“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”
— Friedrich Nietzsche

Have you heard the one about God dying? This revolutionary notion was immortalized by Friedrich Nietzsche. And how about Christianity? Is it dead as well?

If we confined this question to the United States, the evidence appears overwhelming — at least for the organized church in America. A June 2015 Gallup poll reported:

“Americans’ confidence in the church and organized religion has fallen dramatically over the past four decades, hitting an all-time low this year of 42 percent. Confidence in religion began faltering in the 1980s, while the sharpest decline occurred between 2001 and 2002 …

“In addition to serious scandals that have come to light … the increase in the share of Americans identifying as nonreligious or as members of a non-Christian faith is another reason that confidence in the church has declined.”

Yet when viewed more broadly, beyond the United States, nothing could be further from the truth. The Washington Post debunked this popular myth in a 2015 article titled, “Think Christianity is dying? No, Christianity is shifting dramatically.”¹

The Post went on to point out, “While Christianity may be on the decline in the United States, the world is becoming more religious, not less. Religious convictions are growing and shifting geographically in several dramatic ways.”²

For a religion that began with a rather unpromising launch — the gruesome death of its founder and the hunting down and martyring of many of its early followers — Christianity has defied the odds for more than two millennia.

As of 2010, those identifying themselves as Christians account for 31.4 percent of the world’s population. That’s 2.17 billion people, and it’s projected to increase to almost 3 billion by 2050.³

So what might account for Christianity’s survival, despite centuries of the most intense persecution imaginable? If it was just another religion founded by just another Messianic pretender, why hasn’t Christianity landed on history’s rubbish dump, forgotten by all but stalwart historians bent on endless trivial pursuits?

The Uniqueness of the Christian Faith

Ask any professor of comparative religion, and they will tell you that Christianity is just one of many religions — and not particularly unique. Is that true?

Consider:

» Christianity’s founder claimed to be God in the flesh.

» Christianity’s founder was also in every way a man.

» Christianity’s founder returned from the dead, as personally witnessed by his earliest followers.

» Christianity’s founder stated unequivocally that he provides the only way to God in heaven.

» Christianity’s founder promised that he will someday personally return to rule the earth.

» Christianity’s founder takes up residence in the body of every one of his believers to personally live the Christian life through them.

» Christianity’s entire “benefit package” is transferred through faith — not earned through any form of human effort, especially religion.

» Christianity was foretold thousands of years in advance in the Old Testament scriptures of the Hebrews and revealed, to the letter, in the New Testament of the Christians.

» Christianity’s founder is currently raising up a special cadre of followers to take part in ruling the universe for all eternity.

These are hardly the claims of just another religious also-ran. He leaves us to decide whether he was an outright liar, a raving lunatic or God himself.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be exploring many of these claims and why untold millions of the faithful over the past two millennia have bet their eternal souls on their veracity.

— D.C. Collier is a Bible teacher, discipleship mentor and writer focused on Christian apologetics. A mechanical engineer and Internet entrepreneur, he is the author of My Origin, My Destiny, a book focused on Christianity’s basic “value proposition.” Click here for more information. The opinions expressed are his own.

^{1. The center of Christianity has shifted from Europe to the global South … A century ago, 80 percent lived in North America and Europe, compared with just 40 percent today. In 1980, more Christians were found in the global South than the North for the first time in 1,000 years. Today, the Christian community in Latin America and Africa, alone, accounts for 1 billion people.}

^{One out of four Christians in the world presently is in Africa. Asia’s Christian population of 350 million is projected to grow to 460 million by 2025. Demographers estimate that more Christian believers are found worshipping in China on any given Sunday than in the United States.}

^{2. “Think Christianity Is Dying? No, Christianity Is Shifting Dramatically.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, n.d. Web. 29 May 2015.}

^{3. Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions,” Population Growth Projections: 2010-2050}