Christianity in America and Europe

[sandandfoam]

I've never been to the USA but I do watch telly and mess about on the net, and I'm curious whether people think that European and American Christianity are the same or different?

 

[dust1n]

I've never been to Europe, but I can tell you that 'American Christianity' is so terrible, I wouldn't even know where to begin.

 

[Ardipithecus]

I've never been to the USA but I do watch telly and mess about on the net, and I'm curious whether people think that European and American Christianity are the same or different?

I am American but I was mostly educated in the UK (Scotland). I have been back to Northern Scotland where I have extended family.

Christianity in the UK is quite different from the largest group of Christians in America. I found most Scots and English that I knew over 10 years of residence there, to be very flexible about Christian belief. Many who called themselves Christian in the UK, I found to be moderate to very liberal. Many admitted to Genesis and the resurrection of Jesus to be metaphorical stories and not facts.

In America if one even questions the divinity of Jesus, most Americans will not accept you as Christian. 49-50% of American Christians are hard line literalists. They deny evolution, the 4.5 billion year age of the Earth, biological neurocognition, the 13.8 billion year age of the Universe. They fight hard to block real science in the public schools and/or insist on Genesis being taught as an alternative to Astronomy, Astrophysics, Physics, Geology, Geotectonics and Continental Drift, and Biogenetics.

Parents object if their child is taught that consciousness, thinking, memory, emotion, speech, perception, and attention are brain circuit functions. They insist on all cognition being taught as a function of the immaterial soul. (Your brain just fills that big space inside your skull.)

These confused and ignorant people do not realize that they are cutting their own throats as well as making their children grow up ignorant compared to nations who teach science and math. They will be unable to compete in this century.

Europe, Russia, China, India, Japan, and Korea will produce future workers in a very high tech and scientific research. Most young Americans will mostly qualify for menial jobs. The US economy already is dependent on foreign graduates and the rate is growing.

In 1990, 25% of Doctoral level science/medicine teachers were foreigners. In 2000, 40% of Doctoral science/medicine teachers were foreigners. I talked to the Dean of a local medical school. He said that in addition to teaching staff, the number of qualified (science prerequisites in college) applicants for medical school has dropped. It is dropping so far, US medical schools travel abroad to recruit college seniors and juniors to apply for admission to US medical schools.

I saw a bumper sticker: 'SUPPORT SCIENCE NOT SUPERSTITION.

Ardipithecus

 

[dust1n]

I am American but I was mostly educated in the UK (Scotland). I have been back to Northern Scotland where I have extended family.

Christianity in the UK is quite different from the largest group of Christians in America. I found most Scots and English that I knew over 10 years of residence there, to be very flexible about Christian belief. Many who called themselves Christian in the UK, I found to be moderate to very liberal. Many admitted to Genesis and the resurrection of Jesus to be metaphorical stories and not facts.
Ardipithecus

Well informing post! I figured Europe would be a little more 'progressive' than America, but then again in what realm has this not been the case. Slavery was being denounced in Europe since the 1600's by Christians, thought in America, Christianity has done the opposite, and supported slavery way further, including all kinds of bigotry and racism.

 

[Walkntune]

Parents object if their child is taught that consciousness, thinking, memory, emotion, speech, perception, and attention are brain circuit functions. They insist on all cognition being taught as a function of the immaterial soul. (Your brain just fills that big space inside your skull.)

Actually alot of the emotions and perceptions comes from our fight and flight response instincts and is more connected to intuition and awareness. This is why medical science fails so miserably with those who have mental illnesses and such. They treat the chemical balance in the brain as the cause and don't realize that it's the effect. Instead of trying to let go of suppressed emotions, the brain gets out of balance trying to rationalise reality into lining up with or figuring out why one feels a certain way. Suppressed emotions are actually the cause but pharmaceutical companies can't make billions of dollars off of drugs when you deal with such truth.

 

[Madhuri]

I think that it is definitely approached differently and the people themselves behave differently.

I like this example:

[youtube]FTaX-mJHrnk[/youtube]
YouTube - Little Britain - St Jesus's Church

 

[Mister Emu]

Parents object if their child is taught that consciousness, thinking, memory, emotion, speech, perception, and attention are brain circuit functions. They insist on all cognition being taught as a function of the immaterial soul.

