| Receding Christianity The Jamaica Observer |
| ANTHONY GOMES Wednesday, April 09, 2008 |
"By coincidence, the economic recession threatening to overwhelm the United States and by extension the rest of the world is being sequentially followed by a spiritual recession, involving Christianity which includes approximately a third of the world's population. Some will say it comes as no surprise given the prevalence of materialism and moral laxity that symbolise the decadence sweeping Western civilisation.
"A stark reminder of this distressing development is a report from the Vatican - the Holy See and universal centre of Roman Catholicism, that for the first time in history Muslims exceed the number of Catholics in the world. Catholics accounted for 17.4 per cent while Muslims were 19.2 per cent. If Catholicism, the world's largest Christian religion, has declined to second place by 1.8 per cent of the world's population, then Christianity has sustained a significant loss of its faithful, even if some defectors may have chosen another Christian denomination.
"Sadly, Western civilisation is on a path to decadence as with other great societies before it. Symptoms of this decline can be seen continuously on television together with the devaluation of human life and human rights. Right and wrong have become so blurred that any act, no matter how heinous [example], can ultimately be justified. The further the West slips into degradation the more calamitous become the consequences."
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