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More Roman Catholics will celebrate Easter Mass in the Philippines than in any European country. The largest church in the world is in South Korea. And more Christians will probably attend Easter services in China than in all of Europe together.
In short, for the first time since it began two millenniums ago, Christianity is no longer "Western" in any very meaningful sense.
-- Nicholas D. Kristof for The NY Times
Although some may dispute the idea of Christianity no longer being meaningfully Western, on this Easter weekend some 2,000 years since the time of Jesus, one cannot help but be impressed by the way it continues to thrive, finding a home now in the Third World - definitely much bigger than Elvis.
It's also alarming if you are not a Christian. In an increasingly globalized economy in which we become more like one community rather than a globe of nations, the peoples of the developed nations are bound to feel the effects of having so many devout Christians abroad. It certainly has to strengthen the fundamentalists at home, as they see their political base enlarged with the immigrants, as well as in foreign policy.
Not to mention the growing of a sort of religious war between Christianity and Islam for these downtrodden souls.... A sort of religious colonialism?
Perhaps with more prosperity, like the Europeans, they too will become more secular. It's a good prayer.
( Kristof column )
More Roman Catholics will celebrate Easter Mass in the Philippines than in any European country. The largest church in the world is in South Korea. And more Christians will probably attend Easter services in China than in all of Europe together.
In short, for the first time since it began two millenniums ago, Christianity is no longer "Western" in any very meaningful sense.
-- Nicholas D. Kristof for The NY Times
Although some may dispute the idea of Christianity no longer being meaningfully Western, on this Easter weekend some 2,000 years since the time of Jesus, one cannot help but be impressed by the way it continues to thrive, finding a home now in the Third World - definitely much bigger than Elvis.
It's also alarming if you are not a Christian. In an increasingly globalized economy in which we become more like one community rather than a globe of nations, the peoples of the developed nations are bound to feel the effects of having so many devout Christians abroad. It certainly has to strengthen the fundamentalists at home, as they see their political base enlarged with the immigrants, as well as in foreign policy.
Not to mention the growing of a sort of religious war between Christianity and Islam for these downtrodden souls.... A sort of religious colonialism?
Perhaps with more prosperity, like the Europeans, they too will become more secular. It's a good prayer.
( Kristof column )
