7486<\/b> A Rough Estimation<\/b><\/p>\n
Roman Catholics and Protestants comprise about 1 billion people, or one-fourth of the world. Moslems and Hindus comprise almost exactly another one-fourth of world population. Atheists and Pagans number still another fourth of total population. And other religions, such as Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shintoism, comprise the remaining fourth. <\/p>\n
7487<\/b> More Detailed Figure<\/b><\/p>\n
The number of adherents in the world\u2019s principal religions are as follows:<\/p>\n
Pagan 924 million<\/p>\n
Roman Catholic 584 million<\/p>\n
Muslim 455 million<\/p>\n
Hindu 395 million<\/p>\n
Protestant 224 million<\/p>\n
Buddhist 161 million<\/p>\n
Eastern Orthodox 142 million<\/p>\n
Shintoist 67 million<\/p>\n
Taoist 51 million<\/p>\n
Jewish 13 million<\/p>\n
7488<\/b> Islam And Ecumenism<\/b><\/p>\n
In The Cross and the Crescent<\/i> Dr. Francis Steel of the North Africa Mission predicts an eventual union between apostate Protestantism, as represented by the World Council of Churches, and Islam. We quote his warning in full:<\/p>\n
Two lines seem to be converging. One represents the various \u201cChristian\u201d groups. As these lose their Biblical distinctives and evolve a sort of Unitarian universalism, they veer to the left. The other line represents the great ethnic religions; Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. As these purge themselves of their more objectionably carnal aspects and emerge clothed in a philosophical monism or universalism, they veer to the right. Eventually the two will meet in a glorified Baha\u2019i. <\/p>\n
7489<\/b> World Conference Of Religions<\/b><\/p>\n
Los Angeles Times<\/i> dispatch of May 10, 1970 said: \u201cA World Conference of Religions for Peace will be held at Kyoto, Japan, Oct. 16 to 22, according to Dr. Maurice N. Eisendrath, Pres. of the union of American Hebrew Congregations. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be attended by representatives of the world\u2019s greatest faiths: Judeo-Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Shintoist and others,\u201d said Eisendrath. \u201cIt will be the first attempt by the powerful leaders of the great faiths to find a common ground of belief on a matter central to most religions\u2014that of PEACE for our time. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe conference, the first of its kind, will send its message of peace on behalf of the world\u2019s 2.5 billion people to global leaders in a way which cannot be ignored. <\/p>\n
\u201cAmong the Christians invited, were representatives and cardinals from the Vatican, the WCC, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Also leaders from behind the Iron Curtain, from Africa and every corner of the world. Its goal is to mobilize the religious constituency of the world, and to apply their respective teachings to the achievement of PEACE.\u201d<\/p>\n
7490<\/b> World Council Of Churches<\/b><\/p>\n
The World Council of Churches (WCC) held its first meeting in 1948. It is a fellowship of over 120 Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and Old Catholic churches from some 90 countries throughout the world. Total membership: 400 million. <\/p>\n
The first goal of the ecumenical movement spearheaded by the WCC is to bring all churches into one visible organization. The ultimate goal of the movement is to bring all religions together. The WCC now holds dialogues on \u201cpeace\u201d with representatives of 1.5 billion people on earth. <\/p>\n
7491<\/b> A Central Committee Message<\/b><\/p>\n
The Central Committee of the WCC is the principal policy-making body of that organization. In its meeting in Addis Adaba, Ethiopia, some six years ago, it heard messages urging new approaches to non-Christian faiths. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Christians cannot claim to have a monopoly of truth, we need to meet men of other faiths and ideologies as part of our trust in and obedience to the promise of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Committee was told of new opportunities to widen religious dialogues with Marxists, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and other religions. <\/p>\n
7492<\/b> \u201cFragments Of Truth In Each\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
To encourage dialogue the WCC has suggested that Chairs of Buddhists, Hindu and Muslim scholars be appointed in Christian universities and colleges, and that an appeal be made to Muslim, Hindu and Buddhists universities to have a Chair of Christian studies. Ecumenicists believe that divine truth is so rich and many-sided that only fragments are found in any one faith. <\/p>\n
