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66-472: It traces its roots to the line of William Quan Judge established Leader in 1895 was recognized by a portion of The Society after Blavatsky's death due to a dispute surrounding Annie Besant regarding the existence of The Masters. The juxtaposed positions are put as this: he was either "faithful to the teachings of the Mahatmas" (the stance of the modern Pasadena organization) or as Besant claimed, had forged

132-598: A 2012 Pew Research Center survey, if current trends continue, Christianity will remain the world's largest religion by 2050. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. While Muslims have an average of 3.1 children per woman—the highest rate of all religious groups—Christians are second, with 2.7 children per woman. High birth rates and conversion were cited as the reason for Christian population growth . A 2015 study found that approximately 10.2 million Muslims converted to Christianity . Christianity

198-408: A derisive element in the term Christian to refer to followers of Christ who did not acknowledge the emperor of Rome. The city of Antioch, where someone gave them the name Christians , had a reputation for coming up with such nicknames. However Peter's apparent endorsement of the term led to its being preferred over "Nazarenes" and the term Christianoi from 1 Peter becomes the standard term in

264-808: A group of roughly 200 members disputed Tingley's leadership chose to secede and formed a new faction of the Brotherhood, dubbed the Theosophical Society in America (Hargrove) . In 1900 Tingley moved the Theosophical Society's headquarters from New York City to Lomaland at Point Loma, San Diego located in Southern California . It later moved to Covina in Los Angeles County in 1942, and finally found

330-456: A home in Altadena, California in 1945. Max Heindel was vice president during 1904 and 1905. Leaders of The Theosophical Society Pasadena have included Gottfried de Purucker , 1929–42; Arthur L. Conger , 1945-51; James A. Long (1951-1971); Grace Knoche (1971-2006); and Randell Grubb (since 2006). The Theosophical Society of Pasadena devotes the majority of their time in the furthering of

396-556: A metaphysical nature can be found, directly or indirectly, in the works of Madame Blavatsky. He attempted no new "revelation" but illustrated in his own works the ideal use of the concepts of the Theosophical Teachings." Over the years, Judge attracted to the Movement a nucleus of devoted followers. The movement grew steadily in America. Judge wrote theosophical articles for various theosophical magazines, and also

462-689: A new headquarters. As a European, her efforts to restore respect for the Hindu faith were quite effective. As a result, she made enemies among the missionaries of Christianity. The Theosophical Movement 1875–1950 sets out some of the events that followed: "William Q. Judge, who arrived in India soon after the Coulombs had been sent away from headquarters, made a detailed examination of the false door constructed in Madam Blavatsky's 'occult room'. He showed

528-456: A political context, is Ṣalībī ( صليبي ' Crusader ' ) from ṣalīb ( صليب ' cross ' ), which refers to Crusaders and may have negative connotations. However, Ṣalībī is a modern term; historically, Muslim writers described European Christian Crusaders as al-Faranj or Alfranj ( الفرنج ) and Firinjīyah ( الفرنجيّة ) in Arabic. This word comes from the name of

594-498: A review of the Nobel Prizes award between 1901 and 2000 reveals that (65.4%) of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference. In 2017, Open Doors , a human rights NGO , estimated approximately 260 million Christians are subjected annually to "high, very high, or extreme persecution", with North Korea considered the most hazardous nation for Christians. In 2019,

660-541: A third of the world's population and is the largest religion in the world. Christians have composed about 33 percent of the world's population for around 100 years. The largest Christian denomination is the Roman Catholic Church , with 1.3 billion adherents, representing half of all Christians. Christianity remains the dominant religion in the Western World , where 70% are Christians. According to

726-754: A unique significance." Michael Martin evaluated three historical Christian creeds (the Apostles' Creed , the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed ) to establish a set of basic Christian assumptions which include belief in theism , the historicity of Jesus , the Incarnation , salvation through faith in Jesus, and Jesus as an ethical role model. The identification of Jesus as the Messiah

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792-527: A university degree in institutions of higher education (67%), followed by the Christians of Israel (63%), and the Christians of Georgia (57%). According to the study, Christians in North America , Europe , Middle East , North Africa and Asia Pacific regions are highly educated since many of the world's universities were built by the historic Christian denominations , in addition to

