# What if all professed Christians disappeared? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 31, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589 "2013-12-31T20:45:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/121 "2014-01-02T02:39:22Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Except - there are no ‘Christians’ left to espouse this viewpoint - The belief predates Christianity and has can be found in other religions. The rapture would only be a kind of Christan example of it. And it doesn’t take a Christian to understand it. > [@](#): > > and many other religions have been ‘praying’ for their god to get rid of the oppressors - so - those that are left behind would (or at least could) see this as victory for their ‘god’. So in other words, god did it. Just a different way to deiced it was god. > [@](#): > > Just because we don’t understand or know the ‘explanation’ does not mean that a rational explanation does not exist. But Czarcasm set up a scenario where any rational explanation isn’t just unknown, it’s unknowable. Otherwise this topic would be about how to make millions of people disappear. Instead it’s about religion. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/122 "2014-01-02T02:52:41Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > The belief predates Christianity and has can be found in other religions. > The rapture would only be a kind of Christan example of it. And it doesn’t take a Christian to understand it. > > . I would ask for a cite for that - beyond that, since the OP specifies “christians” we can limit ourselves to what thier faith ‘might’ have that is relevant to the event. Understanding what the “rapture” is (and there is disagreement even within christian groups on that subject) has nothing to do with ‘believing’ or having evidence that that is what happened - > [@Aquadementia](#): > > So in other words, god did it. Just a different way to deiced it was god. > . way to miss the point - which is, for those that believe in god - deciding “which” god did it. > [@Aquadementia](#): > > But Czarcasm set up a scenario where any rational explanation isn’t just unknown, it’s unknowable. Otherwise this topic would be about how to make millions of people disappear. Instead it’s about religion. Not at all - its about what would happen if a defined group of people suddenly disappeared - what would the aftermath be - it does not have to be ‘about’ religion at all- except that in this case, we would suddenly be without a ‘major’ one - the exception here is that it is easy to posit that the remaining religions would likely see this as a ‘boost’ to thier side, the few remaining that were undecided would possibly convert (to a remaining group or possibly hope to join the christians by converting there) and the atheists (by and large) would go on looking for the rational answer. I don’t recall the OP stating that the cause would never be known - just that we don’t know it, nor do we have (at the time) and way to find it - that does not mean we won’t eventually - and again, I’ll state it for clarity - “Not Knowing why does not mean GOD exists or even if GOD exists, that he caused the event to happen” - if you don’t understand that, we really don’t have a basis for the rest of the conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/123 "2014-01-02T03:02:58Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Matthew 12:31: Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. > > Argue with him. He says there is only one exception, and it doesn’t have much to do with being an asshole. It just means everyone has a chance of forgiveness but it presumes one is actually repentant for one’s offences. Anyhow I suspect American-European cooperation will increase with much of their respective populations gone. In addition Japan is now the leader of the Free World in terms of population and economic power which probably gives them a very good reason to militarize (they may simply take possession of a lot of now abandoned American military equipment including nukes). ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/124 "2014-01-02T03:07:42Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Except - there are no ‘Christians’ left to espouse this viewpoint - and many other religions have been ‘praying’ for their god to get rid of the oppressors - so - those that are left behind would (or at least could) see this as victory for their ‘god’. > > Just because we don’t understand or know the ‘explanation’ does not mean that a rational explanation does not exist. > > **VarlosZ** - As for atheists - they would continue to search (by and large) for a logical reason that the event happened - as the event itself is _not_ proof of or even evidence for the supernatural. > > Now - if a test was performed where a person left behind professed conversion to Christianity - and they suddenly disappeared - what would that ‘prove’? > > Nothing at all - as you are still left with the question - > > ‘Which side took them because they professed it?’ (which in and of itself, is a false dichotomy, as there are countless other possibilities as for the disappearance - could be aliens that liked the historical records and just decided these sheep are the best slaves or most tasty or easily persuaded to believe in nonsense, or best dressed, the 2 white mice ended that aspect of the simulation, theres a glitch in the program, or or or ) > > and without evidence, you can argue with faith that either side did it, and be just as right as you are right now - which is not right at all. I hope this is a Poe’s Law thing. ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/125 "2014-01-02T03:10:44Z")
Israel would have a very short and bloody war with her neighbors, and eventually replace the United States as a “western” superpower counterbalanced by China, India, Japan, and the remnants of Russia. Since the U.S. has the highest concentration of Jews in the world outside of Israel, they’d probably form the nucleus of the government of whatever arose to replace the U.S. in North America. Also, lots of non-Christians would probably be quite depressed if they determine it was, in fact, the Rapture of the One True God. Anyone who decided to study Christianity after the fact would have already missed the boat, so I find those who say they would do so to be somewhat misguided, unless they can find true belief in the ensuing chaos. Jesus eventually returns to rule a Kingdom of Peace lasting 1,000 years before all of humanity and, in fact, creation, is switched off. (note - I don’t believe any of that, and am nominally agnostic, I just know that’s what I’ve heard/been told would happen). ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/126 "2014-01-02T03:15:37Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > It is definitely not a fait-accompli that the world would be a more ‘peaceful’ place without the US, but I think it is well within the realm of possibility. It’s possible, but very unlikely. Good, bad, or indifferent, the US is by far the world’s most powerful country militarily. If it suddenly fell apart because three fourths of its population disappeared, there would be a power struggle among the nations vying to become the new top dog. And under the conditions of the OP, it wouldn’t just be the US, it would be most of North and South America, Europe, and Australia, plus parts of Africa. You simply can’t have a power vacuum like that and expect the remaining countries not to fight over it. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/127 "2014-01-02T03:21:15Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I hope this is a Poe’s Law thing. How so? [QUOTE=wikipedia] The core of Poe’s law is that a parody of something extreme by nature becomes impossible to differentiate from sincere extremism. A corollary of Poe’s law is the reverse phenomenon: sincere fundamentalist beliefs can be mistaken for a parody of those beliefs. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/128 "2014-01-02T03:29:59Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > At 12 midnight Greenwich Mean Time on January 2nd all those who profess to be Christian disappear from the face of the Earth, never to be seen again. Heaven, Hell, or a holding pen in a distant galaxy-we will never know. > What changes socially, politically, and/or economically? Many businesses would go belly-up due to lack of employees, some due to lack of purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/129 "2014-01-02T04:36:31Z")
> [@simster](#): > > I would ask for a cite for that - beyond that, since the OP specifies “christians” we can limit ourselves to what thier faith ‘might’ have that is relevant to the event. Elijah, Muhammad, Hercules to name a few. Since the premise is that all Christians are gone, the question was what non-Christians would know about it. > [@](#): > > way to miss the point - which is, for those that believe in god - deciding “which” god did it. Ahhh? That is irrelevant for monotheists. If you want to believe there are hundreds of gods, you’re just awash in gods then. It doesn’t make any difference. > [@](#): > > Not at all - its about what would happen if a defined group of people suddenly disappeared - what would the aftermath be - it does not have to be ‘about’ religion at all- except that in this case, we would suddenly be without a ‘major’ one - the exception here is that it is easy to posit that the remaining religions would likely see this as a ‘boost’ to thier side, the few remaining that were undecided would possibly convert (to a remaining group or possibly hope to join the christians by converting there) and the atheists (by and large) would go on looking for the rational answer. > > I don’t recall the OP stating that the cause would never be known - just that we don’t know it, nor do we have (at the time) and way to find it - that does not mean we won’t eventually - and again, I’ll state it for clarity - > > “Not Knowing why does not mean GOD exists or even if GOD exists, that he caused the event to happen” - if you don’t understand that, we really don’t have a basis for the rest of the conversation. This is irrelevant to the topic. Say the remaining people of the world completely devote themselves to investigating scientific reasons for the disappearance. The more they investigate the bigger the failure science is in this scenario. