# Is the claim "billions have never heard the name of Jesus" accurate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278 "2017-08-10T20:40:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/1 "2017-08-10T20:40:37Z")
Not getting into GD here. Just looking for facts. My understanding of this phrase, that is common in Christian circles, is that there are billions of people who have never been introduced to the concept of Jesus and Christianity. It is not that they’ve not converted to Christianity and “come to know Jesus” in the biblical sense, but they’ve never had the chance to convert as they have never had the privilege of encountering the concept. I am little skeptical that in the 21st century, with pretty widespread public education there over 2 billion people who have literally never heard the word Jesus. Your typical modern Chinese or Indian peasant has had a public education (one of under-reported the ways the human condition has improved greatly in the last few decades) which I would assume include basic world history and religion. Not to mention of course any Muslims would be introduced to the concept of Jesus via their religious upbringing. My back of the envelope calculation is that this fact is incorrect. Anyone have better statistics for this? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/2 "2017-08-10T20:51:00Z")
A quick Googling suggests that it’s not so much haven’t heard “of” _Jesus_ but haven’t “heard” Jesus. As in haven’t heard the Gospel or been preached at or there’s no major center of Christianity in the area. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/3 "2017-08-10T21:04:08Z")
Maybe they include those who’ve already passed the Great Divide. And all those born BC naturally had less chance of Christianity, just as no-one born before 500 AD would hear of Mohammed. And the introduction ( no compulsion ) of christian life led to the Boxer Rising because the Chinese peasant thought it devilry ( other than those who were involved with the Taipings 40 years earlier — which, like it’s contemporary Mormonism, had some differences to orthodox Christianity ). Even in the new capitalist road China ( where there are a lot of people as poor as 200 years ago ) I doubt if there’s a lot of Religious Education in school. And with all that, just hearing the name does not include even slight knowledge: most people have heard of Zoroaster, but only 1 in 10 could mention any doctrine. And what do we know of the Falun Gong or the Aum Shinrikyo ? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/4 "2017-08-10T21:31:49Z")
[Chick Tract]“Who is this Jesus guy you’re talking about?”[/CT] [This site](https://joshuaproject.net/resources/articles/has_everyone_heard) claims that there are 16,600 “distinct people groups” that haven’t heard about Jesus, [and this page from the same site](https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/statistics) puts the number of “unreached” at 3,157,288,000. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/5 "2017-08-10T21:49:45Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Your typical modern Chinese or \*\*Indian \*\*peasant has had a public education… \ The typical Indian peasant is more likely to have learnt about Jesus by the continued relentless campaigns conducted by the Christian evangelists/missionaries. The second source would be TV - since there are short snippets of all religions transmitted from time to time. Most TV stations will greet people on important holidays like Diwali, Id, Christmas,etc. The third would be mobile phones which are ubiquitous. Although India has a Christian population of about 20 million, most Hindus convert to gain better economic advantage and not due to some religious conviction (IMHO). Muslims in India rarely convert. > [@griffin1977](#): > > (one of under-reported the ways the human condition has improved greatly in the last few decades) which I would assume include basic world history and religion. I am not sure what makes you so sure of this. Only [17% of Americans](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/11/1120_021120_GeoRoperSurvey.html)can find Afghanistan on the world map. Philosophy departments in major International Schools of repute implies western Philosophy. Just trying to emphasize that vast majority of people in the world are engaged on surviving and tend to learn/remember what gives them a survival advantage. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/6 "2017-08-10T21:57:55Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > …and this page from the same site puts the number of “unreached” at 3,157,288,000. Their definition of unreached is :smack: “Few evangelicals and few who identify as Christians. Little, if any, history of Christianity. : Evangelicals \<= 2%, Professing Christians \<= 5%” Seems like they can easily label any place that has rejected Christianity as “Unreached”. I am not sure you can use statistics from this site for GQ. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/7 "2017-08-10T22:14:42Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Your typical modern Chinese or Indian peasant has had a public education … which I would assume include basic world history and religion. Why would you assume either? Can any Dopers shed light on this? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/8 "2017-08-10T22:35:32Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Why would you assume either? Can any Dopers shed light on this? In terms of statistics: [India](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India) > [@](#): > > As per the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2012, 96.5% of all rural children between the ages of 6-14 were enrolled in school. [China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_China#Junior_secondary) > [@](#): > > All citizens must attend school for at least nine years, known as the nine-year compulsory education, which the government funds. In terms of content I can’t say for sure (hence why I asked this question). Public education may not be identical all cultures, but the fact is education the world over is still heavily based on western models (doubly so in former British colonies like India). So I would be incredibly surprised if the kind of things that feature heavily in history lessons in the west (Roman Empire, adoption of Christianity, reformation, etc.) were not mentioned, even if (rightly) Indian or Chinese regional history features more heavily. I suspect the statement MAY have been true 50 years. if you lived in a rural region with no adherents to the any of the Abrahamic religions, and never went to school of any kind, you may not have heard of Jesus or Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/9 "2017-08-10T22:39:02Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > A quick Googling suggests that it’s not so much haven’t heard “of” _Jesus_ but haven’t “heard” Jesus. Well that includes everyone born in the last 2017 years, so i guess billions is right ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/10 "2017-08-10T22:58:10Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > Only [17% of Americans](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/11/1120_021120_GeoRoperSurvey.html)can find Afghanistan on the world map. What a shame that more Americans can’t perform such a valuable skill. