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VOA慢速英语2015 伊斯兰教是世界上发展最快的宗教

时间:2015-04-28 22:41:42

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AS IT IS 2015-04-26 Islam Is the Fastest Growing Religion in the World 伊斯兰教是世界上发展最快的宗教

Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, according to a new study.  The Pew Research Center spent six years studying the demographics of population and religion around the world. What they found is that as the world population grows between 2010 and 2050, so will Islam.

Christianity and other religions will grow as well, but Islam will grow faster than any other major religion. The numbers of Buddhists2 are expected to remain the same or even drop a little.

What is behind this trend?

There are two major factors, fertility rates, how many babies each woman is having, and the number of young people. Islam tops other religions in both areas.

Conrad Hackett was lead researcher for the Pew study. He says this is a story about Africa and its growing population.

“Africa is very important for understanding the change that’s likely to happen in the decades ahead and a big reason for that is because Africa’s population is very young… so a lot of people in Africa are entering the ages soon in which they will have children, and in Africa people have more children than in any other region. The average woman in Africa has nearly five children. And Africa is primarily composed of people who identify as Muslim or Christian1.”

Mr. Hackett says the sub-Saharan Africa population is expected to double between 2010 and 2050.  By then, the United Nations estimates that there will be about two billion people living in Africa. That means one out of every five people would live on the continent.

As of 2010, Christianity was by far the largest religion in the world. Islam was second.

The Pew study predicts that if the current trends continue, by the year 2050, the number of Muslims will almost equal the number of Christians3. Christianity will grow too, but not at the same rate. The study predicts that Christianity will increase from 2.17 billion to 2.92 billion. Muslims, however, will increase from 1.6 billion people in 2010 to 2.76 billion by 2050.

Mr. Hackett says the increase in numbers is not because many people are converting to Islam.

“That’s really a very small part of the story that we can detect. The biggest driver of change in the size of the Muslim population will be the higher fertility that Muslims have and the youthfulness of their population.”

In the United States, Christians will still be the largest religious group. However, Americans who say they are Muslim could outnumber those who say they are Jewish by 2050. But, when counting Jewish people, the study only counted Americans who say they are “religious Jews.” The study did not include those who identify themselves as “cultural” Jews and do not attend regular religious services.

While the number of Muslims in the U.S. will double, Mr. Hackett says the number will still be a small percentage, 2.1 percent.

“I think it’s an interesting change, perhaps more symbolic4 than something that will have profound consequences in the U.S.”

He adds that two out of three Americans will still claim Christian identity.

Indonesia has the largest Islamic population at this time, with over 200 million people calling themselves Muslim. But the Pew study expects India, a largely Hindu country, to exceed Indonesia by the middle of this century. There could be 311 million Muslims in India by then.

If all of these projections5 and trends hold true until the end on this century, Mr. Hackett says they anticipate that Muslims would eventually outnumber Christians before the year 2100.

“It’s a striking finding because Christians have, as far as we can tell, always outnumbered Muslims, so we think that this is the first time in history that the Muslim population is larger than the Christian population, of course Christians had about six centuries of history before Islam began to gain a numerical advantage.”

Professor John Farina teaches religious studies at George Mason University in the U.S. state of Virginia. He says he was not surprised that the Pew study found there would be a large growth in Islam and Christianity. “There is nothing surprising about the long-term trends that they highlight,” he told VOA. “Religious people tend to be more family-oriented and have bigger families with more children.”

Predicting the future is not an exact science. The study itself says that “many factors could alter these trajectories” and numbers. People could switch religions. Natural disasters, famines or wars can affect population.

Even Albert Einstein, the most famous scientist of our time said, “One need only think of the weather, in which case the prediction even for a few days ahead is impossible.” 

Words in this Story

Islam - n. the religion which teaches that there is only one God and that God's prophet is Muhammad. It is the religion of Muslims

Muslim - n. a follower6 of Islam

Christianity - n. the religion that teaches that there is only one God and Jesus Christ was the son of God. It is the religion of Christians.

demographics - n. the qualities of a specific group of people, like age, sex and income.

trend - n.  a way of behaving or proceeding7  that is developing and becoming more common. Change that is moving in a general direction.

fertility - n. the ability to produce babies

exceed – v. to be greater or more than something

trajectory8 - n. often used figuratively to describe a path or a process of change or development that leads toward a particular result


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1 Christian KVByl     
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒
参考例句:
  • They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
  • His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
2 Buddhists 5f3c74ef01ae0fe3724e91f586462b77     
n.佛教徒( Buddhist的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The Jesuits in a phase of ascendancy, persecuted and insulted the Buddhists with great acrimony. 处于地位上升阶段的耶稣会修士迫害佛教徒,用尖刻的语言辱骂他们。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
  • The return of Saivite rule to central Java had brought no antagonism between Buddhists and Hindus. 湿婆教在中爪哇恢复统治后,并没有导致佛教徒与印度教徒之间的对立。 来自辞典例句
3 Christians 28e6e30f94480962cc721493f76ca6c6     
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
  • His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。
4 symbolic ErgwS     
adj.象征性的,符号的,象征主义的
参考例句:
  • It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
  • The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。
5 projections 7275a1e8ba6325ecfc03ebb61a4b9192     
预测( projection的名词复数 ); 投影; 投掷; 突起物
参考例句:
  • Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
  • The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。
6 follower gjXxP     
n.跟随者;随员;门徒;信徒
参考例句:
  • He is a faithful follower of his home football team.他是他家乡足球队的忠实拥护者。
  • Alexander is a pious follower of the faith.亚历山大是个虔诚的信徒。
7 proceeding Vktzvu     
n.行动,进行,(pl.)会议录,学报
参考例句:
  • This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
  • The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。
8 trajectory fJ1z1     
n.弹道,轨道
参考例句:
  • It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
  • The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

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