Take out the first one, consciousness, and I believe, from my experience when I was a S. Baptist, most would have little problem if explained to them...

Christianity has done the opposite, and supported slavery way further

People used Christianity to both support and denounce slavery in America...

 

[Dunemeister]

Christianity in the UK is quite different from the largest group of Christians in America. I found most Scots and English that I knew over 10 years of residence there, to be very flexible about Christian belief. Many who called themselves Christian in the UK, I found to be moderate to very liberal. Many admitted to Genesis and the resurrection of Jesus to be metaphorical stories and not facts.

One broad brush (American Christianity is terrible) does not deserve another (UK Christianity is moderate). There are differences in emphases, however. Fori instance, whereas American Christianity tends to be more apocalyptic and focuses its politics on certain moral issues like abortion, UK Christianity tends to be amillennial and its politics focuses on broader ethical issues that affect the public weal. Thus the UK churches tend to address issues of public policy such as justice and mercy for the poor and the oppressed.

It's also true that American Christianity focuses more on dogma than the UK church does, but that doesn't mean that dogma is unimportant in the UK. You'll find that, in most UK churches, explicitly denying the bodily resurrection of Jesus is a serious no-no, though admittedly it doesn't quite rankle as much as it does in the US.

Parents object if their child is taught that consciousness, thinking, memory, emotion, speech, perception, and attention are brain circuit functions. They insist on all cognition being taught as a function of the immaterial soul. (Your brain just fills that big space inside your skull.)

You'll also find atheistic professors (e.g., David Chalmers) arguing that consciousness is not a mere function of neural activity and that there is a legitimate place for consciousness as being non-physical -- although he doesn't argue that we have "souls" in the Christian sense. In other words, this philosophical question cannot be decided ahead of time by mere fiat.

These confused and ignorant people do not realize that they are cutting their own throats as well as making their children grow up ignorant compared to nations who teach science and math. They will be unable to compete in this century.

This is an overstatement. It's entirely possible for a person convinced of young-earth creationism to function at a high level as an engineer or a mathematician. Very little science is directly concerned with whether the earth is very old or whether we evolved or not. Heck, most biology can proceed without even considering the question.

Europe, Russia, China, India, Japan, and Korea will produce future workers in a very high tech and scientific research. Most young Americans will mostly qualify for menial jobs. The US economy already is dependent on foreign graduates and the rate is growing.

In 1990, 25% of Doctoral level science/medicine teachers were foreigners. In 2000, 40% of Doctoral science/medicine teachers were foreigners. I talked to the Dean of a local medical school. He said that in addition to teaching staff, the number of qualified (science prerequisites in college) applicants for medical school has dropped. It is dropping so far, US medical schools travel abroad to recruit college seniors and juniors to apply for admission to US medical schools.

This has more to do with a longstanding tradition of anti-intellectualism in the USA, not to mention a worship of the underdog. Our pop culture is saturated with images of relatively dumb but virtuous people defeating well-financed and intelligent opponents. Think of the cowboy/western movie. It's a badge of honor not to have much o' that there high-falutin' edjumicaytion. And of course, it's in THAT context that American Christianity operates. It should come as no surprise that the Christianity in the US is less intellectual than you find elsewhere.

Yet significantly, American Christians are far more active in relief and development agencies than those of other parts of the world. So it's not ALL bad.

 

[Man of Faith]

I like Ravi Zhacharai.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

People used Christianity to both support and denounce slavery in America...

And in Europe as well. For instance, British Quakers formally forbade members of their congregations from owning slaves in 1760 and were a major voice for the abolitionist movement, but the Church of England's Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts owned slaves outright in the Carribean right up until slavery was abolished there in 1833.

 

[AxisMundi]

I've never been to the USA but I do watch telly and mess about on the net, and I'm curious whether people think that European and American Christianity are the same or different?

Religion is much more politicized in the US, IMHO.

Our Elected Employees often use religion and/or the issues that have become politicized (abortion, gay rights, Evolution, etc) as rally points for the political base and as vote gathering devices.

Such politicized religious issues, and especially religion itself, can be used to blast an opposing politician's campaign as well. Huckabee comes immediately to mind.

