Posts Tagged ‘Christianity’

The overstated collapse of American Christianity

Thursday, November 7th, 2019
Collapse of American christianity

Fifty years ago, many observers of American religion assumed that secularization would gradually wash traditional Christianity away. Twenty years ago, Christianity looked surprisingly resilient, and so the smart thinking changed: maybe there was an American exception to secularizing trends, or maybe a secularized Europe was the exception and the modernity-equals-secularization thesis was altogether wrong. Now Read more

The impossible future of Christians in the Middle East

Monday, June 17th, 2019
Middle East

An ancient faith is disappearing from the lands in which it first took root; the Middle East. At stake is not just a religious community, but the fate of pluralism in the region. The call came in 2014, shortly after Easter. Four years earlier, Catrin Almako’s family had applied for special visas to the United Read more

Broad church: Diverse Christian voices worth listening to

Monday, June 10th, 2019
christian

Perceptions of Christianity in New Zealand get shaped by the most extreme voices. So who else could the media go to for comment? Quick, name the most prominent New Zealander you can think of who is a Christian. Chances are if you follow the news at all, that the first name that comes to mind Read more

Mission: Love or colonisation?

Monday, December 3rd, 2018
mission

John Allen Chau’s life could be summed up in two sentences, according to his family. He loved God. And he had “nothing but love for the Sentinelese people.” Chau, a young missionary from the United States, was killed on Nov. 17 while illegally attempting to invade the land of the North Sentinel Islanders, an indigenous Read more

Religion is becoming more and more popular

Thursday, September 6th, 2018
religion

If you think religion belongs to the past and we live in a new age of reason, you need to check out the facts: 84% of the world’s population identifies with a religious group. Members of this demographic are generally younger and produce more children than those who have no religious affiliation, so the world Read more

Christianity spread in Pacific nations through a top down process

Thursday, July 26th, 2018
christianity

After assessing Christian missionary efforts from 1668 to 1950, researchers claim to have found the spread of Christianity in the Pacific was driven more by the influence of political leaders than grassroots empowerment. This challenges one of the most widely cited reasons for Christianity’s popularity, that it spread from the “bottom-up” by empowering lower classes Read more

When Americans tried to reunite Christianity

Thursday, November 9th, 2017

Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther, a German monk, initiated a split in Christianity that came to be known as the Protestant Reformation. After the Reformation, deep divisions between Protestants and Catholics contributed to wars, hostility and violence in Europe and America. For centuries, each side denounced the other and sought to convert its followers. Then, in the early 1900s, Read more

Christians are more than twice as likely to blame a person’s poverty on lack of effort

Monday, August 7th, 2017
poverty

Which is generally more often to blame if a person is poor: lack of effort on their own part or difficult circumstances beyond their control? The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation asked 1,686 American adults to answer that question — and found that religion is a significant predictor of how Americans perceive poverty. Read more

Muslims will outnumber Christians by 2070

Thursday, March 9th, 2017

Muslims will outnumber Christians by 2070, ending two millenniums of Christian dominance going back to the birth of Jesus Christ, projections released Thursday by the Pew Research Center show. Islam is projected to grow more than twice as fast as any other major religion over the next half century because of a higher fertility rate. Read more

Top of the church shopper’s list: strong preaching

Friday, August 26th, 2016

Top-notch preaching most attracts people looking for a new place to pray. That’s the conclusion of a new Pew Research Center study, released Tuesday (Aug. 23), which asked 5,000 people about their search for a new church or other house of worship. “This is what people value in a congregation — a good message, a good Read more