7493<\/b> U.N. Church Center<\/b><\/p>\n
A public cornerstone-laying ceremony was held in 1962 for the 12-story Church Center at the United Nations. <\/p>\n
The $2,000,000 center is being financed by the Methodist Church, which has offered it for the use of denominational and interdenominational agencies. Dr. Ernest L. Inwood, director of U.N. programming of the National Council of Churches, said the center \u201cwill be a Christian symbol, a constant Christian witness, a home of Christian hospitality, a place of Christian service, and a center of Christian education in international relations radiating across the United States and overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Main speaker for the ceremony was Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, newly-elected president of the U.N. General Assembly. He is a Moslem. <\/p>\n
7494<\/b> Pluralism At Harvard<\/b><\/p>\n
A committee on the future of Memorial Church, Harvard University\u2019s chapel built in memory of its graduates killed in World War I, has recommended that the church\u2019s status as a Protestant place of worship be changed \u201cto take account of religious pluralism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dean Krister Stendahl of Harvard Divinity School, who is a member of the Lutheran State Church of Sweden and frequently mentioned aspirant for that church\u2019s highest preferment (the archbishopric of Uppsala), presented a report calling for reconstitution of the Protestant Board of Preachers into a troika that would include a Protestant minister, a Roman Catholic priest, and a Jewish rabbi. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe would consider these preachers to the university as co-equal in their roles and their relations to the university,\u201d said the report. One committee member who did not sign the report objected to the fact that it says nothing about the religions of Africa and Asia. \u201cHarvard,\u201d he said, \u201cis a world community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Christianity Today<\/i><\/p>\n
7495<\/b> Moon\u2019s Church Refused Membership<\/b><\/p>\n
Twice in six months, despite intense lobbying, the Council of Churches of the City of New York has denied membership to Sun Myung Moon\u2019s Unification Church. Directors and denominational executive cited the sect\u2019s theology (Jesus failed in his mission, but a Korean messiah will save mankind) and pressure on young converts to leave their families. It\u2019s the first time the council has rejected an application. <\/p>\n
7496<\/b> Pope At The U.N. <\/b><\/p>\n
Pope Paul, in the summer of 1955, came to New York and made a speech for world peace before the U.N. His message centered around two points\u2014peace and prosperity. It was a strong ecumenical appeal. <\/p>\n
The pope\u2019s appeal was acclaimed by no less than 107 nations and major religions that gave promises of cooperation. Immediately after the Pope\u2019s speech, a prominent Roman Catholic proposed to bring the various world religions into one fold\u2014the UNICHURCH. <\/p>\n
7497<\/b> Dialogue With Atheist<\/b><\/p>\n
According to the Washington Post<\/i> dispatch of Oct. 2, 1968, the Roman Catholic Church issued an unprecedented broad call for Catholics and members of all faith to join in a dialogue with atheists. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe appeal was issued in a document prepared by the Vatican\u2019s secretariat for nonbelievers, headed by Franziskus Cardinal Koenig of Vienna, who had a long private audience with Pope Paul VI, who gave the 5,700-word policy-making document \u201cDialogue with Nonbelievers\u201d his full approval. <\/p>\n
The appeal, to make the world \u201cmore human,\u201d was not intended to convert people but to express \u201cbrotherly love\u201d and meet the needs of mankind \u2026 \u201d<\/p>\n
7498<\/b> Pope Greets Buddhists<\/b><\/p>\n
Vatican City (AP)\u2014Pope Paul VI greeted a group of Japanese buddhists after his general audience in 1977. The Pope told them:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cordially welcome the delegation of Japanese members of the International Buddhist Brotherhood association. We would encourage you to continue to devote your attention to helping the sick; for where there is need, there should go our efforts to give aid. May God guide you and reward you.\u201d<\/p>\n
7499<\/b> Muslim Prayer Meet In Canada<\/b><\/p>\n