 

[Moonstone]

I think that it is definitely approached differently and the people themselves behave differently.

I like this example:

[youtube]FTaX-mJHrnk[/youtube]
YouTube - Little Britain - St Jesus's Church

I almost peed myself watching this :highfive:

 

[Muffled]

I think that it is definitely approached differently and the people themselves behave differently.

I like this example:

[youtube]FTaX-mJHrnk[/youtube]
YouTube - Little Britain - St Jesus's Church

My brother-in-law recently stayed at my house becasue power was out in his house. I invited him to attend church with me. He asked what church, ( I tend to change churches as the Lord moves me around). I told him Presbyterian which was what he ws raised. His response was that it would be too boring. He now attends a Four Square (Charismatic) church but he agrred it wsn't as lively (he thought zany better described it) as the Assembly of God church he once attended. I told him that he hadn't really seen zany yet. BTW the church he attends is the fastest growing church in town and the charismatics are the fastest growing group in America. It appears that whatever chaff was left in the mainline denominations is going apostate. I wouldn't be surprised if many old line protestant churches in Europe are fast becoming apostate aslo. I distinctly remember telling someone from the official Danish church that his church was becoming apostate.

 

[JMorris]

My brother-in-law recently stayed at my house becasue power was out in his house. I invited him to attend church with me. He asked what church, ( I tend to change churches as the Lord moves me around). I told him Presbyterian which was what he ws raised. His response was that it would be too boring. He now attends a Four Square (Charismatic) church but he agrred it wsn't as lively (he thought zany better described it) as the Assembly of God church he once attended. I told him that he hadn't really seen zany yet. BTW the church he attends is the fastest growing church in town and the charismatics are the fastest growing group in America. It appears that whatever chaff was left in the mainline denominations is going apostate. I wouldn't be surprised if many old line protestant churches in Europe are fast becoming apostate aslo. I distinctly remember telling someone from the official Danish church that his church was becoming apostate.

what a fascinating story

 

[Smoke]

It appears that whatever chaff was left in the mainline denominations is going apostate. I wouldn't be surprised if many old line protestant churches in Europe are fast becoming apostate aslo. I distinctly remember telling someone from the official Danish church that his church was becoming apostate.

Personally, I think being regarded as apostate by charismatics is probably a good sign.

 

[ragordon168]

a good example is a RC nurse who was recently sacked from the NHS is the UK for revealing to a friend that said friends daughter had recently had an abortion. the woman was denounced by several leaders in the UK RC church for this behaviour.

wheras what ive seen of US anti abortion groups this woman would probably be seen as a folk hero and her actions celebrated.

 

[Muffled]

a good example is a RC nurse who was recently sacked from the NHS is the UK for revealing to a friend that said friends daughter had recently had an abortion. the woman was denounced by several leaders in the UK RC church for this behaviour.

wheras what ive seen of US anti abortion groups this woman would probably be seen as a folk hero and her actions celebrated.

So what you are saying is that Europeans believe in murdering children? This isn't so different from the US. Are you going to tell me there aren't any anti-abotion groups in Europe?

 

[ChristineES]

I've never been to the USA but I do watch telly and mess about on the net, and I'm curious whether people think that European and American Christianity are the same or different?

There is most definitely a difference. I think American Christianity was influenced by the Puritans (who we call the pilgrims) who were very, very strict Christians and were Calvinists. Puritans were incredibly strict, they even killed Quakers (Friend's Church). They used to punish sinners by public whippings and stocks. They only wore black and white.

 

[AxisMundi]

So what you are saying is that Europeans believe in murdering children? This isn't so different from the US. Are you going to tell me there aren't any anti-abotion groups in Europe?

A patient's right of privacy was violated.

 

[AxisMundi]

There is most definitely a difference. I think American Christianity was influenced by the Puritans (who we call the pilgrims) who were very, very strict Christians and were Calvinists. Puritans were incredibly strict, they even killed Quakers (Friend's Church). They used to punish sinners by public whippings and stocks. They only wore black and white.

The Puritans were not a large portion of citizenry in the Colonies, and the movement had mostly died out in the colonies before the Revolutionary War began.