As I Kiwi however I will say that the level of “Church” that I see in day to day life on these boards, and in politics is quite astonishing to me. And I rather suspect that your own beliefs are colouring what you see somewhat.
Just as an example - I am currently 40, I couldn’t tell you the religion of any of New Zealand’s prime ministers since I started voting. Likewise - the only “religion” I can ever recall in any election campaign is the one party that stood specifically as a Christian Party (for example - I remember the controversy around what church who attends and who the reverend was in past American campaigns)
Yes, that essentially the UK is not an overwhelmingly Christian country, whereas adherence to Christian religion, attendance at church and belief in the efficacy of prayer is considerably higher and is of greater valence in the USA.
The point being that the UK is now in no sense ‘a Christian country’?
Which it isn’t and has not been for a long time in any meaningful sense of the term.
Immigration from areas that take Christianity seriously (Africa and Eastern Europe) may change this. And of course Muslims take their religion seriously.
I think you possibly overstate the case. Britain is less overtly religious than the USA but is still largely Christian in culture. Most people have a grounding in Christian theology and culture- know the parables and episodes from the gospels, know many hymns, and live in a culture shaped by Christianity. But people worship little publicly and pray considerably less than Americans privately.
They are also less public about beliefs they may have- especially Christian ones. I have a wide variety of Facebook friends in the USA and UK. Almost all the witnessing and calls for prayers emanate from my American friends; Brits rarely do that- when they do you are surprised by it.
Suggest some with as much Christian allegiance and prominence in everyday life. Ireland and Italy have become mere shadows of their former religious states. France is positively anti-religion- far more so than mere separation of church and state.
suggests that Ireland, Malta and Poland are the only ones with greater attendance at church than the USA. Poland is in rebound from years of the Catholic Church being highly restricted. Malta and Ireland have high attendance in the elderly and late middle aged, but are becoming more like the rest of Europe as the decades pass.
I’ve lived in six of the states located in all regions of the country. Are the religious people? Sure. Did id dominated the live of many or most of the people I know. In no way did it.
I’ve been in my current office for over four years (my longest stint in one place in my career). Of the 50 or so people in our office, I know the religion of exactly zero people there. I guess I can tell that some are Christian based on some Christmas discussions, but that’s about it. It doesn’t come up, and nobody cares.
I suspect this was just a throwaway line for you and now you are stuck defending it. If that’s the case, I’d suggest you admit that and move on.
Not sure how much I agree with this statement, but my first reaction is “so what?” At worst it’s a distinction without a difference.
Do I think that many American seek out members of other religions to include them in their social circle? Nope. But one wiki definition of Religious toleration is:
“when people allow other people to think about god(s) in ways that they do not think are true. They tolerate religious beliefs and practices which are different from their own beliefs or lack of beliefs.”
So it doesn’t appear that religious tolerance must be active. More of a passive live and let life philosophy. Seems like that is what we have here and it works.
No, the point being that people in the UK see to talk about their religion a bit more than pjen claims. Of course, I did only provide the one cite to back that up, but I’m just trying to hew to the rigorous standards of evidence pioneered by pjen in this thread.
Sure, the U.S. is “more Christian” than Vatican City.
How many denominations do they have? One!
How many do we have? HUNDREDS! Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians and on and on and on. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christian Scientists.