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/130 "2014-01-02T05:01:39Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > Elijah, Muhammad, Hercules to name a few. > Since the premise is that all Christians are gone, the question was what non-Christians would know about it. They would know what everyone else ‘knows’ - that the group known as ‘christians’ is gone - they may choose to believe that it was the ‘christian’ rapture or some other event - but they would not ‘know’ anything conclusively other than the group is gone. Inwardly - they would say that this bolster’s thier specific faiths belief as to what happened to them - they were smited for not believing correctly or any other number of things. > [@Aquadementia](#): > > Ahhh? That is irrelevant for monotheists. > If you want to believe there are hundreds of gods, you’re just awash in gods then. It doesn’t make any difference. The variety in the religions of the world suggests that they do not believe in the same ‘single’ God - or atleast have very different versions of its teachings - such that they are contradictory enough. Otherwise - only athiests would remain after this rapture if it was, in fact, a ‘God’ event for the ‘faithful’. If it is the same ‘God’ for all - there would still be plenty of debate as to ‘why’ he chose this specific group. > [@Aquadementia](#): > > This is irrelevant to the topic. > Say the remaining people of the world completely devote themselves to investigating scientific reasons for the disappearance. The more they investigate the bigger the failure science is in this scenario. Sorry. Even if science is unable to find a reason for said event, how is that a ‘failure’ of science? how does that prove that ‘group Xs version of the event’ is right’ ? How does that ‘prove’ God did it? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/131 "2014-01-02T05:24:16Z")
Ok, now that it was clarified as an act of god, rapture or not, lets look at the world map with the percentage of Christians per country: [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Christianity\_percentage\_by\_country.png](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Christianity_percentage_by_country.png) Well, it looks like if the Cubans of today would be the most likely to take over South America and do what Che Guevara could not do back in the day. There goes Ireland, Poland, Italy… Do we see a repeat of Germany and [del]The USSR[/del] Ukraine/Belarus dividing Poland? In Africa it is not only South Africa that is gone, but almost all African Nations in the south and the center, I can see also a lot of unrest with North African nations making moves for the south. The Philippines can be an easy target for China and even Australia and New Zealand could also be in its plate. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/132 "2014-01-02T05:26:20Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is this so confusing that a title change is necessary? I thought the OP would be sufficient enough explanation, but some here seem to be confused as to what the topic is: What happens if all who claim to be of a certain religion(in this case, Christianity), no matter how sincere their claim is, disappear suddenly from the face of the Earth, and we _never_ find out what happened to them. If you want to talk about who might or might not deserve to be “Raptured”, Great Debates is probably the place to go. You are describing a miracle. Sure sounds like a rapture. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/133 "2014-01-02T05:30:48Z")
One more item I noticed from the map, I can foresee that all the Iberian peninsula will eventually speak French. C’est la vie ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/134 "2014-01-02T05:31:42Z")
You all are so sidetracked by the religious mumbo-jumbo that you’re missing the really fun part of this all. It’s the apocalypse! How would we all survive? Being a huge conoisseur of post-apocalyptic science fiction, well, I have entirely too much to say on the topic, but I kind of doubt all the folks left in New York City will be worried about whether they’re gonna convert to Christianity when they’re starving and without running water. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > How far down the line the line of Presidential succession would we have to go to find a person that didn’t disappear? Actually, not far. Jacob Lew, at number 5, is Jewish. But that assumes that Mr. Lew wasn’t one of the inevitable casualties of the aftermath of all this. After that is Penny Pritzker at 9. And then we’re screwed. For the purposes of this list, I’m lumping all forms of Christianity together. Info mostly from Wikipedia Eligible # Office Current officer 1 Vice President of the United States Joe Biden (D) - Christian 2 Speaker of the House John Boehner (R) - Christian 3 President pro tempore of the Senate Patrick Leahy (D) - Christian 4 Secretary of State John Kerry (D) - Christian **5 Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew (D) - Jewish** 6 Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (R) - Christian 7 Attorney General Eric Holder (D) - Christian — Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell (D) - Ineligible. Naturalized citizen. Religion not listed, but she doesn’t _look_ Jewish (ha ha) 8 Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (D) - Christian **9 Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker (D) - Jewish** 10 Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez (D) - Christian 11 Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius (D) - Christian 12 Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan (D) - Christian 