If by “practice” you mean “showing up at church on Sunday,” then no. It would not cure social ills. (except on Sunday during the hours while people were at church. And even there’s a lot of social ills that can be done in the narthex or parking lot). Most Christians I know do not think it would.
If by “practice” you mean behaving in the way Christ taught people to behave in the Sermon on the Mount (e.g., being merciful, being peacemakers, doing good works to glorify God, respecting others so much that you would never even call them a bad name, much less physically harm them, forgiving others, keeping your word at all times, treating others as you would have them treat you, loving your enemies, not being concerned with physical possession, &etc.) Yes, if everyone did all of those things - then, I do believe that many social ills would be gone.
Assuredly. Too many pathogens and parasites to dish 'em up rare. Also they’re generally on the elderly side and need a nice slow cook to render the connective tissue. The stewpot meme is there for a reason; only an idiot would slap a slice of missionary on a griddle for five minutes and expect the result to be edible, let alone healthy eating.
I would say that the principle that all Christians are sinners is an article of faith in most Christian churches. Simul justis et peccator and all that.
If everyone was Christian, they would still be sinners, and thus we would still have sin. For all our problems to be solved, we would need never to sin or have sinned, and then there would be no need for Christ to come to save us.
While it isn’t saying that there is a causal relationship, it is obviously significant. Wonder why this got more press on the other side of the pond than here… oh right-- it’s about selling papers, not loosing subscriptions to believers who would rather deny facts than embrace them.
This is interesting, as I was under the fond impression that in the UK at this very moment, religiosity is steadily diminishing while most of the above are going through the roof.
This, on the other hand, is name-calling pure and simple. Btw, it’s “losing”. You “loose” an arrow, not a subscription.
It does further support a decline in belief among younger people.
As to your impressions, it is likely that GB is going through a similar issue with the US in that the reporting of crime has increased a great deal, while crime itself has been on the decline for quite some time. It makes for much more interesting news hours.
Name calling? Okay-- but run an article on that info in the ‘American Conservative’ and I would wager they get a bunch of letters to the editor and lose subscriptions.
Sorry about the spelling-- I’ll try to get with the program, er… programme.
Eh. When a nation ceases to believe in God, it doesn’t believe in nothing; it believes in anything. Someone else can Google the author of that bon mot
Ah, this isn’t one of those “nations divided by a common language” issues; the “loose”/“lose” dichotomy is the same both here and there. Incidentally, in my line of business I get to use “program” as well as “programme”; “a bunch of computer code” versus “thing on the TV; little booklet at the theatre; series of steps to be taken in pursuit of some objective”.
See…that’s the trouble with religion. There are so many personal reads on it that it makes it impossible for an outsider to be able to tell what any of you are talking about!!!
Another reason I want to emmigrate to NZ. Loose women.
Seriously though, I think that NZ is a bit odd statistically, having a population of ~3million(?) with just one city accounting for a third of the population. Average age is fairly young (must be the bungee jumpers offing themselves before they hit 50 :dubious: ). Tourism industry makes up a huge percentage of national income (esp. post LOTR). There are issues with the high number of Maori poor, high cost of manufactured goods, etc. It all adds up to some odd stats.
I wonder what the STD rates among Maori Christians vs. non-Christians would look like?
Hey, are you saying we’re odd!! Just cut it out and our population is now over 4million I’ll have you know.
Statistics are done per capita, so why should that make them odd?!
Tourism comes second to our diary and meat industry.
I forgot to add that we have one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies too!
Whilst Maori make a disproportionate number of poor stats, it is Pacific Islanders as well and as in my OP, they are avid Christians. They also make up the teenage pregnancies and STD rates!
Okay, strictly opinion, but to me, there is Auckland, Wellington, and New Zealand. The rest of the country is so completely different than the 2-3 large cities that are contained in it.
I really wish that alcohol was higher on that list… I miss DB Draught and Speights, but many of the wines are fairly readily available here. I can’t even get Steinlager.
You are spot on. This is another reason why comparing NZ to any other country is difficult. Outside of a handfull of cities in the US, one would be hard pressed to find the diversity of culture that you can find in the major cities of NZ. Throw in the disproportionate numbers of poor and the significant distances to other major cities (Sydney), population density, and it makes this island country much harder to compare to any other Western country.
I love NZ. I would give my right nut to move there.
I think there would still be crime. Being Christian does not mean that you will bever commit any more sins. It just means that your sins are forgiven.
Also, some of the most horrible crimes ever comitted have been perpertrated by those who consider themselves to be doing God’s work, whether they be Christian, Muslim, Hindu or whatever.
