"Christianity has boomed in the developing world, competing successfully with Islam, deepening its influence and possibly finding its future there. But Europe already seems more and more like a series of tourist-trod monuments to Christianity's past. Hardly a month goes by when the pope does not publicly bemoan that fact, beseeching Europeans to rediscover the faith.
Their estrangement has deep implications, including the prospect of schisms in intercontinental churches and political frictions within and between countries.
The secularization of Europe, according to some political analysts, is one of the forces pushing it apart from the United States, where religion plays a potent role in politics and society, shaping many Americans' views of the world.
Americans are widely regarded as more comfortable with notions of good and evil, right and wrong, than Europeans, who often see such views as reckless.
In France, which is predominantly Catholic but emphatically secular, about one in 20 people attends a religious service every week, compared with about one in three in the United States."
This quote is from today's New York Times. It's a two-part (2nd part either tomorrow or next Sunday...I wasn't quite clear on it) feature article entitled "The Changing Church," which even has some interesting charts and graphs that should get your Columbus Day thoughts rolling.
I wish they'd done the article on the Changing Church here in America, though.
Seems to me that much of the church in America these days is pretty much just trying to jump on some sort of bandwagon to get people in the door rather than equipping them to grow in Christ and help the Body mature.
In fact, I was just talking with my friend Jessica on Friday about this very thing. She's at college, living in a home with other girls, all of whom have different religious beliefs. Her roommates, at various times, make various observations about the Christian community and direct questions to her...Jess has a tough time explaining us sometimes.
I said, "We're a disaster, aren't we?"
If you know Jess, she's a very measured wordsmith, and she responded, "Exactly. We ARE a disaster."
Their estrangement has deep implications, including the prospect of schisms in intercontinental churches and political frictions within and between countries.
The secularization of Europe, according to some political analysts, is one of the forces pushing it apart from the United States, where religion plays a potent role in politics and society, shaping many Americans' views of the world.
Americans are widely regarded as more comfortable with notions of good and evil, right and wrong, than Europeans, who often see such views as reckless.
In France, which is predominantly Catholic but emphatically secular, about one in 20 people attends a religious service every week, compared with about one in three in the United States."
This quote is from today's New York Times. It's a two-part (2nd part either tomorrow or next Sunday...I wasn't quite clear on it) feature article entitled "The Changing Church," which even has some interesting charts and graphs that should get your Columbus Day thoughts rolling.
I wish they'd done the article on the Changing Church here in America, though.
Seems to me that much of the church in America these days is pretty much just trying to jump on some sort of bandwagon to get people in the door rather than equipping them to grow in Christ and help the Body mature.
In fact, I was just talking with my friend Jessica on Friday about this very thing. She's at college, living in a home with other girls, all of whom have different religious beliefs. Her roommates, at various times, make various observations about the Christian community and direct questions to her...Jess has a tough time explaining us sometimes.
I said, "We're a disaster, aren't we?"
If you know Jess, she's a very measured wordsmith, and she responded, "Exactly. We ARE a disaster."
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