Go to Previous Page - - Next Page.
Who are Evangelical Christians, Anyway?
Who are Christians?
-
Although increasingly used to define an ethnic group, Christians are not a coherent racial group. Christians are found throughout the world in almost every country. Christianity is the dominant religion of Europe, North America, South America, Australia, The Philippines, South Korea, Russia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Millions of minority Christians are found in China, Japan, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Christians are sprinkled throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia -- areas dominated by Islam.
In the USA, Christianity is the dominant religion in most racial groups, including whites, blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, Eskimos, Pacific Islanders, Vietnamese, and Filipinos. Over 1 billion people claim to be Christians worldwide.
- Christians divide themselves into "Denominations" or sects. (For details on Denominations, see Chapter 7.) Most people who study Christianity divide Christians at the highest level into four main groups:
- Catholic - The largest group, the Roman Catholic Church looks to the Pope as its leader. Catholics are the dominant group in Belgium, France, southern Germany, Austria, Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, South and Central America, the Philippines, southern India and the northern USA.
- Protestant - The Reformation led to the creation of the groups commonly known as Protestant, Reformed, or Evangelical. These include the subgroups of Evangelical, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Congregational, Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, and many, many smaller subgroups. Protestants are the dominant group in the United Kingdom, Holland, northern Germany, Scandinavia, Australia, Canada, southern Africa, and the USA outside of the Northeast and Chicago.
- Orthodox - The Orthodox church split from Rome around the year 1054. It is strongest in Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Bulgaria, Rumania, Serbia, and Macedonia.
- Coptic - The Coptic church dates from the 1st Century, and has survived in Egypt.
We will cover Denominations in greater depth in a later chapter.