858-609: Is descriptive of anything associated with Christianity or Christian churches , or in a proverbial sense "all that is noble, and good, and Christ-like." According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, up from about 600 million in 1910. Today, about 37% of all Christians live in the Americas , about 26% live in Europe , 24% live in sub-Saharan Africa , about 13% live in Asia and

924-513: Is generally understood to be derived from Nazarenes , believers of Jesus of Nazareth through Syriac (Aramaic); Masīḥī ( مسيحي ) means followers of the Messiah. Where there is a distinction, Naṣrānī refers to people from a Christian culture and Masīḥī is used by Christians themselves for those with a religious faith in Jesus. In some countries Naṣrānī tends to be used generically for non-Muslim Western foreigners. Another Arabic word sometimes used for Christians, particularly in

990-523: Is growing in Africa , Asia, Eastern Europe , Latin America , the Muslim world , and Oceania . According to a study from 2015, Christians hold the largest amount of wealth (55% of the total world wealth), followed by Muslims (5.8%), Hindus (3.3%) and Jews (1.1%). According to the same study it was found that adherents under the classification Irreligion or other religions hold about 34.8% of

1056-528: Is known nowadays simply as the Theosophical Society , but often with the specification, "international headquarters, Pasadena, California ". Judge died in 1896 in New York City. In 1898, Ernest Temple Hargrove, who had initially supported Tingley, left with other members to form the Theosophical Society in America (Hargrove) Branch. Other new organizations split off from his, including the Temple of

1122-631: Is not accepted by Judaism. The term for a Christian in Hebrew is נוֹצְרִי ( Notzri ' Nazarene ' ), a Talmudic term originally derived from the fact that Jesus came from the Galilean village of Nazareth, today in northern Israel. Adherents of Messianic Judaism are referred to in modern Hebrew as יְהוּדִים מְשִׁיחִיִּים ( Yehudim Meshihi'im ' Messianic Jews ' ). In Arabic-speaking cultures , two words are commonly used for Christians: Naṣrānī ( نصراني ), plural Naṣārā ( نصارى )

1188-467: Is not thought that utopia can be established in a day ... Certainly, if we all say that it is useless ... nothing will ever be done. A beginning must be made and it has been made by the Theosophical society ... Riches are accumulating in the hands of the few while the poor are ground harder every day as they increase in number ... All this points unerringly to a vital error somewhere ... What is wanted

1254-446: Is true knowledge of the spiritual condition of man, his aim, and destiny ... those who must begin the reform are those who are so fortunate as to be placed in the world where they can see and think out the problems all are endeavouring to solve, even if they know that the great day may not come until after their death. He also wrote: The Christian nations have dazzled themselves with a baneful glitter of material progress. They are not

1320-651: The Early Church Fathers from Ignatius and Polycarp onwards. The earliest occurrences of the term in non-Christian literature include Josephus , referring to "the tribe of Christians, so named from him;" Pliny the Younger in correspondence with Trajan ; and Tacitus , writing near the end of the 1st century. In the Annals he relates that "by vulgar appellation [they were] commonly called Christians" and identifies Christians as Nero 's scapegoats for

1386-635: The Franks and can be seen in the Arab history text Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh by Ali ibn al-Athir . The most common Persian word is Masīhī ( مسیحی ), from Arabic . Other words are Nasrānī ( نصرانی ), from Syriac for ' Nazarene ' , and Tarsā ( ترسا ), from the Middle Persian word Tarsāg , also meaning ' Christian ' , derived from tars , meaning ' fear, respect ' . An old Kurdish word for Christian frequently in usage

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1452-725: The Great Fire of Rome . Another term for Christians which appears in the New Testament is Nazarenes . Jesus is named as a Nazarene in Matthew 2:23 , while Paul is said to be Nazarene in Acts 24:5 . The latter verse makes it clear that Nazarene also referred to the name of a sect or heresy, as well as the town called Nazareth. The term Nazarene was also used by the Jewish lawyer Tertullus ( Against Marcion 4:8), who records

