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Analysis:
Church visible and invisible Washington Times
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Washington,DC,USA
By Uwe Siemon-Netto
UPI Religious Affairs Editor
Washington, DC,
Apr. 8 (UPI) -- The funeral of Pope John
Paul II Friday showed one side of a strange
phenomenon within Christianity, according to
religion scholars of varying traditions:
Never before was the church as visible as
now; yet there also exists overseas an
invisible component contributing to the
dramatic growth of Christianity worldwide.
"Four million people flocking to Rome to bid
farewell to the pontiff -- that's a serious
church," marveled Gabriel Jay Rochelle, a
former Protestant pastor and theology
professor who is now teaching in an Orthodox
seminary.
"It shows that people yearn for a
recognizable church," he added.
"We need a visible church, and the Catholic
Church is it. The pope is the leader of all
the world's Christians," agreed Robert
Benne, a Lutheran theologian heading the
Center for Religion and Society in Salem,
Va.
"When in the history of the world did 4
million people ever show up anywhere
voluntarily?" asked Benne."Who on the other
hand would come for a funeral of Bishop
(John Shelby) Spong?"...Read
More
UK
Church Survey says Pews Emptying Because
Christianity no Longer Preached
LifeSiteNews.com
Monday March 7, 2005
Huge UK Church Survey says Pews Emptying Because
Christianity no Longer Preached Public wants
church's to cease being 'silent' and 'lukewarm'
in face of moral collapse LONDON, March 7, 2005
(LifeSiteNews.com) - With Christian moral values
and legal protections under assault on all
sides, it is commonly said that the reason pews
are emptying is that traditional religion is not
relevant. A new survey of thousands of
churchgoers in the UK says the opposite however,
and indicates that the emptying of the churches
has been caused mainly by preaching and pastoral
care that has been emptied of moral or doctrinal
Christian content. The survey addressed
questions about why church attendance was
falling so dramatically in the UK but growing
elsewhere, even though two-thirds of the British
population believes in God.
The results of the year-long survey of 14,000 UK
residents by the interdenominational Ecumenical
Research Committee has been called 'surprising'
by mainstream secular and Christian media. The
overwhelming response is to call on churches "to
robustly defend moral values with conviction and
courage and cease being 'silent' and 'lukewarm'
in the face of moral and social collapse."
Read the Survey: (PDF format, Adobe Acrobat
required.)
http://www.plain-truth.org.uk/churchsurveyreport.pdf
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