I know, I know.
Internet Monk is USA-centric.
With the exception of our sister Martha o’ Ireland, we tend to look at things from a rather red, white, and blue perspective.
But one of the reasons we love the worldwide web so much is that it’s so…well, worldwide. We love to hear from readers all around the globe, and we trust that your contributions will help us shed some of our parochial proclivities.
With that in mind, today is your day.
We invite our IM readers from outside the US to step up to the mic and introduce yourselves.
And you can talk about anything that you think would be of interest to the rest of the community.
Of course, we’d like you to tell us where you are from and how you came to read this blog.
And, since we tend to focus on Christian themes around here, if you’d like to help us understand something about what it’s like to follow Jesus where you live, what the church is like there, and what the issues are that Christians are talking about in your part of the world, that would be great too.
Whatever you choose to share, we want you to know you are welcome.
Believe me, we here in the good ol’ USA know we have a lot to learn from you.
We look forward to hearing what you have to say.
The Internet Monk Archives 
hi cesar. i’m from Quezon City. been reading IMonk for almost 2 years. glad to stumble upon a fellow-pinoy. I’m an MDiv student at the Asian Theological Seminary. Grace always!
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Near Portland, OR
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I like Arcade Fire (was listening to them before they became “famous”) and Nickelback (note the spelling). Should I see a psychiatrist? I’ve got a lot more AF on my iPod than NB, though. Dan Mangan’s worth a listen.
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Ah, DSY, Miguel’s got a point. German people too like simple answers to rather complicated questions. Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen & Co. are willing to provide. If Life then doesn’t quite turn out as good as announced in the sermons heard, they blame their homechurch. Don’t get me wrong: We did get loads of blessings from the english speaking world, such as bible commentaries that aren’t quite as scientifically preoccupied as those in German theology and that are a lot more honest with the biblical texts, but I’ve seen quite enough of megachurch (and mega-earning) pastors that tell people here how life has to be if you’ve got the best version of it now …
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‘I also get the sense the Canadians look down upon Americans and have a general or subtle contempt (which I think the British are guilty of as well) for the US.’
Hmm – I hate to admit it but I definitely think the Brits are guilty of this and not just in church circles either.
I’ve only seen this admitted once openly though. I was at an international prayer movement conference that started in England a few years ago and the Americans came to it late in the day. At one point we made a ceremonial communal apology to them for our collective attitude. An unusual and moving service with the Americans in tears and the Europeans feeling very convicted!
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Hi Guys, Cesar from the Philippines
I’m an office worker for an outsourced US company here in Manila and at the same time studying MA in Religious Studies in Maryhill School of Theology. I was a former seminarian, and that explains why the heck I’m inside a School of Theology, I want to understand more the Church and its complex institution but as a layperson.
I learned im in my search for catholic blogs years ago, though I might be one of the silent majority who just reads entries here..
i hope the site could offer a forum where we can have more chitchat 🙂
Thanks and Godbless to all
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Typo: obviously that should have read ‘I DON’T like the title GB….’
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I do understand where you are coming from (how could I not being immersed in Welsh history and culture?) but I like to use the title ‘Great Britain’ as it smacks of superiority and imperialism.
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Ah, as a SA-Canadian, I’ve heard that one before! But a good one nonetheless….
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We talk about lots of other places on the globe – certainly not just the US. Ditto for the media – which you would quickly realize if you listened to CBC Radio at any length. We’re not inwardly focused and are becoming even less so as the number of recent immigrants continues to grow.
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Bellingham, WA here. where are you?
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Based on how frequently Canadian media talks about America when compared to how infrequently American media talks about Canada. It’s like we used to date and broke up, but you haven’t moved on yet. Meanwhile we’re trying to impress our ex (UK).
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Arcade Fire +1 and I’ve always been a fan of Alexisonfire.
Local Victoria radio station actually has a no Nickleback policy.
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Yes, it’s true. From the latest census data (2010), the number of Roman Catholics has decreased to 64.6% of the population, from 73.6% in 2000 and 92% back in 1970 (65% is still 123 million people, though). A large fraction of these are only nominally Catholic.
The number of Protestants from various denominations has risen to 22.2% of the population, or 43+ million, from 15.4% in 2010. 60% of the Protestants are Pentecostals, nearly half of them in the Assemblies of God (12.4 million).
The trends suggest that Protestantism is on the rise and Catholicism is falling, which can be partly explained by the latter losing its status of semi-official religion since the 60s. Many Catholics have switched to Pentecostal churches, especially those that promote the Prosperity Gospel.
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Greetings to my fellow-representative of the two traditions on the island of Ireland 😉
My brother-in-law is a Church of Ireland minister from County Down, who met and married my (ex-novice nun) sister when they were both working as volunteers in the Anthroposophical Camphill Community in Mourne Grange. This made things interesting when they and their two kids were looking for a new parish, and one of the places he had an interview was up North. My sister said it was a lovely little village, except “When we went to look at the church, we saw the three builidngs in a row: RUC barracks, the church, and the Orange Order Hall. So I said “No”, and he said “No”.
And speaking of tribal identities, here’s the old joke: A man is walking home late at night when he’s stopped by a group of men who ask him “Are you a Catholic or a Protestant?” Not sure if they were the IRA or the UVF, he decided to go for the safe option and said “I’m a Jew”. “Yes,” replied the leader, “But are you a Catholic Jew or a Protestant Jew?”
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In Irish politics, there is a definite political charge when talking about United Kingdom versus Great Britain. It’s a different matter on the mainland, I suppose 🙂
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He lives in both.
Great Britain is a subset of the United Kindgom.
Everyone who lives in Great Britain lives in the United Kingdom.
Not everyone who lives in the United Kingdom lives in Great Britain.
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I haven’t heard a Van Der Merwe joke in 40 years — Lekker! Thanks, Mike.
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Funny you should say that!
I saw Bill Clinton live here in BC and he gave a long speech. Sounded more like a Conservative!
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I live in an aggressively secular state where any sort of real religious belief is regarded as either an eccentric personal foible or a serious character flaw. I don’t mind being thought eccentric.
Everyone at Internet Monk is pretty adorable (especially you, Chaplain Mike). The different political culture with Americans amuses me sometimes – your left wing is probably pretty right wing to me. Bring on that “socialised medicine!!”
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Rafael,
I hear that Pentecostalism and especially the Assemblies of God is thriving in Brazil, São Paulo in particular.
Is it true?
John
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I’m from Brazil, and have been following the blog, on and off, for a good 5-6 years. I’m a Catholic guy who doesn’t always fully agree with some official church teachings, but who just can’t bring himself to switch to a different circus, and has mostly decided to be the best Catholic his conscience allows him to be.