1518-699: The Greek Septuagint , christos was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ ( Mašíaḥ , ' messiah '), meaning "[one who is] anointed". In other European languages, equivalent words to Christian are likewise derived from the Greek, such as chrétien in French and cristiano in Spanish. The abbreviations Xian and Xtian (and similarly formed other parts of speech) have been used since at least

1584-533: The Pacific , and 1% live in the Middle East and North Africa . Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories. 280 million Christians live as a minority . About half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic , while more than a third are Protestant (37%). Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the world's Christians. Other Christian groups make up the remainder. By 2050,

1650-601: The education of women , which led to the eradication of illiteracy among females in Protestant communities. Christian culture describes the cultural practices common to Christian peoples. There are variations in the application of Christian beliefs in different cultures and traditions. Christian culture has influenced and assimilated much from the Greco-Roman , Byzantine , Western culture , Middle Eastern , Slavic , Caucasian , and Indian cultures . Since

1716-724: The 16th and 17th centuries before the religion was banned by the Tokugawa shogunate . Today, Christians are referred to in Standard Japanese as キリスト教徒 ( Kirisuto-kyōto ) or the English-derived term クリスチャン ( kurisuchan ). Korean still uses 기독교도 ( RR : Gidokkyodo ) for ' Christian ' , though the Portuguese loanword 그리스도 (RR: Geuriseudo ) now replaced the old Sino-Korean 기독 (RR: Gidok ), which refers to Christ himself. In Thailand,

1782-611: The 17th century: Oxford English Dictionary shows a 1634 use of Xtianity and Xian is seen in a 1634–38 diary. The word Xmas uses a similar contraction. The first recorded use of the term (or its cognates in other languages) is in the New Testament , in Acts 11 after Barnabas brought Saul (Paul) to Antioch where they taught the disciples for about a year. The text says that "the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" ( Acts 11:26 ). The second mention of

1848-692: The Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey, Christianity will remain the world's largest religion in 2050, if current trends continue. In recent history, Christians have experienced persecution of varying severity, especially in the Middle-East , North Africa, East Asia , and South Asia . The Greek word Χριστιανός ( Christianos ), meaning ' follower of Christ ' , comes from Χριστός ( Christos ), meaning ' anointed one ', with an adjectival ending borrowed from Latin to denote adhering to, or even belonging to, as in slave ownership. In

1914-522: The People (whose library bears his name) during 1898 and the United Lodge of Theosophists or ULT during 1909. Christians A Christian ( / ˈ k r ɪ s tʃ ən , - t i ə n / ) is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity , a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ . Christians form the largest religious community in

1980-525: The Russian term крестьяне ( khrest'yane ) acquired the meaning ' peasants of Christian faith ' and later ' peasants ' (the main part of the population of the region), while the term Russian : христиане ( khristiane ) retained its religious meaning and the term Russian : русские ( russkie ) began to mean representatives of the heterogeneous Russian nation formed on the basis of common Christian faith and language, which strongly influenced

2046-455: The Society's American Section with him. Despite being hounded by devotees to Besant, Judge managed his new organization for about a year until his death in New York City, whereupon Katherine Tingley became manager. The organization originating from the faction of Olcott and Besant is based nowadays in India and known as the Theosophical Society - Adyar , while the organization managed by Judge

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2112-544: The United States. The real beginning of the work of Theosophy in the United States began in 1886, when Judge established The Path , an independent Theosophical magazine. Until this time, not much had been accomplished in the way of growth of the Society in America. Judge's interest in the welfare of others affected his work, so that his articles and Theosophical talks addressed the common people in homely language and with simple reason. In his first editorial, he wrote: It

2178-671: The Western world, Christians has had an influence and contributed on various cultures, such as in Africa, the Near East, Middle East, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Christians have made noted contributions to a range of fields, including philosophy, science and technology , medicine , fine arts and architecture , politics , literatures , music , and business . According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes

2244-542: The central role of the Western world and Western culture . Western culture, throughout most of its history, has been nearly equivalent to Christian culture, and a large portion of the population of the Western Hemisphere can be described as practicing or nominal Christians. The notion of "Europe" and the "Western World" has been intimately connected with the concept of "Christianity and Christendom". Outside

