline of institutional religion and a "tectonic shift in public morality." Secularization and low birth rates go together. For Western societies, that means religious expression will keep declining.
But, "The population of sub-Saharan Africa is expected to treble in size to more than three billion people by 2100." With a TFR well above replacement rate, they will keep growing in population numbers. And, surveys of these countries show religious participation is important to about 95% of the people.
Jenkins is confident that: "As the century proceeds, Christianity will become ever more markedly a religion of Africa . .", one-third of all the Christians in the world.
(cont'd tomorrow)
No comments:
Post a Comment