"If the darkness grows darker, then, correspondingly, the light can become much brighter. As Europe deals with layers of historical religious pretext and dwindling belief, there is the strong hope that Europe's light will once again shine bright."
This quote from a recent article, "God in Europe", on Relevant Magazine's website describes one reason I'm excited to move to London. In the US it's much more common for people to go to church and call themselves Christians without really allowing it to affect their life. Wheras in Europe, it seems that people don't bother going to church just to go. I According to the particular article 2/3 of Europeans identify themselves as Christians, but less than 1/5 of those even practice. n the US I think it's often more of a social thing, although definitely concentrated in certain areas of the country.
I'm not trying to get into the geography of Christianity here. I'm sure there are lots of theories for why religion has developed differently in the US vs. Europe, but I'm not educated enough on them to comment here (maybe I will read up on this). What I'm trying to say is I'm excited to experience a different culture of Christianity. From what I've seen and heard, the church is much more movement driven in Europe because the people who are there actually want to be there and passionately believe in what they're doing. I think a change is coming...
"European Christianity’s prospective or imminent demise has been predicted for centuries; yet while its 'inevitable' modern successors—from enlightened deist universalism to Jacobinism to Marxism—inevitably descend into strangely quaint anachronism (and there is nothing more quaint than the certitudes of bygone utopian fantasies), Christianity constantly renews itself from sources beyond the vicissitudes of history. Even amid the manifest sins and failings of its faithful, Christian faith proclaims the living words of which modern ideologies are so often parodies." From the article "Is Paris Turning?"
I'm not trying to get into the geography of Christianity here. I'm sure there are lots of theories for why religion has developed differently in the US vs. Europe, but I'm not educated enough on them to comment here (maybe I will read up on this). What I'm trying to say is I'm excited to experience a different culture of Christianity. From what I've seen and heard, the church is much more movement driven in Europe because the people who are there actually want to be there and passionately believe in what they're doing. I think a change is coming...
"European Christianity’s prospective or imminent demise has been predicted for centuries; yet while its 'inevitable' modern successors—from enlightened deist universalism to Jacobinism to Marxism—inevitably descend into strangely quaint anachronism (and there is nothing more quaint than the certitudes of bygone utopian fantasies), Christianity constantly renews itself from sources beyond the vicissitudes of history. Even amid the manifest sins and failings of its faithful, Christian faith proclaims the living words of which modern ideologies are so often parodies." From the article "Is Paris Turning?"
1 comments:
I heard that in France, the government won't even allow you to have the word or any root of the word "evangelical" in the name of a church.
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