The real religion?

[Angrboda]

The expected growth of Islam around the world is perhaps the most striking finding in the recent Pew Research Center report projecting the future of religious groups. Indeed, Muslims will grow more than twice as fast as the overall world population between 2010 and 2050 and, in the second half of this century, will likely surpass Christians as the world’s largest religious group.

Why Muslims are the world’s fastest-growing religious group

[robvalue]

The numbers don't count when it's Islam, I expect. It's just due to indoctrination.

[Athene]

Wouldn't it be absurdly obvious which one this is? Wouldn't those following the correct religion have some sort of noticable advantage? If God is doing anything at all in return for the worship it is receiving, wouldn't this be clear to all?

Perhaps not, if God is just inclined to hate certain people, and has no interest in being worshiped by all. 
Don't suppose there'd be much point in making undesirables privy to his best and secret stuff.

[ignoramus]

Well Thena, that solves it! God has a fetish for arabs and camels it seems.
As for the rest of the world, he's just gonna pretend like he doesn't exist.
I just want to know how the Catholics and Baptists found out about him and why they think he gives a shit about them.

[robvalue]

Hmm. If it's about hate, he hates people worshipping as much as he does not worshipping him. Or worshipping some entirely wrong God.

It all seems the same to him, no matter what we do.

[Minimalist]

There are 2.18 billion Christians around the world, up from about 600 million in 1910, according to a 2011 study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. But the world’s overall population also has risen rapidly, from an estimated 1.8 billion in 1910 to 6.9 billion in 2010. As a result, Christians make up about the same portion of the world’s population today (32%) as they did a century ago (35%).

Number of Christians Rises, But Their Share of World Population Stays Stable

Your figures are a charade.

They love to con themselves.

[Minimalist]

[SteveII]

There are 2.18 billion Christians around the world, up from about 600 million in 1910, according to a 2011 study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. But the world’s overall population also has risen rapidly, from an estimated 1.8 billion in 1910 to 6.9 billion in 2010. As a result, Christians make up about the same portion of the world’s population today (32%) as they did a century ago (35%).

Number of Christians Rises, But Their Share of World Population Stays Stable

Your figures are a charade.

If you are replying to me, I don't remember using numbers. However, my point was that if we use adult conversions as a measure, we see that evangelical protestant Christianity seems to be the most compelling of the "loads of different theistic religions" that Rob observed.  If this conversion rate comparison was true for the past 2000 years (which it could be argued that, on average, it was) that indicates that Christianity is more compelling than other religions. 

Does compelling = true? No, not necessarily. But I think it is reasonable to conclude that adult conversions should be taken as a "vote" on the truth claims of any religion. 

[KevinM1]

What does evangelical mean in this case? Does it include snake oil like prosperity gospel? Because I could see "get salvation fast" as being a lot more palatable to people than other forms of Christianity, and thus poaching from the other groups.

[robvalue]

So, let's see...

The only bonus anyone has offered so far is that the religion is attractive to new members. But they don't actually get anything out of being in it. Wow, God is just too generous.

It doesn't offer any evidence at all that there is any truth to the religion. At least not evidence I'd consider credible. It just show how good people are at converting other people, or how much influence the religion already has. It's a classic appeal to popularity fallacy.

If someone is seriously suggesting that God is granting this power to draw in more followers, but nothing else, then that is a bizarre setup for sure. Sounds like a pyramid scheme. He's making the religion seem attractive, when it actually has nothing to offer. How deceptive.