Are christians all racist?

[Carmine 10]

Originally posted by G_SuperBikes

Religion is fast fading and will eventually stop. Many beliefs are so dhiluted now, that in a thousand years (or less) it'll be gone.

If we're still here as a race by the turn of the next millenium, I think one can safely say that while the prejudice and hate of today will be gone, we'll have cooked up a whole new batch of problems to replace them.

[kay_cee 10]

In my Church on Sunday there were;

 

Yemenis.

Iranians.

Zimbabweans

South Africans

Trinidadians (?)

Indians.

Chinese.

And last but not least, Brits.

[Berberis 10]

Originally posted by G_SuperBikes

Religion is fast fading and will eventually stop.

 

Rubbish, some religious groups in the UK are stating year on year rises in congregations. Just because the Church of England is fading doesn't mean all other religions world wide are going down the same path. Look at Islam, that’s growing all the time along with the Christian movements in the likes of Latin America and Africa.

 

Religion is not fading away its changing with the times if not slightly behind the times in reality.

[Ousetunes 10]

G_superbikes could benefit a trip of India, Pakistan, China and central Africa.

 

There he'd see LIVING religion, Hindu, Islam, Buddhist and Christian - alive and worshipped by well over one billion people.

 

That's not bad for a dying religion is it?

[withnail 10]

Originally posted by G_SuperBikes

Religion is fast fading and will eventually stop. B]

 

If only.

Link rising religious fundamentalism (in the key religions and elsewhere) with the proliferation of WMD (India, Pakistan, Iran, Israel) and I wonder what the odds are for us surviving another thousand years.

[withnail 10]

Originally posted by serapis

Rubbish, some religious groups in the UK are stating year on year rises in congregations. Just because the Church of England is fading doesn't mean all other religions world wide are going down the same path. Look at Islam, that’s growing all the time along with the Christian movements in the likes of Latin America and Africa.

 

Religion is not fading away its changing with the times if not slightly behind the times in reality.

 

While I'd agree that some religious groups are growing, in this country at least the main religion, Christianity, (protestant and catholic) is in rapid decline - ask any Vicar/Priest. Although they may try to tart it up with things like the Alpha course and the farcical Priest Idol 'church lite', essentially they've had their day and people are no longer in need of the wares that they peddle. We could also look at the reasons why Islam is growing in the UK - poverty, lack of education, and the continued importance of the family unit for recent immigrants from Central and Southern Asia and northern Africa. I think that growth in even Islam will drop off in this country within a generation as these imbalances are addressed.

 

In other countries, it would be interesting to look at the link between economic growth and religion. That is, I would suggest that the richer societies become, the more educated the people are and the less relevance religion has. This is clearly what has happened among the indigenous population of the UK and elsewhere in Europe for example. The States are an obvious contradiction of this but when you consider that the founding fathers were escaping the old world to pursue a religious utopia in the new world, you can see the continued hold that religion has in that country.

[withnail 10]

Originally posted by Jamie

Are they racists at heart? Why don't they share and share alike?

 

As someone else has said, Christians should be no more or less racist than any other group - though why is it that the predominant image of Jesus is a white skinned hippy type when he was born in the Middle East? Shouldn't he look more like a young Yassar Arafat?!

 

On the other hand, it is very clear that religion itself, and some religions more strongly than others, makes a clear distinction between believers and unbelievers and, if we look at contemporary Islamic fundamentalism, we can see that this can lead to a hatred of people who are not in the right, i.e. your, group. Not racism exactly, but dangerous discrimination none the less. Consider the lessons of maintaining a belief that one group is superior from another in Nazi Germany – Aryans were the chosen people and the untermensch (sub-humans – Jews, disabled, gypsies, Slavs) were the ‘other’. Or Imperial Shinto Japan, which imbued its troops with the notion that they were superior to other Asians which led to the horrors of medical experiments by Japanese troops/doctors on Chinese prisoners whom they referred to as ‘logs’.

[Jamie 10]

Originally posted by Jamie

But isn't there some unspoken law that says white people can't go in to gospel churches full of black people, because they'll stand out too much?

 

I don't think anyone has given a satisfactory answer to this point.

 

How many white people, or white christians even, would feel totally comfortable going in to a gospel church full of black people? Equally, how many black people would feel totally comfortable going in to a church full of crusty white people?

 

Isn't this an indication that appearances are all important? Even to supposedly spiritual people? Perhaps we are all racist, to a degree, and have a natural discomfort with people who are different to us?

 

Or does spiritual maturity disolve our differences?

[Litha 10]

my fella used to work with a black fella he was a lovely bloke and kept tryin his hardest to get shane to go to a gospel night at his church, shane wasnt much up for it but i would have loved to have gone AND yes i know im Pagan but that doesnt mean to say i dont respect others beliefs ( and besides im nosey heehee )

so i would say that theres isnt no raceism or else we wouldnt have got an invite

[max 13]

Originally posted by Jamie

I don't think anyone has given a satisfactory answer to this point.

 

How many white people, or white christians even, would feel totally comfortable going in to a gospel church full of black people? Equally, how many black people would feel totally comfortable going in to a church full of crusty white people?

 

Isn't this an indication that appearances are all important? Even to supposedly spiritual people? Perhaps we are all racist, to a degree, and have a natural discomfort with people who are different to us?

 

Or does spiritual maturity disolve our differences?

 

This is absolute tosh when applied to most countries in the world. In Jamaica, we were invited to attend the local church where we would have been the only white faces there. At one C of E church in Sheffield, which is probably what you refer to as full of crusty white people, the vicar's wife is Sri Lankan and nobody objects to her attending services.

 

In New Zealand, I used to attend services held in churches where everone except me was a Maori, my best friend was a Maori and thought it would be a laugh, and everybody made me very welcome.

 

I could go on about other churches in other parts of the world but you get the gist.

 

Try it Jamie, go to the Pentecostal (I think) church on Nursery Street and I can guarantee you'd get a warm and friendly welcome.

[Berberis 10]

Originally posted by Jamie

I don't think anyone has given a satisfactory answer to this point.

 

How many white people, or white christians even, would feel totally comfortable going in to a gospel church full of black people? Equally, how many black people would feel totally comfortable going in to a church full of crusty white people?

 

Isn't this an indication that appearances are all important? Even to supposedly spiritual people? Perhaps we are all racist, to a degree, and have a natural discomfort with people who are different to us?

 

Or does spiritual maturity disolve our differences?

 

You're making your assumptions from a very misguided view of Christianity. I would love to know exactly how many churches you visited to come to this conclusion, or are you making this assumption from what you see on TV?

 

Yes there are predominantly black and white churches but there are also mixed race churches too. A church services a community and unfortunately we do live in somewhat segregated communities be it is more a case of economic not ethnic segregation. There is no unwritten law about whites going to black churches or visa versa.

 

Another reason why churches may seem to be segregated is the methods different ethnic groups worship. White people tend (but not in all cases) to be almost Victorian, while black people, again not all, are more enthusiastic. This difference in style could also create on the outside a view of spiritual segregation, but in fact is completely wrong.

 

I would feel perfectly comfortable to go into a Black Gospel church and fully believe I would be welcomed.

[Plain Talker 11]

Originally posted by max

(snipped)

Try it Jamie, go to the Pentecostal (I think) church on Nursery Street and I can guarantee you'd get a warm and friendly welcome.

 

It' s the "New Testament Church Of God", Max

 

(It used to be an Anglican church called "Holy Trinity, Wicker", in years gone by, but for at least the last 20-odd years that I know of, it's been the NTCOG)

 

A friend of mine used to go there, and from what she said, it was a very lively church.

 

PT