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> those groups who do a good job of passing on their beliefs will grow and prosper, those groups who do a poor job of doing that will dwindle and die This is w

by smt88 4y ago

> those groups who do a good job of passing on their beliefs will grow and prosper, those groups who do a poor job of doing that will dwindle and die This is wrong because it ignores missionary activity. If a religion fails to retain its adherents' children, but it recruits adults at a greater rate, it will still grow despite failing to transfer beliefs to offspring. > Meanwhile, there are many smaller groups who have a far brighter future, due to high birth rates and low attrition rates, but they are coming up from such a low base, it is going to take them many decades, even centuries, to overtake the incumbents. Which groups, exactly? The fastest-growing major religion appears to be Islam, which is likely a consequence of its presence in many economically depressed countries with high birth rates, low security, and low education.

skissane 4y ago
> If a religion fails to retain its adherents' children, but it recruits adults at a greater rate, it will still grow despite failing to transfer beliefs to offspring. The problem with conversion, is there is only a limited pool of converts. It is easy for small groups to grow rapidly by conversion, but soon they start to run out of potential targets for recruitment. In the long run, the "breed-your-own" strategy, if it can be sustained, will vastly outperform conversion. One does occasionally observe a new religion take over a society by conversion (much as Christianity did to the Roman Empire, or Islam to 7th century Arabia), but those are rare historical exceptions, which the vast majority of religious groups have no hope of ever achieving. > Which groups, exactly? The fastest-growing major religion appears to be Islam, which is likely a consequence of its presence in many economically depressed countries with high birth rates, low security, and low education. The right level of looking at this isn't religions, but rather much lower in the taxonomic hierarchy. Consider Catholics – despite Catholicism's immense size (over 1 billion adherents), Catholics have (on the whole) a rather low and declining birth rate, and do a pretty poor job of retaining their children – in many countries today, the biggest religion is "ex-Catholic". But, on the other hand, if you look at the conservative fringes of Catholicism, you find groups such as Opus Dei and SSPX, both of whom I believe do a far better job at retaining their (often large) broods in the parental faith than mainstream Catholicism does. Similarly, if you look at Judaism, non-Orthodox Judaism has low birth rates and high rates of assimilation and intermarriage, while Modern Orthodoxy does much better in those areas, and Traditional Orthodoxy does very well. I know less about Islam, but I'd be surprised if Salafists and Khomeinists didn't do a better job of retaining their children than more mainstream Muslims do.

by smt88 4y ago

skissane 4y ago

> If a religion fails to retain its adherents' children, but it recruits adults at a greater rate, it will still grow despite failing to transfer beliefs to offspring. The problem with conversion, is there is only a limited pool of converts. It is easy for small groups to grow rapidly by conversion, but soon they start to run out of potential targets for recruitment. In the long run, the "breed-your-own" strategy, if it can be sustained, will vastly outperform conversion. One does occasionally observe a new religion take over a society by conversion (much as Christianity did to the Roman Empire, or Islam to 7th century Arabia), but those are rare historical exceptions, which the vast majority of religious groups have no hope of ever achieving. > Which groups, exactly? The fastest-growing major religion appears to be Islam, which is likely a consequence of its presence in many economically depressed countries with high birth rates, low security, and low education. The right level of looking at this isn't religions, but rather much lower in the taxonomic hierarchy. Consider Catholics – despite Catholicism's immense size (over 1 billion adherents), Catholics have (on the whole) a rather low and declining birth rate, and do a pretty poor job of retaining their children – in many countries today, the biggest religion is "ex-Catholic". But, on the other hand, if you look at the conservative fringes of Catholicism, you find groups such as Opus Dei and SSPX, both of whom I believe do a far better job at retaining their (often large) broods in the parental faith than mainstream Catholicism does. Similarly, if you look at Judaism, non-Orthodox Judaism has low birth rates and high rates of assimilation and intermarriage, while Modern Orthodoxy does much better in those areas, and Traditional Orthodoxy does very well. I know less about Islam, but I'd be surprised if Salafists and Khomeinists didn't do a better job of retaining their children than more mainstream Muslims do.