Utopia Talk / Politics / world muslim population doubles

milton bradley Member	Thu Jan 27 06:09:09 World Muslim population doubling, report projects By Richard Allen Greene, CNN Twenty years ago, the world had about 1.1 billion Muslims. Twenty years from now, it will have about twice as many - and they'll represent more than a quarter of all people on earth, according to a new study released Thursday. That's a rise from less than 20 percent in 1990. Pakistan will overtake Indonesia as home of the largest number of Muslims, as its population pushes over 256 million, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life projects. The number of Muslims in the United States will more than double, to 6.2 million, it anticipates. Afghanistan's population will nearly double, to about 50.5 million, making it home to the ninth largest Muslim population in the world. Israel will become nearly a quarter Muslim. The Palestinian territories have one of the highest growth rates in the world. Fractious Nigeria, where Christian-Muslim violence has left thousands dead in the past decade, will become a Muslim-majority country by 2030, the Pew Forum projects. And two western European countries - France and Belgium - will become more than 10 percent Muslim. Sweden will hover just below that level, at 9.9 percent. Iran, on the other hand, will see very slow growth. Iranian women have among the fewest children of anyone in the Muslim world. They use birth control at exactly the same rate as American women, 73 percent. Explore our interactive maps showing the growth of Muslim populations by country The Muslim share of the global population will rise primarily because of their relatively high birth rate, the large number of Muslims of childbearing age, and an increase in life expectancy in Muslim-majority countries, according to the report, "The Future of the Global Muslim Population." Conversion will play relatively little part in the increase, the report anticipates. It says little data is available on conversion, but what little there is suggests Islam loses as many adherents via conversion as it gains. While the Muslim population is set to grow at a faster rate than that of the world as a whole, the rate of Muslim growth is slowing, Pew says. "Growing but slowing" is the key phrase, says Alan Cooperman, associate director of the think tank. "The increase in the last 20 years is greater than what we expect in the next 20 years," he said. Muslim population growth "is a line that's flattening out. They're increasing, but they're getting closer to the norm, the average." In other words, Muslims are coming into line with global trends toward fewer children per woman and an aging population. But, the report points out, because of the existing Muslim "youth bulge," or unusually high percentage of young people, Muslim population growth has a certain momentum that will take decades to come into line with world averages - if it ever does. The Pew report, more than a year in the making, is part of an ambitious attempt by the think tank to calculate the number of adherents to each of the world's major religions. The Islam report comes first, and a Christian project is in the works. They started with Muslims, Cooperman said, because they are "the largest group for which data was lacking, and we saw public interest in knowing more." Despite the rapid growth of Islam, Christianity seems set to remain the biggest religion in the world for the next 20 years. There are currently more than 2 billion Christians - 30 to 35 percent of the global population - making it very unlikely that there will be fewer than 2.2 billion Christians in 2030. "There is nothing in these numbers to indicate that in 2030 there would be more Muslims that Christians," Cooperman said. In fact, both Christianity and Islam could be growing, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of the whole, he pointed out. "We don't want people to jump to the conclusion that if Islam is growing, everyone else is shrinking," he said. "Christianity and Islam could both be growing at the expense of other religions." Sub-Saharan Africa is a case in point, he said. "Tremendous numbers are being added in sub-Saharan Africa, but... Christianity and Islam are both growing rapidly. There is not a change in the overall proportions of Muslims to Christians." He's aware that the report has policy implication, but insists that the purpose of the Pew Forum is simply to provide unbiased data. "It's not our role to say what should be done," Cooperman said. What they're aiming to do, one of the project's leader said, is to make sure there's reliable information available. "There has been a lot of speculation about the growth of the Muslim population around the world, and many of those who speculate don't have good data," said Brian Grim, a senior researcher at the Pew Forum. For example, the report undermines the notion that Europe is heading toward having any country with a Muslim majority. The continent will be about 8 percent Muslim in 2030, it projects. "The data that we have isn't pointing in the direction of 'Eurabia' at all," Grim said. "The Muslim population is growing and slowing. Instead of a runaway train, it's trending with the general global population," he said. Cooperman hopes that information will help make for more intelligent discussions, he said: "In the midst of heated debate and speculation, we think that solid, reliable, empirical estimates are valuable."
Sam Adams Member	Thu Jan 27 09:16:30 thats a lot of retards
Hot Rod Member	Thu Jan 27 10:04:56 Iranian Book Celebrating Suicide Bombers Found in Arizona Desert By William La Jeunesse Published January 27, 2011 EXCLUSIVE: A book celebrating suicide bombers has been found in the Arizona desert just north of the U.S.- Mexican border, authorities tell Fox News. The book, "In Memory of Our Martyrs," was spotted Tuesday by a U.S. Border Patrol agent out of the Casa Grande substation who was patrolling a route known for smuggling illegal immigrants and drugs. Published in Iran, it consists of short biographies of Islamic suicide bombers and other Islamic militants who died carrying out attacks. According to internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection documents, "The book also includes letters from suicide attackers to their families, as well as some of their last wills and testaments." Each biographical page contains "the terrorist's name, date of death, and how they died." Agents also say that the book appears to have been exposed to weather in the desert "for at least several days or weeks." Authorities told Fox News that there were no people in the area at the time the book was found, and no arrests have been made in connection with it. "At this time, DHS does not have any credible information on terrorist groups operating along the Southwest border," a Department of Homeland Security official said in a statement. "We work closely with our partners in the law enforcement and intelligence communities and as a matter of due diligence and law enforcement best practice, report anything found, no matter how significant or insignificant it may seem." Statements from U.S. officials, including FBI director Robert Mueller, have raised serious concerns in recent years over "OTMs" -- or illegal immigrants other than Mexicans -- who have crossed the southwest border at alarming rates. Mueller testified before the House Appropriations Committee in March 2005 that "there are individuals from countries with known Al Qaeda connections who are changing their Islamic surnames to Hispanic-sounding names and obtaining false Hispanic identities, learning to speak Spanish and pretending to be Hispanic." Just last year, the Department of Homeland Security had in custody thousands of detainees from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. U.S. Border Patrol statistics indicate that there were 108,025 OTMs detained in 2006, compared to 165,178 in 2005 and 44,614 in 2004. Authorities would not release a picture of the book to Fox News, or reveal how long they believe it was lying in the desert. Immigration officials have previously discovered items along the U.S.-Mexico border from Middle Eastern origin, including Iranian currency in Zapata, Texas, and a jacket found in Jim Hogg County, Texas, that was covered in patches including an Arabic military badge that illustrates an airplane flying into a tower. Read more: http://www...-arizona-desert/#ixzz1CFjxeNc2
CrownRoyal Member	Thu Jan 27 10:08:13 Manchester United's Dimitar Berbatov taking nothing for granted at the top of the Premier League Striker insists club take it one game at a time By Kevin Emery 27 Jan 2011 14:20:00 "Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov has warned his team-mates not to get carried away despite opening up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League. United came back from 2-0 down against Blackpool on Tuesday night to win 3-2 to preserve their unbeaten run. The Bulgarian has contributed more than most to where United sit in the league at the moment, with 19 of his 20 goals coming in the Premier League. But he is not getting carried away, either with his own form or United’s seemingly healthy position, due to the unpredictability of this season, where teams are taking points off everyone. Berbatov told ESPN: "I just look to my next game, then the next game, until the end of the league when I hope that we will be on the top. "Let’s not underestimate the other teams. "They are very good teams and there are a lot of games to play before the end of the season. "We’re in a good position. But that means nothing if you don’t win the next game." http://www...ar-berbatov-taking-nothing-for
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