According to the last census, Catholics are now the largest Christian denomination in New Zealand. But they are not the fastest- growing. “Here’s the interesting thing,” writes Narelle Henson, “a group called simply “Protestants” by Statistics New Zealand grew by 26.4 percent from the previous census in 2006.” A group called “Evangelical, Born Again and Fundamental” Read more
The question of Sunday church attendance has been raised in Fiji, in the course of a consultation about village by-laws which is taking place there. Responding suggestions some villagers have made for a village by-law stating that everyone living in villages should attend church every Sunday Permanent Secretary for iTaukei Affairs Naipote Katonitabua says no one Read more
Archbishop Jozef De Kesel of Malines-Brussels, Belgium, is one of men who will be made a cardinal this Saturday. In an interview with ZENIT, the cardinal-designate expresses his belief that Christians must “accept wholeheartedly the culture in which we are to accomplish our mission: a pluralistic culture, a secularized society.” “This culture is also an opportunity,” Read more
The Urlich family live in a piece of history 135 years in the making. They have spent the past decade converting what was St John’s Presbyterian Church in Cromwell into a home. Respect for the former users of the building and those who worked so hard to construct and maintain it underlines the sympathetic makeover. Continue Read more
The bell tower of an old church on Adelaide Road in the Wellington suburb of Newtown has been converted into a luxurious penthouse. The former St James Presbyterian church near the Wellington Hospital has been completely rebuilt to accommodate five new apartments. The 176 square-metre penthouse, the last apartment in the development to be sold, has retained Read more
Religion in Papua New Guinea is being increasingly privatised and there is an increasing loss of Christian values in public life says Fr Boniface Holz. “A common sign of this secularization is the emergence of social, political, and economical spheres in which religious influence is declining.” Boniface says the Papua New Guinea constitution has two Read more
Falling parishioner numbers, costly repairs and “changes in strategic direction” are behind a rash of for sale signs on churches across the country. From Southland to Northland, Trade Me is listing more than 20 as-is-where-is churches or completed residential conversions, and real estate agents say interest is high. Offerings range from a $150,000 original 1926 Read more
New Life Churches International is urging Christians to oppose any changes in the parliamentary prayer. Rasik Ranchord, spokesperson on public issues for New Life Churches International, has sent out an email asking church leaders to get their members to write to members of parliament urging them to retain the present prayer. On 17 November the Read more
In Western Europe, politics and the media are still dominated by the liberal mentality that prevailed among European intellectual elites for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and gave rise to various versions of the “theory of secularisation.” Some of those theories assumed, in the light of the changing role of the major Christian Read more
Traditional theories of secularization maintain that religious decline led to the deterioration of the family. Not so, argues Mary Eberstadt in her new book How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization (Templeton Press, 2013). Eberstadt is a leading cultural critic and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center Read more