The issue of Muslim demographics is controversial and emotive to say the least. Millions of Christians have viewed the infamous video about Muslim demographics, currently listed on Youtube under the heading “Islam Will Take Over the World in Fifty Years.” This video purports to give viewers a true picture of Muslim population growth and projections. But it fails miserably in both.
While the video doesn’t explicitly say Islam is taking over the world, it does say Islam will be the world’s “dominant religion” in 5-7 years. But it makes other startling claims about Muslim population growth that jointly point to something like a Muslim tide threatening to destroy Western civilization. And the video makes all its claims in a sinister tone suggesting that a conspiracy of the worst order is afoot. Sadly, the video’s concluding call for world evangelization reveals it to be a Christian production. And it makes all its projections incognito, which only underscores the hideous nature of its propaganda.
We can thank the BBC for putting out the video “Muslim Demographics: The Truth” to correct the Christian video’s numerous distortions. Beyond its hideous fearmongering tone, it is to be sharply criticized for its abuse of both quotations and demographic data. What could be worse than putting together a package of exaggerations and misquotations, all in the name of truth, as the BBC has shown this video does? The BBC’s response concludes with this vital caution:
Due to the challenging nature of population projection, reasonable predictions can only be made if we “find the most accurate data available and then treat that data with very great care.”
The Christian video, alas, begins with inaccurate data, which it then treats cavalierly.
Another BBC production, “Islam: The World’s Fastest Growing Religion,” presents other facts and projections on Muslim demographics. UN figures demonstrate that Islam is now the world’s fastest growing religion, due to its younger population and higher birth rates. According to the PEW Forum, Islam will be the world’s largest religion by the year 2070 if current trends continue. More immediately, Muslims and Christians are together projected to make up over 60% of the world’s population by 2050, just 32 years from now. That should inspire us to think well about the kind of world we Christians and Muslims want to share.
If we aim to live by the Golden Rule, we’ll take care to represent the other side both fairly and accurately.
Some will undoubtedly fault the BBC for presenting only the positive side of Muslim demographics and never looking beyond. I admit there’s justification for their complaint. But that must be the topic of another post.
Hi Mark, it is rare to see someone hoping to listen, research, and promote actual dialogue. Most want to build their reputation and say things without much patience for learning. Kudos to you!!!
It’s funny how you guys talk about Islam without one Muslim in your mix to defend Islam. There is no Muslim that wants to implement sharia law in Britain or the United States. In the Quran it clearly says you have to follow the law of the land. There is no book called sharia law. We believe we could be good Muslims and follow the law of the land it doesn’t matter if it’s a non Muslim country. I grew up in the United States I have never broken the law. I have served in the US military I am practicing Muslim. No one has the right to close down mosques just as same as no one has the right to close down a church. 1.6 billion Muslims in world not even 1 % make up these radicals. Go educate yourself before you call all Muslims terrorists and killers. Christians give us the crausades and many other wars but you don’t hear Muslims saying all Christians are bad people. We have common sense we educate ourselves before speaking.
I’m not sure why you think I call all Muslims terrorists, Yunus. I don’t believe that for one moment, and my article isn’t saying that at all. Please read it again. I have no problem believing that you can be a good Muslim and a loyal American. You seem to think I’m attacking Muslims. In fact, that’s the last thing I want to do. And I find the Christians who do that extremely disturbing.
Dear Mark Anderson,
I almost forgot to thank you for this brilliant effort that you have undertaken. Unfortunately, most of the people will dislike this angelic effort that you have undertaken, but my prayers & wishes are always with you. And so are the prayers & wishes of those select few, who truly understand the worth of your sincere efforts in today’s deceptive world.
May God Bless You.
My sweet western brethren, tell me, why is it that when a Muslim kills, western Christians say – Islam is a religion of hate. But when a Christian kills, western Christians say – Just another crazy guy… And interestingly, when a Zionist or a Jew kills, then everyone is quiet because they don’t want to be labeled as ANTISEMITIC…!
Israel has broken every international law, fearlessly murdered (genocide), displaced MILLIONS of Innocent Palestinians; it still continues today, but all that west says is, “Israel has the right to protect itself”, but the moment a Palestinian throws a stone in order to resist the illegal Israeli occupation & Israeli brutalities, it becomes breaking news which portrays Palestinians as barbaric terrorists.
I appreciate your frustration that I haven’t addressed the topic of the treatment of women in Muslim countries and your frustration with religion in general. I hope to address some of your concerns in another article soon.
Centuries! What about the present? Any religion that demeans women is a religion that the world can do without. How could you argue against this? For too long it has been accepted to abuse women and demean them because men believe they are superior. Equality is the only religion the world needs. Freedom and acceptance can only be taught through love, not Islam.
How many churches are there and Christian councils in Muslim countries??
It varies greatly from one Muslim country to the next, Danny. Some have many churches, but most do not. And most of the churches that do exist in Muslim countries are under fire from Muslim extremists or from governments afraid of displeasing Muslim extremists. It would be wonderful if Muslim countries had true freedom of religion.
