Meanwhile, if you know of a trend we missed or have a comment on the items below, please let us know, In the future, we'll make feedback on these trends more convenient and automatic, but for right now we'll just use good old low-tech email.

Trends in Religion 
 

Title	Summary	Status	Reference
Persistence of religious intolerance	Over 1.6 million people a year are estimated to be persecuted and killed for their religious faith alone.	sustaining	World Network of Religious Futurists
Growth of Militant Fundamentalism	Religious fundamentalism is on the rise, not just within Islam or Christianity, but is also being felt among Buddhism and Judaism.	increasing	World Network of Religious Futurists
Rising growth rate of Islam	Islam ranks as the fastest growing faith. Worldwide, the number of Muslims has doubled since 1970 to 1.2 billion adherents. Projections put the growth of Islam at roughly 2 billion adherents by 2025 out of a projected world population of 8 billion.	increasing	World Network of Religious Futurists
Shift to non-white Christianity	Today more than 60% of all Christians come from non-white races outside Europe and America.	increasing	World Network of Religious Futurists
Growth of Pentecostal and non-denominational Christianity	Counter to the decline of the mainline in the U.S., Pentecostal Christianity is resurgent. Estimates put the number of new non-denominational churches in this country at 100,000 since 1980.	increasing	World Network of Religious Futurists
A decline of Tribal Religions	By 2000, the tribal religions will have shrunk from 6.5% in 1900 to 1.6% of world population.	increasing	World Network of Religious Futurists
Growth of Nonreligious Persons	The non-religious population of the world is holding its own at 15% of the world's population, and will continue so as we enter the 21st century.	stable	World Network of Religious Futurists
Increase of Pluralism in society	Driven by multi-culturalism and internationalization of the West, increasing cultural diversity and interfaith contact can offer opportunities for growth and dialogue. On the other hand, the challenge of post-modernity continues to undermine traditional beliefs that once informed shaped various common creeds, producing culture wars between traditionalists and progressives. .	growing	World Network of Religious Futurists
An increase of Women in pastoral roles	Women in pastoral roles have increased from 1% at the turn of the century to more than 5% of all clergy worldwide. In the U.S., women comprise 10% of all clergy. And for every woman in the pastorate, there are 30 others working in ministry roles, whether in religious education or outreach.	growing	World Network of Religious Futurists
Spritual but not religious in the U.S.	Spirituality is ever popular, but mainstream religions are declining in attendance. The number of people who describe themselves as "Spiritual" but not "Religious" is growing. .	growing	Leonard Sweet, soulTsunami, 1999

External Trends Affecting Religion 
 

STEEP Category	Title	Summary	Status	Reference
Social	Rise of the Global Teenager	Demographic trends indicate that there will be 2 billion teenagers globally by 2001. That's 500 times bigger than the post-war baby boom in the U.S.	increasing in prominence	Peter Schwartz, Art of the Long View, 1991 Global Business Network
Social	Rise of Postmodernity in Western Scoiety	Society and culture is becoming more pluralistic and relativistic. With the advent of gen-X and the millennial generations, postmodernism is hitting mainstream culture.	increasing in prominence	Leonard Sweet, soulTsunami, 1999
Social	Aging of Western populations	With lower birth rates and longer lifespans, the average age of populations in developed nations is decreasing.	increasing in prominence	*
Economic, Political	Globalization	Increasing power and influence of supranational organizations and multinational corporations..	increasing in prominence	*
Technological	Continued growth of the Internet	The continued boom of the online world is changing everything. Churches will not escape unfazed.	increasing in prominence	*
Technological	Advent of revolutionary technologies	Revolutions in genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and materials science will provide opportunities as well as moral challenges for people of faith.	increasing in prominence	*

*We try to include references for the trends, giving credit where credit is due, but references are not given for trends that are widely cited by many of today's futurists.