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The link says Christianity is on the decline in terms of the percentage of adherents, and in many geographies in absolute numbers.

My question was: of the group of people who believe in heaven and also want indefinite life on earth, how do they reconcile those two ideas? The article has no bearing on that. Even if there was one person who believed in heaven, if they also wanted unlimited life on earth, I'd be interested to hear why they believe both.

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This would be a personal opinion so take it for what it's worth. I doubt that on a relative basis we have as many people left today who are as convinced in the concept of heaven as compared to a thousand years ago. Just think of all the instances where you would give someone a choice to denounce their religion or get burnt alive, and people chose the latter. Comparing that on a relative basis, I think fewer of those choices would be made today.

As to why, a thousand years ago you didn't really have a strong counterthesis to the Intelligent Design thesis. As the Evolutionary principles became better understood and more accepted, religions have had to shift their position a bit (initially the Earth was the center of the universe, etc).

Long story short, even if people do believe in heaven, they wouldn't mind having a small hedge, just in case.

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