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/11 "2017-08-10T23:33:27Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > What a shame that more Americans can’t perform such a valuable skill. :rolleyes: The point I was trying to make is that the same attitude of :rolleyes: is encountered when Indian peasants are asked about Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/12 "2017-08-11T00:16:14Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > In terms of content It was really the content for which I was requesting cites. > [@](#): > > Public education may not be identical all cultures, but the fact is education the world over is still heavily based on western models (doubly so in former British colonies like India). Even in China and Japan? China has a long history of education. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/13 "2017-08-11T01:30:32Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > It was really the content for which I was requesting cites. > > Even in China and Japan? China has a long history of education. While not as much as former European colonies, their 21st century education system still very heavily influenced by the west (you earn doctorates or bachelors degrees at university, you go to secondary school). I would be really surprised if the basic facts of the Abrahamic traditions, as they related to world (and Chinese) history were not taught at secondary school (through the lens of communist party doctrine I am sure, but taught nonetheless). If someone has a cite showing I am wrong, and they aren’t taught at all I’d be interested to see it. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/14 "2017-08-11T02:11:22Z")
There was a IMHO thread a couple weeks ago. Asking about attending church during their childhood. I was quite surprised at how many Americans have never attended church regularly at any time in their lives. So yes, we have a significant population right here in the US that don’t know Jesus and never been baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. There’s a big difference in hearing his name thrown around and actually attending church & studying the Bible. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/15 "2017-08-11T02:19:14Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Your typical modern Chinese or Indian peasant has had a public education (one of under-reported the ways the human condition has improved greatly in the last few decades) which I would assume include basic world history and religion. Not to mention of course any Muslims would be introduced to the concept of Jesus via their religious upbringing. China probably, but there are a _lot_ of peasants in India, mostly women, who have never been to school. I also don’t know what the Indian curriculum consists of. There are a significant number of Christians in India, about 3%, but they tend to be geographically concerntrated so there’s probably a lot of people who don’t know any personally. There are also a lot of nominal Christians out there who know very little about their own religion (in a lot of the world, like much of Eastern Europe the church you belong to is as much an ethnic signifier as a religious one). That being said, yea I’m almost certain there are very few people there who haven’t heard of Jesus is. Africans in particular have overwhelmingly converted to either Christianity or Islam in the last half-century, both of which talk about Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/16 "2017-08-11T03:05:32Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > Seems like they can easily label any place that has rejected Christianity as “Unreached”. I am not sure you can use statistics from this site for GQ. I’m using that cite to show where such an absurd idea comes from in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/17 "2017-08-11T03:23:14Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > …21st century education system still very heavily influenced by the west … In the case of India, it was not influence but a deliberate forced conversion. It was/is called [Macaulayism](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaulayism). Quote from Wikipedia - “Macaulayism is the conscious policy of liquidating indigenous culture through the planned substitution of the alien culture of a colonizing power via the education system …” ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/18 "2017-08-11T13:53:10Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > \>A quick Googling suggests that it’s not so much haven’t heard “of” Jesus but haven’t “heard” Jesus. > > Well that includes everyone born in the last 2017 years, so i guess billions is right You seem to be implying that Jesus died in the year 1 BC. Christian tradition claims that Jesus was BORN in the year 1 CE and died in the year 34 CE, which is only 1,983 years ago. I can let it slide that you clipped **running coach** ’s quote in the middle and totally mischaracterized what he was saying, but using incorrect numbers… well that’s just a crime against history and/or math. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/19 "2017-08-11T15:06:08Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I would be really surprised if the basic facts of the Abrahamic traditions, as they related to world (and Chinese) history were not taught at secondary school (through the lens of communist party doctrine I am sure, but taught nonetheless). Why would they be? They’re not part of the required education at any levels in multiple European countries. Assuming that they’d be required in China seems to me as absurd as expecting Italian to be a popular second language for Japanese students. ---
**Author:** ![gatorslap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gatorslap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gatorslap)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278/20 "2017-08-11T17:43:20Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Why would they be? They’re not part of the required education at any levels in multiple European countries. Assuming that they’d be required in China seems to me as absurd as expecting Italian to be a popular second language for Japanese students. What European countries don’t teach European history? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-claim-billions-have-never-heard-the-name-of-jesus-accurate/793278.md?page=2)