I was initially attracted to iMonk by Michael’s writing, but I applaud what Chaplain Mike, Jeff Dunn, Martha, and the rest of the crew have been doing since Michael’s untimely departure. I just wish David Cornwell would write more than occasional comments, I usually enjoy and profit from his writing.
If you’re interested in my views about American (or Brazilian, for that matter) Christianity, just let me know, it’s too late here to ramble now 🙂
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Another MK/3rd culture kid here. I appreciate and sympathize with your lack of overt patriotism. Even though I’m an American who appreciates much about my country, I’ve always felt a sense of cultural displacement that’s part of the 3rd CK identity–a sense of relationship to multiple cultures but no real sense of fully belonging to any of them. It’s helped give me perspective on what it means to be a sojourner here on Earth.
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As a Canadian blogger who tries to link to stories from Christians around the world, I am always seeking out writers from distant places, but the Christian blogosphere is very much dominated by the United States.
Even the most “foreign” Christian blogs often contain links to the popular U.S. sites; with blogrolls looking more like a list of the U.S. Christian Top 100 than anything you’d expect to find in the more remote destinations. These American writers greatly influence their thoughts and their expectations for their local church.
However, this is probably insignificant when compared to the American domination of Christian publishing and Christian music. U.S. Christian culture is exported — and equally imported — just about anywhere English is spoken, and this produces a homogeneity that is so pervasive that it’s difficult for uniquely creative people from other parts of the world to really find their voice, or perhaps more accurately, for their message to be heard among the louder voices.
Once I realized that I had a 72% U.S. readership at Thinking Out Loud, I basically decided to blend in, while allowing my Canadian identity to surface only occasionally. Some of my readers just assume I’m writing from Atlanta or Chicago or San Diego; unless I happen to raise the flag on a domestic issue or breaking news story.
Hey, if you can’t beat ’em…
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“Politically, Christians are all over the map. Many are aligned with the right wing Conservative party, and that is often for moral reasons.” I should mention that our right wing Conservatives are probably slightly to the left of the Democrats!!!
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His name was Reginald Fitzurse. Check out the story on wikipedia.
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My best story is that a brother of a direct ancestor murdered Thomas Beckett, the Archbishop of Cantebury in 1170.
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“I’m not ready for that yet”….sounds like you are moving in that direction? And yes, sometimes “environmental awareness” does mean tree-hugger to us too. In fact, there are tons of really irrational atheist tree-huggers in this part of the country. As a biology/ecology teacher, I am often amazed at just how irrational they are.
And interesting that you say that David Attenborough brings you into a wondrous state of God’s creation. It does me too…yet so many in my field are not just atheist, but militantly so. And I am continually ridiculed for my belief. Yet, rather than push me away, learning more just makes me more in awe of his “unfathomable wisdom, creativity and sense of beauty”.
I have to admit that most of the alternative liturgies I spoke of are created by your tree hugger crowd, but they do speak wonderful things about creation and our place in stewardship of it…so I turn a blind eye from whence it came and enjoy its message all the same.
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Thanks LA.
“environmental awareness” in my mind conjures up the image of a tree hugger crowd which is highly prolific down here (annoyingly so), but I have a feeling that’s not what you’re talking about. On a personal level, creation is one of my soft spots. As much as it’s not ‘manly’ to admit so, I am known to get teary-eyed when watching David Attenborough documentaries as they single-handedly testify of the creator’s unfathomable wisdom, creativity and sense of beauty! I find it very emotionally overwhelming.
I don’t know much about the activities of the Anglicans because the type that are appealing to me are more active in Sydney than where I live. They have a really good blog too. The Anglicans in my city are highly liturgical and I’m not ready for that yet.
John
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Brotherly hug from across the Pacific 🙂
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Look forward to when you can land here, John! We’ll have a grand ol’ time!
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JFDU, we also use a number of Australian alternative liturgy propers here in the Episcopal church in the Pacific Northwest of USA. Pardon the rather cliche wording…but they are more “earthy”… the Anglican church there publishes lots of prayers and liturgical “bits” around creation, stewardship of creation, etc. Environmental stuff is big in this area, so it’s used a lot in area churches. Is this environmental awareness popular there and what are your thoughts on it?
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Fantastic observations of your church and culture! This is very interesting – thank you!
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Tom, can you speak on the state of the church in France? I keep hearing from Americans who have visited there recently that the church is mostly a cultural tradition rather than a central part of their lives. I was really surprised since I was there in the mid-80’s at Taize and all over the country and felt that Christianity was popular and church was well-attended. I’m curious about your observations from being a pastor there.
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May I heartily commend you on your knowledge of your ancestry. I appreciate hearing these stories – they make our lives so rich!
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“Yes, the Brits do seem incurably liberal in the eyes of conservative evangelicals. ”
Not if you’re an Episcopalian…the Anglican Communion is dreadfully conservative and stuffy to us, especially here in the Pacific Northwest. They’re still struggling with women in the priesthood while we have by-and-large embraced our female priests in this area. Interesting…depending on the point of view…how people measure things up.
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“Boy, that sounds like more trouble than a moose on the interstate.”
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That’s funny. For most of my life, Paisley was one of the bad guys. Most folk in America with Irish relatives (my mothers family is from and some are still in County Fermanagh) got news of the Troubles, albeit somewhat distorted news. It was amazing to see how well Paisley and McGuinness worked together. Isn’t it a wonderful thing, the Troubles being over?
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Given any complex society both are true and I guess true for both communities. Speaking from my own reformed community there are large swathes of individuals who don’t attend church but will call themselves Protestant. Others whose lives are punctuated by the fruit of the spirit that is clearly evident.
Perhaps a question I can’t really answer as we would all have our own take on genuine and cultural.’ Bible Belt isn’t a word I personally would use to describe our small province but It continues to be said by others and borne out by the first survey quote below.
Church attendance continues to decline for all manner of reasons yet attendance itself doesn’t equal genuine spiritually or cultural religiosity. Perhaps the smaller numbers attending are more spiritually alive and the culturally religious are staying at home, Who Knows.
I hope others don’t mind me cutting these small quotes from their work. Google: Church attendance in Northern Ireland.
The report, Churchgoing in the UK, found that Northern Ireland was the most observant region, with 45% of people attending services every month.
Ekklesia, 25 Nov 2005 — The report, ‘Driven to disaffection: Religious independents in Northern Ireland’, says that the Catholic Church in Ireland has seen a sharp drop in those going to Mass – from 90 per cent to 62 per cent of the population in just 15 years.