What you might be forgetting is Europeans, for centuries have been invading kingdoms, slaughtering people and forcing the inhabitants to convert. And not to forget the British simply draining the Indian economy for more than 400 years. Mr. Mark Anderson, please put out more articles clarifying these conspiracy theories that are brought up in order to spread hatred amongst people of different faiths. We trust journalists to bring the truth to us, but most of what we get is utter nonsense.
I am genuinely surprised that the fact(s) of medieval proselytization and massacres are conveniently forgotten when discussing about what the cult of Mahomet has done to the East. Fortunately the West was relatively isolated and thence had ‘Renaissance’ and the Galileos and the separation of church and state affairs. I am from India, and my motherland was hewn to pieces after hundreds of years of mindless massacres, forced conversions and ‘Qatl-e-aams’ (pogrom of the Hindu commoner, who had nothing to do with the invading empire or the invaded kingdom) of biblical proportions by the champions of Islam. And yet I want to believe the Muslims will see reason someday and be accepting and accommodating of other faiths… But given their fundamental beliefs, I doubt if humility and reason and science and liberty will have any fighting chance.
Part of our challenge in the West today is that we have little first-hand experience of Islam. Our secularists are determined to make us entirely ignore Islam’s coercive aspect. They criticize Christianity freely, but allow only praise of Islam. Besides being unfair, this is unhelpful. But lots of Westerners don’t see the problem. If you read my article on “Jihad in the Qur’an,” you’ll see that I’m trying methodically to counter secularism’s mindlessness here. However, what I’m specifically responding to in the article above is a blatant Christian attempt at fearmongering by playing loose with demographics. I’m all for rationally discussing what happened in history and what could the future could realistically bring. But I see no value in either name-calling or fearmongering. The reality is that, while Islam is likely to be the world’s fastest growing religion for the foreseeable future, it’s still a long way from “taking over the world.” Given that reality, I want to ask, How should we live in the light of this? What’s the way forward from here?
Hi Mark
I always appreciate your take on Muslim issues. It is getting so hard in our times to sort through all the cacophony, to know what’s propaganda and what’s true.
Thanks for the encouragement, Lesley!
Mark, what Helen says is true but liberals think not about facts but emotion. Many Muslims favor Sharia Law–this is not even in debate… The point is, when a country reaches 10% Muslim population, funny things start to happen. They implement Sharia Courts but call them Sharia Counsel. There are 85 of them in UK. They do not wish to become part of the new country they inhabit. They wish to form enclaves where they can speak there language only and do everything they do in there home country in a new one. This doesn’t happen overnight but it’s happening now in Deerborn MI, Birmingham UK, London, and the list goes on. There also “no go zones” strewn about Europe where the local police dare not enter. Unfortunately we live in a world where a vast population of people deem mere fact as hate speech. The Bible did predict that evil will become good and good will become evil. Everything Isis, Hamas, Boko Haram and dozens of other Islamic terror organizations do can be traced back specifically to the Quran. If you don’t believe me then read the book yourself. It has violence of epic proportions, all in the name of Allah. It’s a sobering but real epidemic, Good vs Evil.
Louis, I appreciate the concerns you voice. However, the point you raise about “no go zones” strewn about Europe is unfounded. It’s only propagated by fear mongers in the alternative-right media. But otherwise, you raise some vital points. I agree that allowing sharia councils in Britain was a real step backward. Fortunately, Muslim women in Canada prevented our government from repeating this mistake. (Muslim women and children are the primary victims of Britain’s sharia councils.) This is where it’s so vital that our governments know what they’re doing before taking such radical actions. Because you can’t make that law and then simply go back and undo it. The challenge, though, is how to navigate all this without abandoning democracy. I would argue that there has to be one law code for all. Allowing separate law codes for separate groups will only lead to disaster. But on the other hand, we can’t have a democracy that applies only to some citizens, but not to others (e.g., Muslims). So navigating this will be one of the great challenges we face as our Muslim minorities continue to grow in size.
All I can say is that it’s either the crusades or the cartoons that have caused the followers of Mohammed to murder, blowup, sexually abuse women and girls, think pedophilia is good, cutting of heads, demand sharia law and the list is endless. Britain you should be ashamed, your culture is better then anything Mohammed has to offer, shut down the mosques( a political organisation wanting to take over your state). Shut down faith schools, breeding ground for radicals. Your playing with a loaded gun, so far you’ve taken out a foot and an arm, careful not to shoot yourself in the head, cause that’s where your heading.
Helen, if only a minority is guilty, should all be condemned? You’ve convicted all Muslims, without a trial! Many Christians have engaged in this sort of reductionism down through the centuries. Christ calls us to be as cunning as snakes and as harmless as doves. But frankly, your post evidences neither kindness nor cunning. Your anger prompts you to call for the closing of all mosques and faith schools. But on what basis–simply that you’ve decided all Muslims are “the enemy”? I hope you realize that British law (i.e., British culture) is far better than that.
Please be forewarned that I’ll delete your future posts if all they do is continue your malicious rant. I’d strongly encourage you, instead of railing, to channel your concern into getting to know Muslims personally and asking your government legitimate questions about such things as the sharia’s relation to British law.