Vatican: Islam Has "Overtaken" Catholicism

With Population Increases, Muslims Now Surpass Roman Catholics As World's Largest Faith

(AP)  "For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us," Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Formenti compiles the Vatican's yearbook.

He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population - a stable percentage - while Muslims were at 19.2 percent.

"It is true that while Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer," the monsignor said.

Formenti said that the data refer to 2006. The figures on Muslims were put together by Muslim countries and then provided to the United Nations, he said, adding that the Vatican could only vouch for its own data.

When considering all Christians and not just Catholics, Christians make up 33 percent of the world population, Formenti said.

Spokesmen for the Vatican and the United Nations did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment Sunday.

[honestabe8]

not in discussions of science, it doesn''t

[tbweb]

sorry, logic is what rules in my view, not millenia old fairy tales from desert dwellers transled by clerics.

Posted by honestabe8 at 03:23 PM : Apr 02, 2008,,,

I know exactly what you mean, I am very logical and very technical, but religion is not logical and to be purely 100% logical in every instance is not good, humans must express their entire self of which emotion has a role too.

[honestabe8]

sorry, logic is what rules in my view, not millenia old fairy tales from desert dwellers transled by clerics.

[tbweb]

so, basically, you don''''t know.

Posted by honestabe8 at 03:16 PM : Apr 02, 2008,,,

You and newsterl make the same mistake, you base your willingness to believe and accept God on imperfect humans, using imperfect humans as an excuse. Humans are not God, you must establish your own personal relationship with God, don''t base your belief or non-belief on the imperfections of humans. Establish a personal relationship with God of your own and then decide.

[tbweb]

if somethings need to be believed to be seen, the belief is what rules, not the logic.

Posted by honestabe8 at 03:06 PM : Apr 02, 2008,,,

There is nothing logical about emotions and nothing emotional about logic. Logic has its place but not every place.

[honestabe8]

so, basically, you don''t know.

[tbweb]

How does one make the connection from "something created us" to "jesus died for your sins"?

Posted by honestabe8 at 03:02 PM : Apr 02, 2008,,,

The spiritual domain should be learned in by a step by step method. Understanding Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God and God''s word is not hard, but its just hard enough that jumping in at the middle or taking in unrelated pieces can leave new people confused. A bad spiritual mentor is just as bad. If I were to recommend a way to learn the Bible from beginning to end it would be to obtain a daily work text book which allows you to read a page a day, with each page being labeled with a month and day of the year, the idea being you will have read and understood the entire Bible in a year, or if money is no option purchase an audio version of the Bible and listen to it while you sleep at the lowest volume setting. All your questions including the ones you presented above will be answered.

[honestabe8]

if somethings need to be believed to be seen, the belief is what rules, not the logic.

[honestabe8]

How does one make the connection from "something created us" to "jesus died for your sins"?

[tbweb]

oh, so YOU have special knowledge....

Posted by honestabe8 at 02:19 PM : Apr 02, 2008,,,

Yes of course, knowledge of and faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, God and God''s word. That''s all the special knowledge one needs, there is no need to complicate it. Some things have to be believed to be seen.

[honestabe8]

oh, so YOU have special knowledge....

[tbweb]

what do you know of other creation stories? don''t be so quick to dismiss other''s stories. tell me, how does the idea of a creator support one religious argument versus another?

Posted by honestabe8 at 02:05 PM : Apr 02, 2008,,,

God has given each of us special gifts. Many have been given spiritual gifts greater than others, the Bible Prophets had such gifts. The ability to see the unseen and know the unknown and thus the expression as a result, it is written. Special gifts also include spiritual instincts, in other words, one just knows!

"For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ"

(2 Peter 1:8)

[honestabe8]

what do you know of other creation stories? don''t be so quick to dismiss other''s stories. tell me, how does the idea of a creator support one religious argument versus another?

[tbweb]

Posted by honestabe8 at 01:59 PM : Apr 02, 2008,,,

The most compelling argument of a creator is that something was created from nothing. The other creation argument is something being created from something. Right or wrong? Science can explain something created from nothing? I don''t think so!

[honestabe8]

the one indicated in the bible is only one of many stories about creation. i don''t see how one is any more or less valid than another. and, the idea of a creator does not indicate any religion

[honestabe8]

newster: no, man, it''s not magic reindeer, it''s MAGIC DUST....a little bit for santa, a little bit for the reindeer, a little bit more for santa, a little bit more for santa...

[tbweb]

Posted by honestabe8 at 01:02 PM : Apr 02, 2008,,,

Are there competing creators to the one indicated in the Bible?

[tbweb]

Posted by newsterl at 01:29 PM : Apr 02, 2008,,,

Your Post continue to show that you get lost in the forest and can''t see the trees!

[newsterl]

"in practical terms when you look at the Sun, Moon and Planets including the Earth its awesome to behold. The Earth is spinning in space supported by nothing! The Earths oceans, mountains, air, people, animals are all spinning with the Earth and we dont even notice or feel the spin, nothing falls off!"

All easily explained- ALL celestial bodies have mass, and the mass all has gravity- even mars, you dont notice the spin because of the scale of size- we are like atoms on a merry-go-round by scale comparison, you don''t notice the spin too because it doesnt vary like a car trip and unlike seeing the scenery outside the car window- you have NO frame of immediate reference the earth is moving.


"The Sun rises in the day and the Moon rises in the evening, never fails, like clockwork! All this is some freak of nature, or freak of the universe?"

They dont rise or fall, it is the spin of the earth that causes the illusion of that- which you can get with any sphere which can only be illuminated on one half at a time.
The earth spins because out in the cold and airless space there is NO gravity and no air to cause friction, so an object set in motion will continue that unless deflected by another object.

[newsterl]

life after death seems like a carrot or a stick to entice good behavior or punish bad behavior.

Posted by honestabe8 "

Its the Santa Claus syndrome, I swear the two stories are so similar they have to be one from the other- Santa rewards you for being ''good'', punishes you for being ''bad'' he can create enough toys in one year for every kid on the planet, and visit every house in one night with a sleigh that holds all this stuff.

He has magic reindeer that FLY in the sky, he can get into your house even if your doors and chimney are locked tight, he doesnt set off burglar alarms, cant be photographed or caught on web cams by the tree- but mom and dad CAN because on cam and the lie to the kids is OVER when they realize ''Santa'' was really mom/dad all along and that they were LIED to for years.

Every bit of that fakery mirrors the religious reich teachings almsot exactly, only the specifics of the story changed- gezus feeding thousands with TWO loaves of bread= gifts for every child in one night, walking on water= flying with reindeer, parting the red sea and so on.