Meantime, a survey of church attendance in Northern Ireland shows steep falls in many cases, despite 73% of respondents saying they still believe in a God or higher power
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I too am from the “The Great Southland of the Holy Spirit” as my acronym suggests ‘John From Down Under’. I’m an Australian of Hellenic heritage and denominationally I describe myself as a Pentecostal refugee. Though not a Calvinist, these days I turn to Reformed Theology a lot to challenge my thinking and broaden my understanding because of its spiritual wealth and strong heritage. I have friends and relatives in the US and I lived there for a couple of years in the 80’s and that’s where I became a Christian.
I think my fellow Aussie Laura summed it up well except one small point that “we don’t have many ‘celebrity pastors’ here”. Immediately I’m thinking Brian Houston (founder of Hillsong) and Phil Pringle (founder of what is now called C3 which is also franchising its brand in the US). They became celebrities in Australia though both of them are from across the ditch (that would be New Zealand).
Unfortunately the footprint of American style evangelicalism is all over us, not only in the adoration of your celebrity Christians but even the more subtle and less obvious theological influences. Case in point, I am seriously flirting with Luteranism at the moment and when I visited my local Lutheran church, there were the 5 Purposes of Purpose Driven Church hanging from the ceiling in banners. Our few Christian bookstores are filled with US authors and understandably to a point, because we’re a small country (the population of NY city).
Our importation obsession with US fads (that the English dictionary does not have enough words for me to express my disdain over this nasty habit of ours) is more prevalent in charismatic and ‘seeker-sensitive’ type circles though the Reformed folk too have their own fascination with Piper and the Don.
Another case in point, her Highness Joyce Meyer was in town on the weekend and I happen to live a kilometre away (yes, we use the metric system here) from the megachurch that was hosting her. The traffic was pandemonium and they had to put traffic controllers within a square kilometre/mile to keep things in order.
On the flipside you probably have more of our influence in your church music that you care to know perhaps. Late 80’s to early 90’s we exported more Hillsong music to the world that anyone could have anticipated, and most evangelical churches around the world would have had a Hillsong classic of Darlene Zschech’s somewhere on their repertoire (Shout to the Lord, Stone’s Been Rolled Away). More recently our Sons of Korah are becoming quite popular in your shores as they only sing biblical psalms. And of course, we gave you Ken Ham as someone noted earlier.
As Laura accurately pointed out, Christianity is not as prevalent here. One reason is perhaps that we are now officially the most multicultural nation on earth (an admission also made by the US ambassador here not long ago) and we have all sorts of imported religions. The Caucasian Australians are traditionally apathetic toward religion rather than anti-religious. Having lived in the US and continuing to interact with USians all the time, I can say that we don’t possess your cultural sanctimoniousness but we are more transparently irreverent, off-the-cuff and unpretentious (our sense of humour is sharper too, but then again I’m biased!). Though I can’t back it up with statistical data, it would seem to me that we drink more beer than you lot.
Finally, our blogosphere is pretty anaemic here which is why most of us hang around your backyard a lot and now and again I like to annoy Jeff 🙂 (though as I once confessed, if I landed in the US tomorrow he’d be the first guy I would want to look up and have a beer with. Love you Jeffrey!).
John
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Marko:
On holiday in your fair country just now! (Well, I’m actually typing this from a hotel in Tallinn, Estonia, but will soon be back in Helsinki again.) After complaining about a 60F day last Saturday, I learned it was 106F back in my native Atlanta. How do I apply for a permanent visa?
Beyond trying to digest the Kerevala, I’ve been trying to understand Finnish Christianity. My wife and I stayed wth a former missionary in Tampere, so I don’t think I’m entirely clueless, but it is certainly a work in progress for me. Having something of a background in Orthodox Christianity certainly helps — though Finnish Orthodoxy is, at the political level, a bit complicated historically.
In any case, thanks for your insights, and God bless you and your wonderful country.
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Also quaint to my ears how Paisley would say non-believers were headed dah-uwn to Hell
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We do get the occasional moose in a swimming pool in Ottawa.
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Another American butting in. I am half Canadian, though. 😉
My questions to our international friends: Do you see Christianity in your country as being generally orthodox and healthily resistant to cultural influences? Do those of different Christian expressions in your country work together for the good of the kingdom, or do they keep to themselves? Is the Great Commission your Christian nationals’ first priority, or do they, like us, get distracted? How do you measure your success/failure in your faith work?
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Coming from South Africa to Canada I have a joke for you (pardon the diversion Mike):
Do you know why Van Der Merwe was arrested for being intoxicated in a public place shortly after arriving in Canada?
When he landed at the airport he saw a large billboard that said “Drink Canada Dry.”
So he promptly proceeded to try to do so!
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The most interesting preacher during Bible Conference (it was my spring break in high school) was Ian Paisley. In my younger years I would try to imitate his pronunciation of Psalms (sams). Thanks for the reminder of how the NI’s pronounce the region.
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Yes, the guys at Redwood are great, and doing some very cool and practical things to impact our downtown area.
HBC is on my list: I know various folks there but haven’t visited it ‘officially’ yet.
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There’s also Celine Dion and Gisele Mackenzie (remember her?) and Anne Murray. But not, in spite of what you think, Robert Goulet.
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David,
You mention N. Ireland as being the “Bible belt” of Europe. Out of curiosity, would you say that it’s more of a cultural religiosity or a genuine spirituality?
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I literally laughed out loud when I saw this!
However you forgot Americans…err I mean United Statians? Considering you live in N. America, I guess you could be geographically called American. Though most Canadians seem to like the phrase N. America when referring to both CND and the US (conveniently leaving out Mexico).
Also the E, I, & S’s are in fact H’s…they just happened to be admired heathens ;)~
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Try living in the UK as an American and an American community member at a blended Anglican Franciscan community on top of it. I knew there would be cultural differences but hadn’t realized how subtle they were. It has been challenging to say the least. Just cuz we speak the same language (relatively…) doesn’t mean we see the universe the same way.
Ask me in two years what I’ve learned while here. That should be pretty interesting.
Sorry to barge in on the international open mic!
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Ja-nee man, of al ek sê “Vrystaat!”.
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+ 1 !
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Hi all…. David….. From Northern Ireland (pronounced Norn Iron). Here in this wee (small) corner of Europe, everyone…. thats right; everyone is a christian of one shade or another. You have to opt out of being a Christian here and declare yourself to be something else, although it can be difficult to be… say, an atheist as you’re either a catholic atheist or a protestant atheist. We only number 1.5 million (In the North) and it has been said that this wee(small) place is the Bible Belt of Europe and should Christianity fall here then God help the rest of Europe. GOODNESS!! What am I saying? Europe is a mess… spiritually and otherwise.