2310-526: The country's rich history of early Christianity during the Spanish colonial era . Some Protestants in the Philippines use the term Kristiyano (before the term born again became popular) to differentiate themselves from Catholics ( Katoliko ). The region of modern Eastern Europe and Central Eurasia has a long history of Christianity and Christian communities on its lands. In ancient times, in

2376-450: The fiery energies of his undaunted soul were given to this work." In 1876, business affairs caused him to visit South America , where he contracted "Chagres fever", and he was ever after a sufferer from the disease. Other "phases" of his experiences on this journey are recorded in his writings, often allegorical, suggesting the character of the occult contacts which may have been established on this journey. In India, Blavatsky established

2442-735: The first centuries after the birth of Christ, when this region was called Scythia, the geographical area of Scythians – Christians already lived there. Later the region saw the first states to adopt Christianity officially – initially Armenia (301 AD) and Georgia (337 AD), later Bulgaria ( c. 864) and Kyivan Rus ( c. 988 AD). In some areas, people came to denote themselves as Christians ( Russian : христиане, крестьяне ; Ukrainian : християни , romanized :  khrystyiany ) and as Russians ( Russian : русские ), Ruthenians ( Old East Slavic : русини, руснаки , romanized:  rusyny, rusnaky ), or Ukrainians ( Ukrainian : українці , romanized :  ukraintsi ). In time

2508-649: The founders of the original Theosophical Society . He was born in Dublin, Ireland . When he was 13 years old, his family emigrated to the United States . He became a naturalized citizen of the US at age 21 and passed the New York state bar exam, specializing in commercial law . Judge was one of the seventeen co-founders of the Theosophical Society. Like Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott , he stayed in

2574-671: The founding of the Society, Blavatsky wrote: "Our society as a body might certainly be wrecked by mismanagement or the death of its founders, but the IDEA which it represents and which has gained so wide a currency, will run on like a crested wave of thought until it dashes upon the hard beach where materialism is picking and sorting its pebbles ..." At this time, the affairs of the Society were largely in Olcott's hands. Meetings were held irregularly, and many plans for occult experimentation were proposed. Neither Blavatsky nor Judge took any active part in

2640-417: The friends who could show where the designs for the work had been hidden. And, true to the call, she responded, revealing plans once again, and speaking no words to explain, simply pointed them out and went on with the task. It was as if but the evening before we had parted, leaving yet to be done some detail of a task taken up with one common end; it was teacher and pupil, elder brother and younger, both bent on

2706-486: The highest numbers of years of schooling among Christians were found in Germany (13.6), New Zealand (13.5) and Estonia (13.1). Christians were also found to have the second highest number of graduate and post-graduate degrees per capita while in absolute numbers ranked in the first place (220 million). Between the various Christian communities , Singapore outranks other nations in terms of Christians who obtain

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2772-528: The historical evidence that "Christian monks built libraries and, in the days before printing presses, preserved important earlier writings produced in Latin, Greek and Arabic". According to the same study, Christians have a significant amount of gender equality in educational attainment, and the study suggests that one of the reasons is the encouragement of the Protestant Reformers in promoting

2838-494: The history and development of the region. In the region, the term Orthodox faith ( Russian : православная вера , pravoslavnaia vera ) or Russian faith ( Russian : русская вера , russkaia vera ) from the earliest times became almost as common as the original Christian faith ( Russian : христианская, крестьянская вера khristianskaia, krestianskaia ). Also in some contexts the term cossack ( Old East Slavic : козак, казак , romanized:  kozak, kazak )

2904-696: The introductory volume, The Ocean of Theosophy in 1893. He became the General Secretary of the American Section of the Theosophical Society in 1884, with Abner Doubleday as president. Judge left no record of the period before the founding of the Theosophical Society but some of his published statements reveal the character of his relationship with Blavatsky during this period. On the occasion of her death in 1891, he referred to their first meeting in her rooms in January 1875. He wrote: It

