Glenn wrote:
> This is one of the things that has come more into focus during my ex-pat
> assignment here in Scotland. There is a very tiny group of people who go
to
> church here each Sunday. Something like 2% (maybe M. B. Roberts can give
> more firm figures). But one thing I have noticed is that life here in an
> a-religious UK is not that much different than life in the religious US.
The
> crime is lower, here in the Aberdeen area. Do we have theives? Of course,
> but not as many as in Houston, or at least they are less active. Like the
> US, the UK has its share of mass murderers (a guy was convicted of killing
> lots of women just the other day) and they have some wierd doctor here at
> Alder Hey hospital who had an interesting hobby of keeping children's
> organs after they died. He kept thousands of them. But the US has lots of
> mass murderers, and wierdos like that doctor. People like Richard Specht,
> John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer etc. But all in all, life is pretty much
> the same here. It causes me to question the relatively common consensus
> that life would be different without God. To outward appearances, there
> isn't much God here. You live in Japan, a place where there are very few
> christians. Do people run around acting like they have no accountability
> there?
>
> The sad thing I have come to realize over the past 6 months here is how
> little difference Christianity makes to the fabric of the US culture when
> compare with an a-religious culture like this.
>
As a representative of this tiny a-religious nation, I'd like to respond
here. I don't think it's a fair comparison to compare Britain and US and
then draw conclusions as to whether Christianity makes a difference. US and
Britain are very different countries and cultures; and there could be any
number of reasons why there are more more murders in US (e.g. the ease with
which you can possess a gun might have something to do with it).
However, having lived here all my life, I do observe several trends over the
last 40 years or so:
(1) General degradation of morality, behaviour.
(2) Loss of natural politeness and decency that was supposed to be a
characteristic of the British. It is now my impression that we have become
a nation of self-interested, rude people. The "lager lout" culture. This is
not even a "class" thing either. The England football fans that caused all
the trouble in Belgium were company managers, solicitors, and accountants -
supposedly intelligent, respectable people.
(3) Lack of respect for authority, and insistence on the rights of the
individual. 15 years ago, my town (pop 30,000) was a safe place to go at
night; the police had powers to arrest trouble makers. Now you take your
life in your hands going out on a Saturday night. An ex-policeman told me
that they no longer have the power to arrest troublemakers. If they touch
them they stand the risk of being prosecuted for assault. Everything is
biased
towards the criminal's "rights". Schoolteachers
are no longer respected now. A colleague of mine's wife is governor of the
local school.
If the kids are playing up, one can't count on any co-operation from the
parents these
days. It is a frequent occurrence for parents to come round and scream
abuse at the
teachers; threaten violence and so forth. And this isn't exactly a rough
area we're living
in!
(4) General decline in religious observance; church attendence, perception
of the relevance of religion.
Now, whether the last one is connected to the first three, I can't say for
sure, though on the face of it, the wholesale rejection of Christianity has
made a big difference. Our country may not yet be as violent as the US,
but I think we are on the way.
On a more hopeful note, someone in our church recently reported something
from a town near Nottingham. The churches in the area became aware of the
escalating amount of car-thefts that were happening, and decided to have a
concerted effort to pray about the problem. They organised a collaborative
effort over all the churches in the area, to meet and pray about this
specific
problem. Very soon afterwards there was a dramatic drop in the amount
of car theft; much to the surprise of the local police.
As in the other example, I can't prove causality; but I think it's
indicative
that Christianity _does_ make a difference, but we Christians have to start
believing that it can, and do something about it. I feel that if, on the
other
hand we just bemoan the fact that it isn't making a difference, then sure
enough it won't.
Iain.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Feb 04 2001 - 16:34:40 EST