Agree with the confusion re American/Canadian, over here you’re all american(small a). Over there we’re all Irish even though there is a huge gulf between Southern Irish and Northern Irish. Confusing? Let me explain. Ireland is two separate countries. Well…. not quite…. most if not all southern Irish see the island of Ireland as one. Half of the Northern Irish also see the island as one while the other half…..say they’re British and belong to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and all of us are a very religious bunch.
Question ? Is this something Jesus had in mind when he declared to Peter “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.
All that said there has been some wonderful cross community work going on here over recent times and I’ve had the privilege of being involved in such work.
Presbyterian, (small p) our minister/pastor has been nominated and elected the moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (all of the island) for the incoming year.
Found imonk while journeying internally on the meaning of Church.
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Hi there.
I’m a Canadian who has been living in Sweden for ten years. (My husband is Swedish.) I have been reading Internet Monk for about seven years now; I feel that whichever Christian sub-culture I’m a part of, it’s good to have a wider picture of what and who Christ’s body is.
Christianity in Sweden… Depends on who you ask. The Lutheran Church decided to stop being the state church a number of years ago, a move which many applauded, hoping that the church would be more free to be what it is without having to worry about offending the political powers-that-be. By evangelical North American standards, many of the Lutheran churches here are VERY liberal.
In the latest issue of the prayer guide ‘Operation World’ Sweden was described as a country in need of pre-evangelism i.e. groundwork needs to be done before evangelism can even start. The general attitude is that evangelical Christians are dangerous and deluded; the things written in the press about the church here in Sweden, just as a matter of course, could NEVER be written by a national daily in the US. There are no culture wars here; Christianity is largely dismissed as completely irrelevant.
My neighbour across the hall is an ethnic Swede, married to an Algerian. She converted to Islam several years ago – before she met her husband – because her understanding of Christianity was that Christians say, “Yes, the Bible says that, but, you know, no one really lives like that. And there is always forgiveness. No big deal.” She was looking for something that would mean something, and demand something, and change her life. “The Muslims I knew practiced what they preached,” she told me. I wept inside.
We have some of the same issues here; the evangelical church is trying to figure out how to encourage their teenagers, and nurture them in the faith on into adulthoold. Christians who are deliberately moving into needy areas (needy being a relative term, and in Sweden always synonomous with ‘where lots of foreigners live’) and being, living there, staying there, are earning the right to be heard. Christians who are attempting to live moral lives can make a big impression on Muslims because their understanding of Swedish culture is that it is entirely secular and completely morally adrift.
There is a lot in Swedish culture which is very Christian; Pentecost and Ascension are public holidays and the songs sung on St Lucia Day (December 13th) have gospel truth in them. The first day a new Parliament assembles after an election they all start by going to a service in the cathedral in Stockholm. Name days are celebrated, and the names on the calendar go back to the saints’ days.
My favourite snapshot of some of the contradictions in Swedish Christianity comes from a family wedding I attended. One of my husband’s aunts, a lovely Christian, asked me if I really enjoyed where we were living. “Yes,” I said. “Really? Even with all the [hushed voice] foreigners?” Pause. “Ummm, I’M a foreigner too…” “Yes, yes, but we count you as Swedish.”
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Lekker ek se!
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Hi Trevor,
Checked out your blog. That is a lot of churches you are visiting! I have some friends going to the first one you visited Redwood park. It was originally started by another friend of mine, who instead of going into retirement at age 65, decided to plant another church!
I will be interested to get your opinion of Harvest Bible Church as another friend of mine was Worship Pastor there until recently.
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I may have mentioned some of this to Ali privately.
My wife’s family is originally from Wales, but were exiled to Newfoundland, Canada, after they attempted to overthrow King James II in the Monmouth rebellion of 1685. So, her family has been in North America for over 325 years.
My side of the family has also been in North America for over 300 years, but in Barbados of the West Indies. I am in fact descended from both slave owners and slaves. I also have Swiss, German, English, Scottish, Irish and American ancestors in my recent past. (I am a first generation Canadian.) My parents both grew up in Africa (primarily in the Zambia/Zimbabwe area, where I lived as a teen. My great grandfather on my mothers mothers side was an American of Swiss/German descent, who went to Africa in 1905 as a pioneering missionary.
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Wow….thought Benny was American/palestinian; you can have him back….
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Apart from being considered a good friend of the US, generally speaking, I think the average American is not sure where the UK stands in regards to Christianity. There seems to be a strong mix of secularism, pluralism, institutional Christianity, and a small, yet active evangelical base.
I personally appreciate the strong, Christian theologicans/scholars that the UK has contributed to the faith, including Wycliff, Wesley, Lightfoot, Lewis, Wright, etc…
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Agree 100% also. I’m American but grew up as an MK / Third Culture Kid. You’ll find that many Americans who have spent significant time overseas agree with you, and for good reason. Perhaps the best kept secrets in my family are that we’re not on the whole impressed with the American church, and we’re not really patriotic. But we don’t talk of this openly because in American Christianity those are pretty much unforgivable sins.
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As an American I am completely beaten down by contentious, political Christianity. My citizenship is in heaven and America, while I truly cherish it, comes in a distant second. We, across borders and seas, are one in being with each other. Culture is all shades and hues but spirit is essence. Who you are and who we are impacts who we become as Christ’s living, breathing body in three dimensions. Be Christ over there and we will be Him over here and in reality we are being Him together in heavenly places. That’s not just a bunch of religious hoo-haw, that’s what we are being right now in one body.
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Just a little quaint aside here. If you ever want to learn Morse code.
E = 1 dot.
I = 2 dots
S = 3 dots
H = 4 dots.
How to remember this easily? According to Pastor Brendan there are four type of people in the world:
English
Irish
Scots
Heathen.
There, now you are 15% of the way to passing your Morse code exam!
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Most Canadians I know despise both Nickleback and Celine Dion. Arcade Fire on the other hand got some positive press recently as I recall. And why not ask Bono his impression of Bruce Cockburn. 🙂
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What, you’re not a Justin Bieber and Celine Dion fan? I’m currently living in Burton Cumming’s hometown (American Woman, etc.). Why would you think we’re looking for more attention? Although, maybe you should be nice if you want the Keystone pipeline to see the light of day (something I’m personally ambivalent about).
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“Americans don’t realize these people are Canadian. J.I. Packer, William Shatner, Tod Bentley, etc.”
Don’t forget Benny Hinn! Hard to believe that America’s most famous TV Evangelist (or whatever you want to call him) is a Canadian of Armenian descent.
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Anglo Canadian here.
I’m in the process of visiting every church in my mid-sized Canadian town to answer the very questions you’re asking – what are the issues facing the church here, and specifically to ask what God is doing here.
