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==Christianity today==
As of 2004, Christianity is the world's most widely practiced [[religion]], with 2 [[billion]] adherents (followed by [[Islam]] with 1.3 billion, [[Hinduism]] with 841 million, and the nonreligious with 774 million). Christianity has many branches, including 1.1 billion [[Roman Catholic ChurchCatholicism|Roman Catholics]], 367 million [[Protestantism|Protestants]] in a number of traditions, 216 million [[Orthodox ChristianityEastern Orthodoxy|Orthodox]], 84 million [[Anglicanism|Anglicans]], 414 million Independents (unaffiliated with the major streams of Christianity), and 31.7 million "marginals" ([[Jehovah's Witnesses]], [[Latter Day Saint]]s ([[Mormon]]s), etc.), these last being denominations which describe themselves as Christian but are not standardly recognized as such by other denominations.
Although Christianity is the largest religion in the world and there are massive missionary efforts under way, as a whole it is declining in terms of the overall population. While the population of the world grows at roughly 1.25% per year, Christianity is growing at about 1.12% per year. By contrast, Islam is growing at 1.76% per year. The slow growth can be attributed to most of the Christian population residing in affluent nations where the [[birth rate]] is quite low. By contrast, Islamic nations have a higher birth rate and by effect have a larger growth percentage.
''For more, see:''
* [[List of Christian denominations]]
* [[Christianity: Denominations]]
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