Fewer Christians, More Muslims - And How That Makes Me Feel

"[Population rates of] Muslims are expected to grow twice as fast as the overall population."

That is the sentence that is most concerning to many people who learn of the Pew Research Center's new and extremely comprehensive report, "The Future of World Religions."

The report includes data that show that the number of Christians worldwide and in the United States is set to decrease significantly by 2050, while the number of Muslims will increase by more than a billion, to a total of 30 percent of the world's population.

Soon after the release of these results on April 2, news media were already publishing articles such as this one from Voice of America, the U.S. international broadcasting service funded by Congress. For the article, a population studies professor was asked if the increased number of Muslims would put Islam any closer to being a dominant religion in the United States. The professor was assuring in his answer that it would not.

I find it amusing that this is our immediate worry - and I say "our" because, honestly, I also wondered about dominance when I read the results. I'm Christian; what will it mean to live in a country where even fewer people believe in Christ? Will I have to be constantly standing up for my beliefs? Will my children be teased at school for living their religion?

While my concerns were less about a Muslim "takeoever" and more about the diminshment of my own "in" group, I exhibited the same symptoms of a felt symbolic threat that are described in the Intergroup Threat Theory.

Why?

There are so many things that are going to change in the next 45 years. Who knows what technological inventions will make new gadgets a part of my daily life? I might have children, maybe even grandchildren! I will certainly have a career. And the report shows no evidence that Christianity won't still be a majority group; in fact, two-thirds of Americans are predicted to identify as Christians in 2050 (compared to three-fourths today). With all this going on and the relative assurance that I won't be a minority, why do I still worry?

Social psychologists would say it's because of my biological nature, and the biological nature of every other human being. We're trained to protect ourselves, to defend and fend for the pack with which we roam. In modern times, the groups I belong to don't need my aggressive defense. In fact, protecting myself from those in "out" groups is called intolerance, even bigotry.

But no matter how currently useless or detrimental the need to protect our "in" group may be today, it comes with being human. It's one of those biological processes - kind of like the craving for salt, or the tendency of the body to store fat - that isn't too useful in modern American society.

Oh well. We must wait for evolution to catch up - and, in the meantime, continue disciplining ourselves to have manners, repect and tolerance, for those who are different than us but pose no threat. As I try to realize that other peoples' decisions not to be Christian doesn't affect my ability to live what I believe, I become a stronger, more faithful person. And isn't that one of the things this life is about, anyway?