Like all Canadians I have a mixed view of my brothers to the south. You Americans have a staggeringly polarized and frequently vicious political environment. Yet at the same time you produce some of the smartest and innovative thinkers in a huge number of fields, from technology to theology. So maybe you could keep doing the latter whilst toning down the former a teeny bit?
I believe that isolation is the main issue facing the churches in my part of the world. We have many Christians and many churches in this city, but very little cooperation between them. Rather than benefiting from each others strengths and compensating for each others weaknesses, we insist on doing everything ‘in-house’
My big hope is that Catholics, Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists and Orthodox believers will begin to dismantle the walls between them and start experiencing the joy of genuine, diverse christian community.
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The fact that you use the word “dissimilar” gives you away. Recent statistics show that only 5 Americans used that phrase last year, and 3 of them lived in London during a cross-cultural study stint in college. Oddly enough those 3 people are also known to say “cheers” at times other than at the beginning of beverage consumption.
American views on British Christianity is largely dependent upon which theological heritage we belong to and how the British have influenced American spirituality. N.T. Wright has a large American fan club from the moderates and liberals. The Wesley’s obviously have had a large impact on the shape of American Christianity, beyond just the Methodists. Spurgeon and Knox have a large fan club amongst the Reformed. Johnny Baker was popular with emergent types. Delirious? was HUGE with the modern worship crowd 10 years ago. The Alpha Course has made some in roads with older churches trying their hand at evangelism. Finally, Anglicanism in America is still suffering from a shake up between the “The Episcopal Church” and the break-a-way “Anglican Church in North America”. It appears see of Canterbury is partial to the TEC while GAFCON and the Global South supporting ACNA.
Yes, the Brits do seem incurably liberal in the eyes of conservative evangelicals. However, the average American do see the English in particular as friends. As I mentioned to Michael Bell, Americans know more about the Brits than they do about Canadians. It almost feels like America in some sense (particularly in the more liberal sectors) look up to the Brits. You’ve clearly got the best actors, ie Huge Laurie does a better job at being an arrogant American than any other American actor. You have the best music…Beatles, Stones, Radiohead, Blur, Franz Ferdinand, the Clash, etc., etc. And do you have any idea how many Americans watched the Royal Wedding?!?! If we lump you in with the Scots and the Irish (sorry Martha), you guys have the coolest people on Earth.
…clearly you’re still all heathens, but at least you’re cool. Sorry Canada, you’re going to have to better than Nickleback and Avril Levene if you want the attention we give to the British Isles.
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Sorry for butting in from the US, but just wanted my I-Monkers to know we are without power or internet here in Virginia, but have ice and a basement apartment to sleep in and are in NO danger…..lots of trees down but no house on our little street.
Miss you all and the gracious discussions, will be back when power is, likely this Saturday or Sunday. Please pray for region and those without our blessings of large cool property and transportation to get ice and food!!!
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Hi, Rob here, a Brit living in Coventry, England. I began reading IM about four or five years ago while living in working in France. It was a hard time, spiritually speaking, and IM was a genuine breath of fresh air. My understanding of the nature of the gospel is very different today to what it was a few years ago, and a big part of that change is down to Michael, and to the work you guys continue to do here at IM. Keep it up!
My two biggest frustrations with the UK church are ones that are also common in the US: widespread acceptance of some form of the “health and wealth” gospel, to the extent that a good proportion of charismatic Christians don’t even realise there’s any reason to call it into question; and the tendency of many Christians to switch off their brains and glibly believe whatever is dispensed to them from the pulpit, cable TV or the latest Christian bestseller.
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Michael, this is all in good humor and I hope I don’t offend you.
I grew up in Southern California but moved 7 years ago to the US/BC border. I live 7 mins south of the border, 40 mins south of Vancouver, and 90 mins north of Seattle. Almost all of our radio stations are from Vancouver and we even get the CBC with our cable package (where of course I’ve become familiar with the likes of Don Cherry and his ridiculous suits). I enjoy trips across the border but I did more so 7 years ago when the exchange rate was C$1/US$0.60. I have become quite familiar with Canadian politics and Canadian culture (west coast at least). Though I still am not sure what’s the difference between the Liberals and the NDP.
In the last 7 years I have noticed one glaring truth, Canadians can’t stop talking about Americans while Americans almost never talk about Canadians. If I compare Vancouver news with Seattle news, Americans know more about British politics and culture than they do Canadian. I also get the sense the Canadians look down upon Americans and have a general or subtle contempt (which I think the British are guilty of as well) for the US. Even here in the border region, most local Americans know more about Canadian driving habits than Canadian culture. Our local CCM radio station’s (KWPZ – Praise 106.5fm) audience is about 60% Canadian, but I think most Americans think of Canada as less Christian and more European.
As they say “the squeaky wheel gets all the grease”, so Mexico gets a lot of attention while peaceful, cool, stable Canada is largely ignored.
Funny thing is Americans are familiar with Canadians, but Americans don’t realize these people are Canadian. J.I. Packer, William Shatner, Tod Bentley, etc., etc and so we end up adopting you as Americans. Heck, the US has far more NHL teams than Canada, and when was the last time you guys “brought back the cup”?
If you want to get noticed more, you need to stick out more. Otherwise you’ll continue to be treated as the 51st state.
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I am Ken living in Canada. I have lived around a bit, USA, Latin America and the Middle East.
Christians in Canada are living in a situation where the culture has become post-Christian very rapidly. The 1960’s were a time of great change. At that time out justice minister realised he needed to take law in Canada from being something based on sin to a more secular basis. He became Prime Minister and ruled for some 20 years, under him the face of the country changed drastically.
We have always lived with the tension between the French and English which was inherited from the wars between Britain and France. To help sell the idea of bilingualism, the government embarked on a deliberate program of multiculturalism, which has had a fair degree of success. What has literally happened is that the world has been brought to us, and Canada now has a very rich cultural mosaic, which I enjoy.
One of the consequences of this has been the supremacy of Christianity in this country has really vanished. In many ways it has been banished from the public square. I do not hear Christians here moaning as loudly about it as my US friends do about the USA. In practical terms, it means church going is not culturally fashionable. For most people, Sundays are soccer, baseball, hockey, shopping and camping days.
Politically, Christians are all over the map. Many are aligned with the right wing Conservative party, and that is often for moral reasons. That party does not seem to squelch pro-life voices, or supporters of traditional marriage. I would like to see Christians in all the major parties, because all of the parties have good and bad points. Canada is definitely left of centre by American standards. We have health care administered by the provinces, and our governments tend to be more involved in the economy. Most Canadians do not have a problem with this. We believe in good government.
