What a DUMB subject! We should limit religious discussion to one active topic at a time.

1) Because it's 2000 years old, and it's everywhere.
2) Get out more, and prove yourself wrong.

Really!

In defense on why I ask the question, I asked question 1 because surely other religion have been around since Christianity has been around, so I wondered why it got so wide spread than others. As for the second question, I ask because of personal experience, but I realize how 'local' that question is. Anyways, sorry for the trouble guys.

And btw, if one is tired of threads like these, then why not just ignore it and carry on with your business? It isn't mandatory to stop by 'threads like these' and comment on it. Sorry for the trouble again.

Christianity is popular due to a combination of a few factors.

• It's a very inclusive religion. It preaches that all people are one under god, despite the fact that many Christians may not act as if that's the case.
• It spread with European colonialism. Europe's colonial ambitions brought Christianity to many places, whether by force, coercion, or simple proselytism.
• It's a very happy religion. God is good, god loves you unconditionally, god wants you to live forever in paradise with him, and (depending on your brand on Christianity) it's often very easy to assure that you will. People like to believe in things that make them feel good.

It wasn't necessarily trouble, posts like that are just usually a sign of impending trouble. But if you're really just curious - non-judgmentally - about how ideas get passed around and tied to group identities and all that monkey-business, that's totally fine.


You're also right that there were other religions; history is littered with dead religions and the American landscape is littered with live ones that don't quite catch.

If you'd like to know about religion in general, I suggest Introducing Religion by Robert Ellwood. It's a tightly written book I had to read in a college course. It would give some insights if you've got time to torch on it.

• It's a very happy religion. God is good, god loves you unconditionally, god wants you to live forever in paradise with him, and (depending on your brand on Christianity) it's often very easy to assure that you will. People like to believe in things that make them feel good.
  

I think a better view of this point would go something like "It is a religion that can be whatever you want it to be". The fundamentals are sound, the whole peace, hope, helping others, etc, but you can flavour it however you please.

Are you into the wrathful eye for an eye, god is testing you and you'll burn in hell if do naughty things in the night? Well my friend, you'll want the Old Testament, and heap it on.

Want love, peace, and help thy neighbour? The New Testament is your friend.

Want a bit of both? Cherry pick as you please from all the different books and make it as you like. Christianity is an all you can eat, make your own Sundae Bar. They all have the same basic idea behind them, but some people just go with more nuts than others.

And of course, is the Christian Bible not enough for you to get what you really want in a religion? Then add your own extensions and traditions!


Christianity is like Linux in the Religious world. It comes in all sorts of flavours, some are more popular than others, and it is fairly easy to customize it to your own idea of what it should be. If you really know what you're doing then your version can take off. If you're bad at it, then you'll be labelled as a cult.

Actually I have more than one question and they are

• Why is christanity the most popular religion in US and possibly the world?
• Why does it seem like the majority of christianity are black?
  

What the hell are you on about? Those are the most un-researched and dumb questions ever.

Regarding the second question... It's probably true that more blacks are Christian than whites are in the US (Per Capita, obviously). Initially, this is because most blacks that came as slaves converted to Christianity wholesale. I suspect the reason it stayed that way is demographic. We can effectively ignore other religious backgrounds. The only things that really have a role to play are Christianity and Atheism.

I'm going to pull a statistic out of my ass and say that Atheism is predominant in the middle- and upper-class incomes in the United States. Blacks still predominantly lie in the lower incomes. I'm not trying to make any sort of chicken-or-egg argument here, but simply to note these things.

As someone also said, blacks tend to be more vocal about their religion, likely owing to a combination of location (a whole lot of them in religiously concentrated areas, like the South) and the same cause mentioned above.


Disclaimer: Nothing I've said should have any racial connotations or racist intentions, and there is absolutely no research backing anything I've said, just intuition and observation on my part.

1. You have to look at how human civilizations were formed. Basically religion was a way of grouping people and uniting them toward one goal. Every major nation was founded on a religion or ideology. The most powerful nation in the world, the US, was founded on [color="#1C2837"]Christianity so like wise it is also the most powerful religion in the world. Plus if you look at [color="#1c2837"]Christianity's history it was one of the most bloody and ruthless religions around.
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[color="#1c2837"]2. African american people were brought here as slaves and forced to believe or die basically. They have continued to believe because they are in a lower economic bracket and therefore have lower standards of education. These two factors make them more susceptible to brain washing tactics. Also from conversations I've had with religious people I am quite sure most of them are very doubtful about their beliefs but feel that they have no choice because they face rejection by their pears and family if they express their [color="#1c2837"]doubt and so they suppress their thoughts. Basically African american culture was heavily religious since they had to believe or they would be hung and so this belief has stuck with them so strongly through their [color="#1C2837"]culture.

I'm not really sure as I haven't been around much nor had the patient to research.
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You had better learn some patience, because for such emotionally laden questions you will get opinions more frequently than facts.

I'm not so sure about the first question, but for the second question, I'm assuming things from my experience....
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Opinions and anecdotal evidence.