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Show THE DOMINANT RELIGION. It not infrequently happens that a religionist of the school of Ingersoll will attempt to decry the importance of Christianity by a reference to the millions upon millions who are attached at-tached to some other faith. His joy is in the Orient where the immense populations pop-ulations of China and India and the lack of exact information about thern make the most exaggerated speculations specula-tions plausible. Knowing only that their millions are counted by hundreds, it is easy to borrow an additional hundred hun-dred if necessary to outflank an.d overwhelm over-whelm the less romantic statistics of the West. " But it is pointed cut in connection with the work of the general missionary mission-ary conference that numerous as are the devotees of non-Christian religion?!. the Church of Christ has no reason to fear a numerical comparison. A general gen-eral classification is given by "The Church Missionary Atlas' 'as follows: Pagana ." 155,620,000 Hindus and Sikhs 207.400,000 Buddhists. Confucians, etc.. 430,174.000 Mahometans 203.775,000 Jews 6.505.000 Other non-Christians- 830,000 Roman Catholics 223.550.000 Protestants 149,955.000 Other Christiana 119,360,000 Total 1,499,169,000 This would make the total number of Christians 492.865,000 and of non-Christiana 1.006.304.000. Another table, which was prepared by M. Fournier de Flaix, gives this division: Christians 477,080.158 Confucians 256.000,000 Hindus 190,000,000 Mahometans 176,834.372 Buddhists) 147,900,000 Taoists .' 43.000,000 Shintoists 14,000,000 Jews 7,lS6,00O Polytheista 117,681,669 Total 1,429,6S2.199 According to the same authority the major branches of the Christian church have tha following ' membership: member-ship: Catholic, 230.866.533; Protestant, 143.237,625; Creek. 98.016.000. Though, it is manifestly absurd to carry the estimates- out to units, a? is done in the case of "Poly t heists," and though there are very -marked discrepancies between the two tables, both in the parts and in the totals, an examination shows that they are practically in agreement as regards the relative strength of Christianity. There i$ no single religion that has anywheTe near as: many adherents, and when we pass j from numbers to other considerations the comparison tell a still more powerfully power-fully in its favor. In the matter of missionary endeavor the .Christians so far exceed all their rivals that they may be paid to be carrying on the only really active religious re-ligious propaganda in the world today. The conference, which renresentn fif teen millions of annual expenditures, and the Catholic societies, with, their agents everywhere, must be set against thei baker's d'ozen of Hindu and Ma-hometani Ma-hometani proselytes who were part of the debris of the Parliament of Religions Re-ligions in Chicago. Furthermore, even if the missionary effort were not rich in its immediate converts, the entire direction of the world's affairs is now taken over by Christian nations, who carry with them their religion as well asi their laws and customs. Before thedr great civilizing influence, propagated in church and schoolhouse. idols and fetiches must fall and all the baser superstitions vanish. Whether we measure it by its numbers, its energy or its? power, the Christian faith transcends any of the others, and in its power it exceeds all others put together. |