Challenges: By and large Canadians are wealthy compared to much of the world. So we are spiritually complacent. At this point, our moral compass is grounded in relativism, and really depends on the way the winds blow in our culture. The church is in a unique place now, we have a nation of people some born here, and some elsewhere who are ripe to be influenced for the Kingdom of God. We have a chance to do it over again, and maybe organize our Christian communities in a way to be true light and salt to the culture around us. The institutional church here is losing members as it has become irrelevant. There are 2 ways to view this: worry and complain about our loss of influence, or start the task anew with a clean slate and win the respect of those around us.
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Actually, I do think about Canada, usually by way of envying your health care system. And, I’ve loved what I’ve seen of the country, mainly Quebec.
However, I know next to nothing about the Christian scene in Canada. Based on ten days in Quebec a few years ago, I decidedly got the sense that there were very few Protestants there, but maybe I was looking for churches in the wrong places. I did very appreciate the meditations in the chapels behind the altar at the Shrine of St. Anne De Beaupre, though.
Maybe somebody could do a post or two (or three) sometime on Christianity in Canada.
Confession: When I think of Canada, I think of caribou wandering the streets of Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec. I know this isn’t true, and I know full well that these are very world-class cities, but. . .
Maybe I’ve seen the Red Green Show too often. . .
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South African – Canadian here. That is, SA immigrant living in Canada since 2007, soon to be a citizen. I knew Mike from IM & the Boars Head Tavern, and have been reading these since about 2003/2004…
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If you’re in need of Australian celebrity pastors, you can have Ken Ham back. 😉
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I worked in a post-conflict country and lived among its people for most of a decade. It was a simple life among people who were just surviving. Over that time, 9/11 happened. Later I returned to the U.S. to find the cars seemed so huge, the streets were besotted with stores hawking non-essentials, and Americans drove everywhere and on the whole were obese. Over the intervening years, it seemed Americans had become self-absorbed, worship had been trivialized, and the sorts of Christians I knew seem to have gravitated towards being resentful of others and apocalyptically paranoid. I write it off to Heb. 2:15; being held in slavery by their fear of death. Objectively speaking, I feel blessed living in America; it is a wonderful country. But call it reverse culture shock, I still can’t shake Rip Van Winkle-like feelings here.
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Actually, I should clarify. Such ideas, I would venture, naturally attach to a culture’s most familiar ORGANISED religion. Religions without any kind of hierarchy or clergy (eg. Taoism and Confucianism) don’t seem to suffer the same prejudices.
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Very thought provoking this week. If at all possible, I would love to hear from people in a strife-torn country that might share what it costs to live a faith (hopefully Christ centered) in their family and community. It would be very in-lightening for me.
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The song is “Whatever you say, say nothing” 🙂
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Excuse me, you live in Wales in GREAT BRITAIN, not the United Kingdom; that is, when talking about where one lives, distinguishing between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (and various small islands that nobody much thinks about, apart from maybe the Isle of Man), Great Britain, and the other three-quarters of Ireland (variously referred to as the Free State, Éire, the Republic of Ireland, or the South – and believe me, you can tell immediately the political opinion of the person speaking by which term they use) matters a great deal very much to a particular stripe of Irish person.
Maybe not so much, thank God, since the Peace Process really took hold (and n that topic, the lover of the most recent edition of “Private Eye” is very, very funny) but it can still be annoying (to us Southerners) to hear casual references to ‘the mainland’ when speaking of the island next door 🙂
Speaking of which, this song – which every Irish person immediately understood when it came out.
😉
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Hey, my name’s Ben, I’m from England, and have spent the last three years doing a degree in English and Creative Writing. (I’m looking forward to the writing forum on friday)
I found this blog after googling ‘post-evangelicalism’ and wondering what it was. The essays I read contributed to a growing dissolusionment I had with the christianity i was surrounded with, which seemed inadequate to what was really happening on the world. Few Christians I ever met seemed that bothered about global warming. It was hard to be passionate about spreading a gopsel that meant people would become like all the other christians one knew, and then get to go to heaven when they died.
As I have learnt more during the last few years, and have began to think for myself a little more, the number of deffeciencies in the christianity I was part of seemed to multiply. Hell. the Bible. Homosexuality. Women in leadership. Complementarianism. I unfortunately begun to focus on these various issues rather than living as part of the kingdom alongside many of the wonderful christians I knew at home and at university, none of whom were biggoted, whatever they believed or had been taught to beleive. I spent a couple of years wallowing in dissolusionement, secretly happy with each knew eveidence that evangelicalism ( as I had learned to call it) was wrong.
Now, hopefully I am learning that it doesn’t matter if someone beleives Adam was a real person or if they use the phrase ‘go to heaven when you die’. I would rather participate in the good thing that God is doing in the world, through his church, energised by his spirit.
I don’t really know what I beleive about the bible, or homosexuality, or quite what the church should be doing in the world. Fortunately, it doesn’t ultimately matter.
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Well, precisely. Which is what makes me suspect that this kind of anticlericalism (for want of a better term) tells us a lot about human beings and very close to nothing about the religion in question.
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Warren — I agree with your insights 100%. (I’m an American who has lived about a third of my life overseas.) Americans, coming from such a large and powerful country, have very little experience with encountering “foreignness” and making sense of it. However, most Americans would expect some culture shock and mental shaking up if they went to a very foreign culture — New Guinea or the Congo, for example. When we go to Canada, though, we don’t think it is “foreign,” so we never examine our presuppositions and realize how very differently Canadians think about many things and how offensive our assumption is that you all are just like us. I admire the graciousness with which most Canadians handle their southern neighbors.
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Miquel, I would not be too quick to apologize for the garbage that you (collectively) produce and distribute. We are educated adults who can read, If we buy this junk it is our fault. Canadians like to gripe about all things American, but they love lots of American stuff.
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Hi Chaplain Mike:
An Irishman living in blighty ( England) – have enjoyed the dialogue here and long may it continue
K.
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If you do a google search for “imonk,” the first heading is this site, but the next is the blog of the Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi. He is apparently the founder of a Buddhist center at MIT. I haven’t read deeply, so I don’t know his circus views!
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On behalf of my people, I would like to issue a formal apology for exporting all our religious @#$%, both to Germany, and around the world. Pray that God would have mercy on us and make it stop.
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I am the pastor of a small Lutheran church in western France. I am a French citizen, and I am married to a Colorado native. Before being ordained, I had the opportunity (and the privilege, and the challenge) to work with American christians many, many times (Campus Crusade, IMB, MTW…).
Our family is prudly multicultural, including in the way we live our faith and teach it to our three young daughters.
I am fairly conservative in my theological views, but I would certainly join a mainline church (PC-USA, ELCA) if we had to live in the States.
