Younger Muslims are less committed to their faith than those older than 35, but only slightly. In Egypt, for example, 74 percent of younger Muslims say that religion is very important in their lives, compared with 76 percent of their elders. And Muslim women in most regions appear more committed to religion than men, more likely to pray and more likely to read or listen to the Koran daily.

God had a good convention: The Almighty’s name was mentioned (albeit at the last minute) in the platform at the Democratic National Convention. And He was invoked no less than 12 times in the Republican platform, in case He is keeping score.  

But the real news is that God is having a strong millennium, according to some fascinating poll results from the Pew Research Center. The data show that even as the developing world is getting more modern, it is also getting more religious, with especially sharp gains for both Christians and Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa.  

The Pew studies are reassuring in that they indicate that the rise in Muslim and Christian belief in Africa is accompanied by a surprising degree of tolerance for others and support for democracy. They also show a deep fundamentalism, with Christian support for biblical law about equal to Muslim support for sharia.  

The big change in this picture of a devout world is the role of Europe. According to a December Pew study of “Global Christianity,” faith in Jesus is no longer a Euro-centric phenomenon. In 1910, 66.3 percent of the world’s Christians lived in Europe; by 2010, that had fallen to only 25.9 percent.  

“Europe no longer dominates global Christianity the way it did 100 years ago,” Pew noted. The Americas now have the largest number and highest proportion of Christians. But it’s in sub-Saharan Africa where the Christian awakening has been most dramatic, with the Christian population growing from 9 percent in 1910 to 63 percent in 2010.    

The 1.6 billion Muslims around the globe were the subject of a Pew study published last month called “The World’s Muslims: Unity and Diversity.” It involved 38,000 interviews in 39 countries. The study found that Muslim devotion was strong throughout the world, with a median of 93 percent saying they fasted during Ramadan, 77 percent saying they paid alms, and 63 percent claiming to pray five times a day.    

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