Re U.S. pie chart--I think that's a reasonable assumption, which I believe was also stated by someone in the thread at that link, but the claim lampooned there is universal, and I was responding to that claim.

In short, I agree with Ebonmuse. Some people have taken the teachings of Jesus far from the spirit of the teaching. Jesus said that the two greatest commandments were to love God and love each other. Some people have strayed far from this indeed and it pains me to see it.

Cheers,

Matt

In response to your link, the contents of which I realize are a joke:

1. The claim of the joke appears to be that the proposition that Christians are persecuted is ridiculous. But in fact, Christians are persecuted in many places, especially in Islamic countries. I should also add that the joke operates on the assumption that groups which constitute majorities cannot be persecuted. Obviously, that assumption is shown to be erroneous in some cases where the minority holds power, e.g., Sunni persecution of Shia under Saddam's rule.

2. FYI, a graphic representation of the world's religious adherents (pie chart with percentages), circa 2005, can be found here

I know a number of people who might otherwise have been xians who were surprised to discover the sheer diversity of beliefs in the world, which gave them reason to begin questioning the (locally) established beliefs.

C.S. Lewis knew that too: in Mere Christianity, he urged his readers not to talk about the numerous divisions and denominations within Christianity when outsiders were listening, lest it discourage those people from coming to the faith.

While it doesn't explain the why, it occurred to me that the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire is like a virus that for most of history was confined to the animal kingdom and then one day it crosses over and affects humans, like SIV to HIV, for example. Whereas Judaism was essentially a religion that was exclusive to a group of people who defined themselves as Jews, Christianity had pretensions of universality for people of all nations. Something caused a proto-Christianity to leap out of its Jewish confines, and spread throughout its host, the Roman Empire. In fact, were it not for the Roman Empire conquering the Middle East, Christianity might never have happened. And the Roman Empire itself made the perfect host for an aggressive and proselyzing religion. It controlled a large territory that lacked an official state religion (the Romans tended to tolerate all religions, as long as the proper dues were paid to the emperor), and was connected by an excellent system of roads that facilitated travel throughout the empire. When the Roman Empire began to be rocked in the 3rd century C.E. by civil wars, economic hardship, plagues, barbarian incursions and wars with the Persians, it was a perfect breeding ground for Christianity. With the lot of the common people growing worse, a religion that offered a hope for a better world in the afterlife must have been quite appealing.

On the other hand, the other major power in the Middle East was Persia, which had as its state religion Zoroastrianism. While there were Christian communities within the territory ruled by the Persians, it could not fare as well without the state support it would receive from the Roman government from the 4th century onward.