The Truth:
In the
first place, the truth of an idea or doctrine is never established by mere
belief or majority opinion. Up until the last hundred years or so, the vast majority of people
on our planet did not even believe that they were on a planet. Nor did
they believe that the earth was spinning at a thousand miles an hour or hurtling
around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour. Does this mean that the earth
wasn’t doing these things up until people believed that it was?
Secondly,
Islam is not "growing faster" than other religions because of
conversion, but because the
birthrate (Pew: 2017 & 2021) among Muslims is significantly higher than it is among nominal Christians and others(2.9 vs 2.6 per woman), particularly in the West, where it is nearly twice as high. Kids can be raised to believe just about anything, so growth from a higher birthrate hardly constitutes a genuine accomplishment.
In fact, there is a negative correlation between birthrate and progress. Birthrates drop as a society develops economically and socially. Wealthier, more advanced countries provide equal educational and career opportunities for women, for example, which enable them to delay starting families. Even within Islam, the more developed populations have lower birthrates. So, it is ironic that what is often touted as Islam's biggest "success" is more of an indicator of how it lags.
This is also true with regard to the growth of Islam in the West, which is due almost entirely to migration. Migration always flows from Muslim countries into non-Muslim rather than vice versa.
Again, this is nothing to be proud of, because it means that Islamic countries are less
attractive
and less tolerant. Rising social dysfunction and the gradual decline in quality
of life in areas where Islam takes hold argue against the claim that it is the "true
religion."
A 2011 Pew Research study of global Muslim growth rates concluded that
there is "no net growth through conversion", meaning that for every
person who "embraces" Islam (usually a woman who changes her
affiliation after marrying a Muslim man) there is at least one other
who is willing to leave the faith despite harsh consequences. A 2019 study found Islam declining in the Arab world.
Of the
so-called “converts” from other religions, only a miniscule number were active
believers. Nearly all are just people who had no real faith to convert
from – regardless of their nominal designation. In the West and other
parts of the non-Muslim
world in which all religions are allowed to compete equally, such people
experiencing a spiritual awakening are far more likely to turn to
Christianity than Islam.
This leads
to a very important point, which is that decent Muslims
should feel a sense of
embarrassment rather than pride over the rules they have to impose to maintain Islam's status as the "fastest growing religion." In truth, it speaks more to the
insecurity that Muslims have about their religion - and the banal immaturity
of Islam compared with other faiths.
Let’s say
that you are playing chess with a 6-year-old girl. Instead of following the
same set of rules, however, the child is allowed to make up rules that are
preferential to herself. One of the rules, she decides, is that you aren’t
allowed to make any moves on her half of the board, but she is allowed to make
moves on yours. Another might be that it is impossible for any of her
pieces to be taken.
Now, if the
child is winning the game – which is assured by the conditions she has
imposed - is it really something in which she can truly take pride?
The rules
that Muslims impose on the “conversion game” are almost exactly like this chess
analogy. Other religions are not allowed to operate in Islam’s own
territory (ie. preaching their faith and evangelizing) as Muslims are in others.
Neither is conversion away from Islam allowed – on
penalty of death.
In the
Muslim world, Christians who evangelize are
imprisoned,
assaulted, beaten,
set on fire,
shot,
bludgeoned, and
tortured by Islamists. Missionaries are
raped and killed.
Former Muslims who embrace Christianity as their religion of choice are
thrown in jail along with their children,
sexually assaulted,
crippled,
hanged,
stoned,
stabbed,
dismembered,
carved up,
scalded,
beheaded,
poisoned,
brutalized,
doused with acid,
burned alive and
publicly executed...
...and Muslims brag that their religion is growing
faster!
Muslims who gloat over their “fast growing" religion are no different than
the child from our example who deludes herself into thinking that she is smarter and
better for “beating” a much wiser adult in a game played under manufactured
conditions that render the artificial “victory” entirely meaningless.
So
the more pertinent question isn't which religion is growing faster, but
which is growing faster where people are free to choose. In this
environment, Christianity (and 'non-belief in any religion') win easily. Converts are even won in
Muslim countries under draconian conditions that Muslim evangelists
never have to face anywhere on the planet. When was the last time
a person was killed or tortured merely for embracing Islam?
Islam has
been playing by these rules since its inception. It is unlikely that
Muslims will soon develop the maturity and confidence in Islam to lift the shameful restrictions to which it owes its
artificial success,
nor risk competition with other faiths on a level playing field.
As was
first mentioned, the truth of a belief or creed is never established by how many
followers it has (by that standard, Christianity would be true). But when a religion has to be supported by double
standards, death threats and violence there is all the more reason to doubt its veracity.
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