Popular Religions Take Turns in Directing the New Age.

Popular Religions Take Turns in Directing the New Age.

By K.R.

Our world is constantly changing through time and making new parameters for humans to explore or push. The earth has seen the emergence of Hinduism which went on to have similarities with the newfound praise of Yahweh in Judaism in late 6th century BC . We then see other major religions such as Buddhism and Christianity rise up as well. The events our world experiences creates schemas throughout the behaviors of the people. We have seen more movement with beliefs and ways of living, therefore simply changing the ways people see and interpret the world in large and growing groups.

During a time where we see higher rates in atheism/non affiliation and religious switching or conversion, there is also further change that comes into play. Let’s take the Protestant reformation into consideration, where the Catholic Church began taking roles into the daily choices of the common people such as their spending habits and choosing to have leisure time or not to avoid laziness that is looked down upon. This worked to keep order within European society and instilled boundaries for generations of groups and created social/political hierarchy for others. This went on to affect the function of the state and common morals or behavior that is expected throughout not only churches in Europe but in some of our modern day elementary schools as well. Christianity continues to have the most conversion rates and continues to grow but we also see church absences at an all time low and an increase in atheism in the USA during the 21st century moving from 6% to 23% of people who consider themselves to be non-religious/non-affiliated. However, with Christianity as receiving the most conversion rates, the Islamic religion is spreading rapidly and is considered the fastest growing major religion.

Now looking at the demographics of the Muslim community, there are higher rates of fertility and children than non-Muslim groups. With this is mind can we expect to see a spike in the average number of children in Muslim families? This notion and others have the possibility of spreading throughout different communities as our society begins to see more of the Islamic influence and customs over Protestant ideologies. What patterns can we expect to see?

K.R.

K.R. is a third-year student enrolled in the School of Social Sciences in a CSU. She focuses on sociological research and has helped facilitate and conduct research studies supported by her institution.