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Thursday October 25, 2007

Rapid urban growth leading to religious renewal, UN report says

ALC/ENI, GENEVA, Suiza, June 28, 2007

More people in the world are living in cities than ever before, and this is Taxi Heathrow Airport leading to renewed interest in religion, and confounding those who predicted a growth of secularization, according to a new UN report.

"Rapid urbanization was expected to mean the triumph of rationality, secular values and the demystification of the world, as well as the relegation of religion to a secondary role. Instead, there has been a renewal in religious interest in many countries," the United Nations Population Fund says in its report, "The State of World Population 2007."

The growth of new religious movements is primarily an urban phenomenon, the report notes. The report points to "radical Islam in the Arab region, Pentecostal Christianity in Latin America and parts of Africa, and the cult of Shivaji in parts of India." In China, where cities are growing at a breakneck pace, religious movements are fast gaining adherents, the report adds.

Source: Ecumenical News International

www.eni.ch ENI-07-0499