13 Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx (D) - Christian 14 Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz (D) - Christian 15 Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (D) - Christian 16 Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki (I) - Christian 17 Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson (D) - Christian > [@enipla](#): > > How long would it take to make the connection that the missing where ‘Christians’? About 5 seconds. When Vijay and Shlomo and Xiao and Abdul show up to work and Christine and Pete and Tim and Winston are missing, I think they’ll figure it out. > [@](#): > > Czarcasm - Your premise could make an interesting book. Various versions of this scenario have been explored in many books. The first one that springs to mind, not surprisingly, is Left Behind, though that deals with the actual rapture, and only true born-again Christians disappear. (I forgot what happened to the kids.) > [@Aquadementia](#): > > Israel would be feeling alone in the world. An island would be easier to defend, so they may want to think of calling Ireland or England the new promised land. If you’re thinking of an island, why not Long Island? Well-stocked with Jews already! > [@TonySinclair](#): > > According to reports I’ve read, when Clinton was first told that a plane had hit the WTC, the first thing he said was “Bin Laden.” When Bush was first told that a plane had hit the WTC, the first thing he said was, “That’s one bad pilot.” IQ test? It’s meaningless if we don’t know WHAT they were told. Was Bush told “a plane hit the WTC” and Clinton told “a terrorist deliberately crashed a 747 into the WTC?” According to people that I know who were actually IN the second tower to be hit, when they were told “a plane hit the other tower,” they assumed it was just a Cessna with a bad pilot or something. Makes sense. People have crashed small planes into NYC skyscrapers before. Absent other information, that’s the obvious assumption, given Occam’s razor and all that. I like bashing Bush as much as any leftie, but this one I’ll give him a pass on. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/135 "2014-01-02T05:37:49Z")
If the president of the USA is Jewish then I do not think that Israel will be left alone, a good number of weapon systems would be left available to be delivered to defend Israel. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2014, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/136 "2014-01-02T05:40:13Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > If the president of the USA is Jewish then I do not think that Israel will be left alone, a good number of weapon systems would be left available to be delivered to defend Israel. And who exactly would be delivering these weapons systems? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/137 "2014-01-02T05:56:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > And who exactly would be delivering these weapons systems? There are a few Jewish soldiers. But many more Jewish civilians would be available for support and transportation. The USA can also do like in WWII with a massive lend-lease to Israel, back then before war was declared to Germany the USA could not deliver material like airplanes to Britain, so on many occasions British pilots came for them. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2014, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/138 "2014-01-02T06:34:18Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > There are a few Jewish soldiers. But many more Jewish civilians would be available for support and transportation. > > The USA can also do like in WWII with a massive lend-lease to Israel, back then before war was declared to Germany the USA could not deliver material like airplanes to Britain, so on many occasions British pilots came for them. Most of the U.S.A., both government and people, are _gone_. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/139 "2014-01-02T06:37:31Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Most of the U.S.A., both government and people, are _gone_. Not New York. > **[File:Jewry.PNG](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jewry.PNG)** > > Original file (1,425 × 625 pixels, file size: 50 KB, MIME type: image/png) > This map is consistent with incomplete set of data too as long as the top nation is known. It resolves the accessibility issues faced by colour-coded maps that may not be properly rendered in old computer screens. > Data was extracted on 28th August 2007 from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html > Based on :Image:BlankMap-World.png And I just checked, Los Angeles, and Miami also would IMHO manage with their sizable Jewish population. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2014, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589/140 "2014-01-02T07:12:20Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Not New York. > > [File:Jewry.PNG - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jewry.PNG) > > And I just checked, Los Angeles, and Miami also would IMHO manage with their sizable Jewish population. Then if they can get the equipment past any blockades that other countries will put up, they are welcome to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-all-professed-christians-disappeared/677589.md?page=8)