19 Jan '06 05:00>1 edit
Originally posted by whodeyIt's not so clear that this is the case.
Why have the other religions faded into obscurity? Good question. I would agree with the exception of Islam. Lets consider the major religions of the world. We have Judism, Christianity, Islam, and far Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Budahism. The list of major world religions seems to be shrinking steadily from where it used to be. In fact, the ...[text shortened]... likes to be told there wrong. Why would I subject myself to such critism if there were no God?
Checking out these numbers collected by religioustolerance.org, we find that Christianity indeed is the largest religion by a significant margin. I would contend this has almost everything to do with the military imperialism of Western Europe and later the US. That's not exactly a noble way for the One True God to spread his message.
More glaring however are some interesting facts that undermine your claims.
1) Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world (Fourth, if you count 'Non-religion/Atheism). Judism in comparison is miniscule (.2% ). Clearly, Jews comprise such a small fraction of the world's population that any reference to them as part of the "Big Three" is grossly inaccurate. The misnomer arises from your religious bias rather than empirical fact. The true "Big Three" are Christianity, Islam, and Non-religious/Atheist with Hinduism coming in a close fourth.
2) The growth rate of Christianity is not outpacing population growth (i.e. its fraction of the world population is decreasing). The growth rates of Hinduism and Buddhism on the other hand are roughly stable in this regard. Islam is actually growing at an increasing rate. If we took the essence of your argument as sound, it would tell us that after about 600 years of Christian darkness Islam is finally rising to proclaim the truth. Neither you nor I believe that for one second though.
Also this stuck out like a sore thumb.
Why choose to believe the stories of the Bible instead of just taking the text to be a good moral code? It is because of one simple reason. There is a God.
So we know that God is real because the Bible says so, and we know that the Bible should be regarded as accurate because God is real . . .
Can you see why I would be uncomfortable basing my faith on such an obvious circular position?