There were 3,500 of them\u2014all on their knees, praying. The date? December 25, 1975. The place? The Coliseum of the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. Christians praying for revival? No. The photograph in our daily newspaper showed 3,500 Muslims gathered for prayer during Eid Ul Adha, festival of thanksgiving honouring the tradition of the Prophet Abraham. <\/p>\n
\u2014Prairie Overcomer<\/i><\/p>\n
7500<\/b> Arab World\u2019s Religious Push<\/b><\/p>\n
The Arabs are pushing religion. A group of Muslim broadcasters recently launched a global broadcasting campaign to spread the Islamic faith. And in Libya, a tax-supported Islamic center with a $20-million budget is directing propagation of the faith in thirty-five other countries. <\/p>\n
7501<\/b> Saudi\u2019s Religious Leadership<\/b><\/p>\n
The oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia is planning to spend billions of dollars in order to unite the world\u2019s widely scattered Moslem nations under Saudi Arabian religious leadership. <\/p>\n
The Saudi dream is certain to run against the harsh realities of theological splits, political feuds, and the sheer geographical spread of the Moslem faith. <\/p>\n
But the Saudis want to recapture some of the glory of a seventh-century Islamic Arab Empire that stretched from the Himalayas to southern France at its apex. That and the succeeding Ottoman Turkish Empire, which brought Islam to the gates of Vienna, covered much of the known world of the time. <\/p>\n
The Saudis, keepers of the Moslem cities of Mecca and Medina, see themselves as the logical leaders of a 20th-century Islamic resurgence. The new empire, as they see it, would be based on religion and shared wealth, not conquest. <\/p>\n
\u2014Prairie Overcomer<\/i><\/p>\n
7502<\/b> U.S. Soldier In Hindu Headdress<\/b><\/p>\n
The first U.S. soldier permitted to wear a Hindu headdress, Private Hari Nam Singh Elliott, 23, received honors of \u201cbest recruit\u201d in his basic-training unit. He was allowed to keep his long, red beard as well as his turban and to wear religious jewelry. <\/p>\n
7503<\/b> Buddhist Red, White, & Blue<\/b><\/p>\n
Honolulu (UPI)\u2014American converts to a Japanese Buddhist sect are painting Buddha red, white and blue and decorating him with star, at the Honolulu convention of North American followers of Japan\u2019s Nichirensho Buddhist sect. <\/p>\n
The next night they put on a three-hour music-and-dance panorama of American history. <\/p>\n
Today the sect claims 25,000 followers in North America, most of them in the United States. Many are urban, middle-class young people. Nichirensho offers them an uncomplicated ritual of daily Buddhism prayers, designed to build self-confidence. Converts also find they make new friends, and can take part in a wide range of church busy-work and social activity. <\/p>\n
The sect had its Honolulu convention July 26\u201327, officially recognized as part of the US Bicentennial celebration. <\/p>\n
7504<\/b> Buddhist Chaplain Of State Senate<\/b><\/p>\n
Named as chaplain to the California Senate: Shoko Masunaga, 58, Japanese-American pastor of the Buddhism Church of Sacramento, an affiliate of the 25,000-family Buddhist Churches of America (Jodo Shinshu Buddhism), headquartered in San Francisco, Masunaga was nominated to the one-year term by Senator Albert Rodda, a United Methodist who had made the chaplaincy nominations for the past sixteen years. <\/p>\n
\u2014Christianity Today<\/i><\/p>\n
7505<\/b> Rabbi In Protestant Church<\/b><\/p>\n
Rabbi Abraham L. Feinberg, formerly of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, is now \u201crabbi in residence\u201d at Glide Memorial Methodist Church in San Francisco. Questioned as to how he could hold such a position Rabbi Feinberg answered that it was easy\u2014as long as the Church is unconventional, doesn\u2019t mention the word of Christ in its liturgy, and is concerned with people, not theology. And that, he said, is the philosophy behind the Glide Church, which offers its worshippers a sometimes ear-splitting combination of live jazz music, light shows, singing, and rock dancing at each Sunday\u2019s \u201ccelebration.\u201d<\/p>\n
See also:<\/b> Ecumenicity ; Dan. 11:37; Rev. 13:12; 17:16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
7486 A Rough Estimation Roman Catholics and Protestants comprise about 1 billion people, or one-fourth of the world. Moslems and Hindus comprise almost exactly another one-fourth of world population. Atheists and Pagans number still another fourth of total population. And other religions, such as Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shintoism, comprise the remaining fourth. 7487 More Detailed … Continue reading “WORLD CHURCH”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}