2970-526: The larger category as Christian. Most Baptists and fundamentalists ( Christian Fundamentalism ), for example, would not acknowledge Mormonism or Christian Science as Christian. In fact, the nearly 77 percent of Americans who self-identify as Christian are a diverse pluribus of Christianities that are far from any collective unity. Linda Woodhead attempts to provide a common belief thread for Christians by noting that "Whatever else they might disagree about, Christians are at least united in believing that Jesus has

3036-542: The letters claiming them to be from the Mahatmas (the stance of the modern Adyar organization). The corresponding faction led by Henry Steel Olcott and Annie Besant , whose organization, based in India, is known today as the Theosophical Society - Adyar . Judge led the American group for nearly a year prior to his sudden death in 1896 while traveling across India, at which time Katherine Tingley became Leader. Although initially supported by Ernest Temple Hargorve, he and

3102-407: The meetings after the first few sessions. He was busy with his law practice. She was beginning to write her first book, Isis Unveiled . After Blavatsky died in 1891, Judge became involved in a dispute with Olcott and Annie Besant , whom he considered to have deviated from the original teaching of the Mahatmas. As a result, he ended his association with Olcott and Besant during 1895 and took most of

3168-646: The most common terms are คนคริสต์ ( RTGS : khon khrit ) or ชาวคริสต์ (RTGS: chao khrit ) which literally means ' Christ person/people ' or ' Jesus person/people ' . The Thai word คริสต์ (RTGS: khrit ) is derived from Christ . In the Philippines , the most common terms are Kristiyano (for ' Christian ' ) and {{lang[fil|Kristiyanismo}} (for ' Christianity ' ) in most Philippine languages ; both derive from Spanish cristiano and cristianismo (also used in Chavacano ) due to

3234-484: The next several years. His difficulties over this period of time are illustrated by a biographical passage written by Julia van der Planck (the wife of Archibald Keightley ): "It was a time when Madame Blavatsky – she who was then the one great exponent, had left the field ... the interest excited by her ... striking mission had died down. The T.S. was henceforth to subsist on its philosophical basis ... From his twenty-third year until his death, [Judge's] best efforts and all

3300-595: The one single end, but she with the power and knowledge that belong but to lions and sages. Blavatsky often referred to the founding of the Theosophical Society as coming about as a result of occult direction from her teachers. Judge later wrote that the objects of the Society had been given to Olcott by the Masters before the meeting at which they were adopted. Thus, the founding of the Theosophy Society may be seen to have been inspired. In 1881, looking back on

3366-524: The organization when others left. When Olcott and Blavatsky left the United States for India, he stayed behind to manage the Society's work, all the while working as a lawyer. When Blavatsky and Olcott left America, they left Theosophy in North America in Judge's hands. While Judge kept in close contact with both Blavatsky and Olcott through correspondence, there was little if any organized activity for

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3432-665: The past, the Malays used to call Christians in Malay by the Portuguese loanword Serani (from Arabic Naṣrānī ), but the term now refers to the modern Kristang creoles of Malaysia . In the Indonesian language , the term Nasrani is also used alongside Kristen . The Chinese word is 基督 徒 ( jīdū tú ), literally ' Christ follower ' . The name Christ was originally phonetically written in Chinese as 基利斯督 , which

3498-426: The peoples who will furnish the clearest clues to the Path ... The Grand Clock of the Universe points to another hour, and now Man must seize the key in his hands and himself – as a whole – open the gate ... Our practice consists in a disregard of any authority in matters of religion and philosophy except such propositions as from their innate quality we feel to be true. It has been said of Judge: "Everything he wrote of

3564-418: The phrase "the Jews call us Nazarenes." While around 331 AD Eusebius records that Christ was called a Nazoraean from the name Nazareth , and that in earlier centuries "Christians" were once called "Nazarenes". The Hebrew equivalent of Nazarenes , Notzrim , occurs in the Babylonian Talmud , and is still the modern Israeli Hebrew term for Christian. A wide range of beliefs and practices are found across

