Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the Christ, whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, called the Old Testament in Christianity, and chronicled in the New Testament.
- Christianity is the world's largest religion, with over 2.4 billion adherents, about a third of
- the world's population.
- In 2001, the World Christian Encyclopedia counted 33,830 different Christian denominations.
- Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament.
- Most scholars say Jesus never viewed himself as creating a new religion per se, just reforming Judaism.
- The three largest branches of Christianity are the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the various denominations of Protestantism.
- Christianity began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century in Judea. It quickly spread to Europe, Mesopotamia, Asia and by the 4th century had become the official state church of the Roman Empire.
- Christianity was the main religion in Egypt between the Fourth and Sixth Centuries.
- In 2010, the Catholic Church had an income of US$97 billion.
- Christianity is severely persecuted in at least 27 countries.
- 38% of Christianity is projected to live in sub-Saharan Africa in 2050.
- Judas sold Jesus for the equivalent of 4 months' pay of a working man.
- Pope Pius II wrote a popular erotic book called "The Tale Of Two Lovers" before assuming office.
- There's an empty place next to Muhammad's Tomb, Islam's main Prophet, reserved for Jesus.
- Billy Graham personally preached Christianism to over 200 million people.
- Going to church is good for you: Services lowers your blood pressure, a study found.
- A 62-foot Jesus statue built by a megachurch was destroyed by a lightning strike and subsequent fire.
- The Catholic Church once put a dead Pope on trial.
- Jesus is mentioned more times in the Quran than Muhammad.
- Papaphobia is the fear of the Pope.
- There's a Christian church in San Francisco that worships John Coltrane as a Saint and uses his lyrics as prayers.
- There are at least seven Christian churches in Antarctica.
- There is a sect, offshoot of Christianity, that believes Jesus is currently living in China as a Chinese woman.
- The Catholic Church considers the Theory of Evolution to be "virtually certain", and believes that intelligent design "isn't science even though it pretends to be."
- According to the Vatican, you can reduce the time you spend in purgatory by following the pope on Twitter.
- At least 20 million people died during the Taiping Rebellion in China, led by a man who claimed to be the brother of Jesus, and who attempted to impose a theocracy based on his interpretation of Christianity.
- Christianity is the fastest growing religion in Iran.
- Pope Francis used to work as a bar bouncer in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Vladimir The Great, Prince of Kiev, considered converting to Christianity or Islam. He sent envoys to study both religions, but upon hearing that Islam forbade alcohol, he got baptized.
- The keys to the holiest site in Christianity, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, are held by a Muslim family that opens the church every morning. This arrangement has been in place since 1187 CE.
- There is a pilgrimage site in Sri Lanka that is holy to four religions for a "sacred footprint": Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Christianity.
- Christmas ham, originally a pagan tradition, was endorsed by the Catholic Church as a test of truthful conversion from Judaism.
- Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a State Religion in the year 301.
- 359 years after the Catholic Church forced Galileo Galilei to recant his theory that the Earth moves around the Sun, it declared he was right in 1992.
- In 2001, Pope John Paul II entered and prayed in a mosque and even kissed the Qur'an to improve relations with Islam.
- Christian Atheists believe in the teachings of Christ but not that they were divinely inspired. They see Jesus as a humanitarian and philosopher rather than the "son of God."
- The first Frenchman known to visit Japan was imprisoned, tortured and killed because he tried to promote Christianity.
- Early Christians were called "atheists" by Romans as they didn't pay tribute to pagan gods.
- 7% to 10% of Arabs are Christians.
- 16,000 African Muslims convert to Christianity every day.
- A Church built into a cave is the largest church in the Middle East.
- A man in Nebraska is breeding red cows and sending them to Israel so that Jews build a Third Temple and "Jesus comes again".
- More people go to church on Sunday in China than in the whole of Europe.
- The Pentateuch (Torah in Judaism, Old Testament in the Christian Bible), lays down the death penalty for murder, kidnapping, magic, violation of the Sabbath, blasphemy, and a wide range of sexual crimes.
- The Catholic Church had a list of banned books until 1966, one of which was "Les Miserables."
- Only half of American Christians can name the four Gospels.
- When Pope John Paul II died, the entire funeral events amounted to € 6 million.
- Most Medieval Europeans were illiterate and needed visual reminders of hell to get them into church, so gargoyles were invented.
- Buzz Aldrin received communion on the moon.
- Until 2015 it was illegal for the British monarch to be Catholic or married to one.
- The site of the Vatican is where Emperor Nero attempted to crush the Christians in Rome by persecuting and murdering Christians.
- St. Clare of Assisi is the Catholic Church's patron saint of television.
- Every Good Friday in the Philippines, they reenact the crucifixions of multiple people, and they are real.
- St. Julian the Hospitaller is the Catholic Church's patron saint of circus workers and fiddle players.
- Saint Drogo is the Catholic Church's patron saint of those whom others find repulsive, unattractive people, cattle, coffee house owners and deaf people.
- The odds of any given person becoming a saint are 1 in 20,000,000.
- Pope John Paul II created more saints than all his predecessors in the previous 500 years put together.
- Most of the first 30 Catholic Church popes died violently.
- Saint Thomas More is the patron saint of statesmen and politicians.
- It's unsafe for travellers to rely on ‘St Christopher' any more: he was removed from the calendar of saints in 1969.
- In the year 20860, the Islamic and Christian calendars will finally agree.
- Before the current era of commercial skyscrapers, there was an era where the tallest buildings were Christian churches and cathedrals (c. 1250–1901).