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I work with a number of Finns. A couple have come over to the US for work for a couple weeks at a time. They were both very secular, though they may have been members of the established church. One of them was deathly afraid that he would have to spend his time evading Christians trying to evangelize him. He was somewhat nonplussed to discover that the people he was going to be working with the most were a Jew and a Hindu, neither of which are evangelizing faiths.
The FInns I have met have been calm, matter-of-fact people with a slightly twisted sense of humor that probably helps them survive those killer, dark winters.
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Beautiful story of how Christ has progressively revealed Himself to you.
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Would it be more accurate to say those ideas attach to the culture’s most familiar religion(s)? The default faiths most likely to be encountered? Whereas a “foreign” faith doesn’t have that baggage to begin with, plus the appeal of the exotic? (That was one edge early Christianity had in the early Roman Empire.)
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Very interesting perspective and insights. Thanks!
Your comments about your area’s established religion make me wonder if there isn’t an Internet Buddhist Monk out there blogging about the Zen or Tibetan Circus 😉
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Believe me, we here in the good ol’ USA know we have a lot to learn from you.
If this were true for a majority of Americans, the dialogue would be more interesting. But it ain’t true – not even remotely.
My long military career in the Canadian Air Force (35 years in uniform as of last month), which we’ve recently started referring to as the RCAF again, has allowed me to live across Canada and spend two tours in the US (three years in upstate NY in the early 90s and two years in Colorado quite recently). My wife and I enjoyed our time in the US, had good church experiences, and made many friends. But, on both occasions, we were happy (maybe even relieved) when the time came to return to Canada.
As I’ve gotten older, and my view of Scripture has matured, I find I have less and less patience with things like the Constitution being functionally placed on the same level as the Bible in terms of it being viewed as inspired and inerrerant, and with American exceptionalism. These views lead to an unbridgeable gulf between many Americans and the inhabitants of the rest of the world that I see as much more profound than I did 25 yrs ago.
Interestingly, my pastor, who has been at our church for five years, is American – and also served for 12 years in the US Army. I really like him, and our shared military experience made for a quick bond, but it is very apparent that, even after five yreas in Canada, there is much about the Canadian mindset that he just doesn’t get (and I doubt he ever will). The unexamined presuppositions upon which many of his views are founded won’t allow him to see things differently. Our church has many recent immigrants and a Filipino pastor, who immigrated to Canada eight months ago to join his family, was recently brought on staff. From what I can see, George has adapted much more quickly than our pastor to the Canadian mindset.
Of course, Canadians are not immune to unreasonable predjudices and misplaced national pride (although I believe we are much more willing to accept good ideas from outside our borders). Our daughter, who teaches in a very ethnically diverse high school on the outskirts of Toronto, has mentioned several times that it is a common attitude amongst her students (maybe even the “in thing”) to “hate” America – although most would probably jump at the chance to go to Disney World.
I frequent too many blogs (some secular), and the tone of the political debate in the US in recent years sickens me. Sadly, Christians seem all too easily dragged to the lowest levels in this debate. This forum is a breath of fresh air (I’ve been following it for 10 years), and I commend you for managing to keep a reasonably positive tone despite dealing with challenging topics, and for continuing in a spirit that I think Michael Spencer would approve of.
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Well, as an orthodox christian in the OCA, we sing at the end of every service, “metropolitan of all America and Canada”, and we cover some of Mexico, too. So I’d say in our neck of the woods we think of Canadian christians as us, but a little farther away, but not AS far away as the Alaskans. We’re all orthodox christians from the americas. Your bishop has a cool french name?
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Unfortunately, I have to admit to not thinking just a whole lot about Canadian Christians, other than the ones that I know personally. Those tend to be Mennonites, plus an LDS family that I just met, so I doubt that they’re terribly representative of the church at large. I have heard occasional news stories floating around in the conservative evangelical sphere about pastors getting in trouble under hate crimes laws for preaching certain kinds of sermons – this is usually held up as an example of the direction that the US is heading.
Way to point out my insularity by just asking a question about the country next door!
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Alright… I’m Marko from Finland – Scandinavia. Male, 42 y.o. I have followed your blog quite some time, but never commented. I like your style to question things instead of taking them for granted. There seems to be a real conversation here, not just typical “hallelujah, amen” kind.
I’m gay. I was tempted to comment your posts on this topic a little while ago, but decided not to, since most comments seemed to be so…typical christian opinions. I live in a long term relationship, happily, and don’t find a contradiction of any kind. My Bible is not a law book; inspired, yes, but not fallen from heaven. The four Gospels matter the most to me. I have come to appreciate the Old Testament and Judaism as I have read a lot of historical-critical Bible studies, but to me it is the OLD Testament, book of the OLD covenant. And I also think that Paul was just a man: his Christology is timeless, but his moral opinions are those of a man of his time and culture. He even contradicts with radical teachings and example of Jesus. I don’t follow Paul but Jesus Christ.
The Book of Revelation is meaningful to me, but it can be very dangerous when read literally. I think it’s all spiritual and metaphorical.
In Finland Evangelical Lutheran Church is a national church, and most Finns still belong to it, even if it’s more like a tradition. Even a season of the parliament is opened with the Lutheran Mass. Religion is also taught at school – according to parents’ Faith. There is a public discussion going on right now, if that should be the case, but I don’t think it will change very soon. I was born and baptised Lutheran too, though my family was not religous at all. And it was exactly the school that made me fed up with Lutheran church, which I left when I was 19. I just didn’t feel it gave me anything. Yet, unlike my family, I was religous myself. I believed in God and prayed. I wasn’t so sure about Jesus and I didn’t read the Bible. Also the problem was, to me Christianity was Lutheranism; I didn’t know anything else.
I was 23 when a new Orthodox Christian friend inspired me to go to Orthodox Monastery for two weeks as a volunteer worker. The Eastern Orthodox church is another official national church here – meaning, they can collect taxes from their members. I took part in every Divine Liturgy I was able to, and it had a deep influence on me: I think I was touched by the Living Christ, straight to the heart; no Bible, no teachings of any kind – just this direct mystical experience of his precense. So, whenever people claim formal Mass is just that, formal and empty, they don’t know what they are talking about! Since that I started to think, there must be something to this “Christ business” after all! I used to think Jesus was just a man, no more.
Only then I read a lot and became more convinced. However, my path has not been traditional. Today I’m a member of The Christian Community, small but world-wide movement, founded in Germany 1922 (“Die Christengemeinschaft”). We don’t have dogmas, but freedom of thought; emphasis is on the seven sacraments. LIke Catholics, we believe in the Real Presence. In fact, I have come to appreciate Catholicism very much, but I’m original thinker even in the context of my own community, which allows me to think for myself. Needless to say, The Christian Community is not considered “orthodox” by mainstream denominations. However, it was there that I came to acknowledge the traditional Christian truths about the Incarnation of the Son of God, His unique sacrificial Deed for us on the Cross, and His Resurrection.