3630-400: The product of Coulomb's interrupted labours to some three hundred witnesses who signed their names to a description of the place. He removed the 'shrine' in which the Coulombs had attempted to plant evidence of fraud. These actions provide evidence of 'the Coulomb Conspiracy' and vindicate Madame Blavatsky." In 1885, after his return to America, Judge set about to revitalize the movement in

3696-402: The realization of the Divine Wisdom. Making available the majority of Theosophical texts available online via their online location This article about a religious organization is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . William Quan Judge William Quan Judge (April 13, 1851 – March 21, 1896) was an Irish-American mystic , esotericist , and occultist , and one of

3762-407: The spread of Christianity from the Levant to Europe and North Africa and Horn of Africa during the early Roman Empire , Christendom has been divided in the pre-existing Greek East and Latin West . Consequently, different versions of the Christian cultures arose with their own rites and practices, centered around the cities such as Rome ( Western Christianity ) and Carthage , whose communities

3828-494: The term follows in Acts 26 , where Herod Agrippa II replied to Paul the Apostle , "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." ( Acts 26:28 ). The third and final New Testament reference to the term is in 1 Peter 4 , which exhorts believers: "Yet if [any man suffer] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf." ( 1 Peter 4:16 ). Kenneth Samuel Wuest holds that all three original New Testament verses' usages reflect

3894-410: The total global wealth. A study done by the nonpartisan wealth research firm New World Wealth found that 56.2% of the 13.1 million millionaires in the world were Christians. A Pew Center study about religion and education around the world in 2016, found that Christians ranked as the second most educated religious group around in the world after Jews with an average of 9.3 years of schooling, and

3960-444: The world among those who call themselves Christian. Denominations and sects disagree on a common definition of "Christianity". For example, Timothy Beal notes the disparity of beliefs among those who identify as Christians in the United States as follows: Although all of them have their historical roots in Christian theology and tradition, and although most would identify themselves as Christian, many would not identify others within

4026-422: The world. The words Christ and Christian derive from the Koine Greek title Christós ( Χριστός ), a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach ( מָשִׁיחַ ) (usually rendered as messiah in English). While there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance. The term Christian used as an adjective

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4092-451: Was felle ( فەڵە ), coming from the root word meaning ' to be saved, attain salvation ' . The Syriac term Nasrani ( ' Nazarene ' ) has also been attached to the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala , India. In northern India and Pakistan , Christians are referred to ʿĪsāʾī ( Hindi : ईसाई , Urdu : عیسائی ). Masīhī ( Hindi : मसीही , Urdu : مسیحی ) is a term Christians use to refer to themselves as well. In

4158-413: Was called Western or Latin Christendom , and Constantinople ( Eastern Christianity ), Antioch ( Syriac Christianity ), Kerala ( Indian Christianity ) and Alexandria , among others, whose communities were called Eastern or Oriental Christendom. The Byzantine Empire was one of the peaks in Christian history and Christian civilization . From the 11th to 13th centuries, Latin Christendom rose to

4224-406: Was her eye that attracted me, the eye of one whom I must have known in lives long passed away. She looked at me in recognition for that first hour, and never since has that look changed. Not as a questioner of philosophies did I come before her, not as one groping in the dark for lights that schools and fanciful theories had obscured, but as one who, wandering through the corridors of life, was seeking

4290-464: Was later abbreviated as 基督 . The term is Kî-tuk in the southern Hakka dialect ; the two characters are pronounced Jīdū in Mandarin Chinese. In Vietnam, the same two characters read Cơ đốc , and a "follower of Christianity" is a tín đồ Cơ đốc giáo . In Japan, the term kirishitan (written in Edo period documents 吉利支丹 , 切支丹 , and in modern Japanese histories as キリシタン ), from Portuguese cristão , referred to Roman Catholics in

4356-543: Was used to denote "free" Christians of steppe origin and East Slavic language. Nominally "Christian" societies made "Christian" a default label for citizenship or for "people like us". In this context, religious or ethnic minorities can use "Christians" or "you Christians" loosely as a shorthand term for mainstream members of society who do not belong to their group – even in a thoroughly secular (though formerly Christian) society. As of 2020, Christianity has approximately 2.4 billion adherents. The faith represents about

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