What prompted this: I live in a low socio-economic area which used to be all state housing, but a lot of the houses were sold off (mine included). However a large number of state housing remains. It is also a Tongan enclave, surrounded by a more affluent white area. The Tongans tend to live in the state owned housing and I’m guessing have done since the 1940s when the community was first built.
There is a lovely (looking) church on the corner of my street, another one around the corner and a brand new, state of the art community centre next to the park. As many of you will know, Pacific Islanders in the vast majorty are staunch christians - both in their adopted country and back in the islands (well done missionaries?!). So, on a Sunday and other days in the week, you can see most of the community going off to church. Does this make the community a nice place to live? No. The rubbish in the street is phenomenal, as is the graffitti, as is other vandalism, as is teenage pregnancy, as is children playing unsupervised on any given evening and until the small hours. There are a few 12/13 year old gangs. There is car and property theft etc etc. Now, if Christianity and church going was a cure for community ills, surely these things wouldn’t happen in my community.
So… what exactly dp you wish to debate here?
Sorry (damn, I knew I should have stuck to the other forums) that Christianity is not the answer to community problems.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm
“If Christianity and church going was a cure for community ills, surely these things wouldn’t happen in…”–America.
Of that 76.5%, how many are regular church goers and don’t just believe in a diety?
I would imagine it would be easier to believe in a supreme being and do as you wish, than to follow religious teachings.
Well, why discriminate between “going to church”, “calling yourself a Christian”, and “believing in God”, if the purpose of the debate (and it still isn’t clear exactly what it is you wanna debate) is going to be, “Christianity will solve Society’s problems”. First you’d have to define “Christianity”–is it gonna mean, “people who define themselves as ‘Christian’,” or, “People who attend a Christian church”, or, “People who say they believe in the Christian god”?
And whoever said Christianity would solve all of Society’s problems, anyway? 
Did I miss a news item, a juicy quote by Falwell or Robertson or somebody?
I suppose it’s not unreasonable to expect that it should; there’s the whole ‘do unto others’ thing and the assertion by many Christians that they are made anew in the likeness of Christ…
I guess I made an assumption: do not all christians believe that converting everyone to christianity is the answer for societies ills. Believe in god and adhering to a religion will solve everything?
And when I said christianity, I meant belief in a supreme being and following religious rules ie church going amongst other things.
I don’t personally know any Christians who believe that, though I am confident that such exist.
The OP brought to my mind the famous quote by G. K. Chesterton:
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”
So, hyperthetically, does the average christian believe that even if everyone was converted, there would still be murder, crime etc.?
It depends on what you mean by “converted.” But I don’t know anyone who would deny that a person can claim to be a Christian, and/or go to church, and still do some pretty awful things.
Well, as in converted to the religion, believe in it and practice it.
Nine times out of ten, when I come acroos an old biddy complaining about the state of the world, she’ll blame it upon a “lack of god in schools”
Question is, is that the “CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE”? She would say it is. Many other would say it isn’t.
I’d hazard a guess and say that if 100% of any given population actually followed the teachings of Christ, as opposed to worrying about how to worship him, all concerned would be far, far better off.
And I speak as an agnostic growing steadily more atheistic each day.
All I can say is that they had almost 1500 years of almost absolute authority in Europe, and I don’t recall reading about a crime free paradise. So I think history answers your question quite pursuasively.
Probably a lot of Christians don’t believe that, but I do. I don’t know what most Christians believe. There really is no “average Christian” anymore than there is an “average Doper” or an “average American.” Christians are human beings who continue to make mistakes – sometimes horrible ones.
Oh, I do not.
You can read a history of medieval crime, and how laws were formed at the beginning of the Middle Ages by attempting to merge Germanic barbarian law with Christian/Roman law, in The Medieval Underground by Andrew McCall. See the chapter titled “Church, State, and Sin.”
I tend to see more of the spirit that Christ taught shown here on SDMB than on Christian Forums. An awful lot of people who claim to be converted and living a Christian life have simply found ways to dress their old prejudices up in God’s robes.
I knew you weren’t a biddy!