The Global Religious Futures study paints a multifaceted picture of the world’s changing religious landscape. According to the study, the question of whether religion is growing or in decline, a positive or negative force, is largely dependent on the region being studied.
Is the whole world headed in the same direction? If humanity continues to advance scientifically, technologically and economically, is it only a matter of time before religion fades away? Karl Marx famously thought so, and some theorists still do. But Pew Research Center’s global surveys and demographic studies have revealed a more complicated picture.
On the one hand, as previously noted, the fastest-growing countries tend to be highly religious, while those with shrinking populations tend to be less religious. This suggests that, at least for a time, the share of the world’s population that is religious may rise, not fall.