I’m a big supporter of ecumenism, and I also approve of other Faith traditions based on peace and love, as valid ways to God.
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Hi, I’m Australian too.
I reckon in Australia we’re too much in the habit of turning to the US for our ideas on how to go forward as a church but aren’t great at acknowledging that we’ve actually got really different cultures.
The challenges in the US aren’t necessarily challenges here, but sometimes we assume they are, act as if they are and preach against them (the number of times I’ve heard a ‘young guys need to man up’ Driscoll-style talk, but wondered where are all these apparently lazy guys living with their mums – that’s not an issue here that I’m aware of!).
Perhaps it’s also because we don’t have many ‘celebrity pastors’ here so we go for American ones. It’s not really very Aussie to become successful and famous like that – we probably wouldn’t accept one of our own anyway – so rather than rejecting the whole paradigm of celebrity, we tend to turn to Americans, listen to them, but then we aren’t great at applying what they say to our context.
Christianity also never had the broad public acceptance here that it’s had in the USA in the past. It’s never really been a big part of our public institutions. We’re kind of amused by American religiosity (if a PM said ‘God Bless Australia’ they’d be laughed at). So when Americans get alarmed by the ‘decline’ of Christianity and pursue their ‘culture wars’ it doesn’t make really sense in the Australian context. What we seem to get is some Christians manufacturing a culture war, imitating our American brothers and sisters – trying to protect an imagined Christian heritage we never really had – and getting all fired up like all the Americans we’re reading and listening to.
that said – I’m reading an American blog and loving it!
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Australian here who lives in Wuhan, China. I teach English and Western Culture at a medical university and attend the Catholic church on the other side of the Yangzi every Sunday. I’ve been here coming up on two years now, and am likely to remain for a few years yet.
By contrast with you folks, the Christians over here are un-political in the extreme. The deep-seated American Christian wish, against which so many here are in reaction, of transforming society into some sort of Christian utopia simply doesn’t exist in the minds of the folks at my church, or for any of the other Christians I’ve met. This is probably a survival instinct. Most everyone is just happy if they can live their faith without obstruction.
Another thing that is quite apparent to me as a Westerner is the absence of any a priori cynicism towards Christianity. Talking about one’s faith in the West (or at least in Australia- it may well be America is completely different), one feels on the defensive from the outset. Like you have to deal with a whole host of misconceptions before you can get a fair hearing. Organised religion (by which is meant Christianity) is corrupt, hypocritical and only after power and money, etc. That sort of thing. What’s fascinating to me over here is that none of that stuff attaches to Christianity- so I can talk about my religion matter-of-factly without feeling the need to mount extensive apologiae at every step- but those ideas do attach to Buddhism! It’s an interesting comment on human nature, I think.
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I’m from Germany, Pastor of a free evangelical church and more and more a sceptical spectator in the evangelical circus that reaches Germany from the USA with approximately 5 years delay …
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Kia Ora from New Zealand : )
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Hi – I’m English but I live in Wales in the UK (this is a separate country and if you are Welsh it matters – trust me – it’s akin to confusing Canadians with Americans!). I’m a wife, a mother, ex lawyer and I’m going to be ordained as a minister soon of a small semi rural Baptist church (scary stuff for me) and I found Internet Monk shortly before Michael Spencer left us.
There is quite a lot of prejudice against Americans in the UK from the grass roots in areas particularly politics and religion. Americans always seem to do it bigger and say it’s better – that’s the image we see most of the time but communities like IM correct this image. I’m not sure how I came across IM but it was a breath of fresh air in the midst of a lot of self righteousness on the internet. I love the diverse group of people here and the fact it does have an international dimension. I like to hear your perspective on issues and events even when they don’t have much to do with me – but I really am not that interested in sport so I tune out for those posts – sorry!
The issues and concerns we have in the UK are not that dissimilar to those in America. The big issues in the UK Christian world from my perspective (other Brits may see things differently) are mission (sadly a concern sometimes sparked because of declining church numbers rather than a desire to be the people we are called to be in the first place) and hermeneutics, particularly highlighted by the hot potato issues of women in authority and the place for homosexuals in the church. So, how should we read the Bible and how should we live our lives as disciples? What does that mean? How do we encounter God in our daily lives? These are the questions that I find myself asking continually. I find the views of American Christians fascinating culturally – I often think that the UK must seem hopelessly liberal to many conservative evangelicals – I rather like having that tag although liberals would say I am fairly conservative in a lot of my theological views. Clearly my culture informs my belief and practice as well – trying to separate these aspects of my life is always a challenge.
Like Michael Bell says, I would also be interested to know how the UK is viewed by Americans. I know how some of the mega church people see us but I don’t know how the ordinary Christian sees us.
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note: comment for Michael Bell…
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i can’t be anything but an American Christian. or to be more accurate, a Christian American…
i should be ‘seasoning’ my culture with the transforming witness of the good news. i am not the media’s version of a red+white+blue Christian. i am not what the generalities paint me as. i hold my politics loosely, but i am not so removed from the issues i live in my own private Idaho…
i am not one to mix my patriotism with religion. i do appreciate my country, its history & i like to identify with the good things of course…
i am but one citizen in a vast sea of individuals with widely differing perspectives. this is certainly true of the Christian family in the midst of this diverse demographic.
i happened to have made a small ‘ministry’ trip to Canada in the summer of 1983. yeah. Didsbury & surrounding environs. the people i met at that time had more in common with the Mid-West farmer communities than anything strictly Canadian. other than their subtle voice inflections & unique way of ending each sentence, there was not anything so ‘Canadian’ that i could say highlighted their Christianity any differently than mine…
I think it was the American Christianity ‘stuff’ happening at that time that may have captured the attention of our Northern neighbors, but they were not about to jump on the proverbial bandwagon just because it was the big thing down south…
i would not have even considered this part of my early faith journey, but the topic & your question had me remembering my 2 week encounter with some real down-to-earth Canadians i would not have had ever encountered had i not made that trip up north…
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And we have a Canadian who stops in from time to time. 🙂
Seriously though, it is so difficult for all of us, not matter what culture we are from to differentiate between our culture and our faith. All of us, whether we like to admit it or not practice a syncretistic form of Christianity where our cultural beliefs end up informing our religious beliefs. Having said that, it is really easy to point out the speck in my brothers eye and be blind to the log in my own. I wrote a piece a while back on Canadians perspectives on American Christianity. I would like to turn the tables and ask here, what are Americans perspectives on Canadian Christianity? Or, are we so irrelevant to you in the grand scheme of things that you don’t really think of us at all?
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