Tag: Society

How is being Christian and single a gift to the church? What are the joys, pitfalls, highs and lows? What does singleness tell us about God?

Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today. For thirty years we have made a virtue out of the pursuit of material self-interest: indeed, this very pursuit now constitutes whatever remains of our sense of collective purpose. We know what things cost but have no idea what they are worth. We no longer ask of a judicial ruling or a legislative act: Is it good? Is it fair? Is it just?

In the next few years, we will have a chance to compare social trends in the states permitting same-sex marriage against social trends in the others. I contacted three serious conservative thinkers who have written extensively about the dangers of allowing gay marriage and asked them to make simple, concrete predictions about measurable social indicators.

One of our favorite blogging bishops, the Rt. Rev. Alan Wilson, describes the Diocese of Oxford’s Social Media Day which he recently chaired. He says that “the aim was to gather people working for the Church with an interest in communications, to scope the scene and its possibilities.”

Human Rights Watch says laws forbidding consensual homosexual conduct were introduced into countries that had been colonized by Europeans. 80 countries around the world still criminalize consensual homosexual conduct between adult men, and often between adult women.

A survey of Canadian youth reveals that the religious middle-ground of those who believe in God, but do not go to church or practice religion, is disappearing, leaving behind teens who are either very religious or those who don’t believe in God at all.

My eyes follow my ears to a pew to my left and behind me, where a guy with slicked black hair and dark glasses is sitting. He’s wearing one of those Bluetooth cellphone attachments. Hey, man, I’m bored, too. But, c’mon, take that infernal thing out of your ear. Say a prayer. Collect your thoughts. Or just do what my 4-year-old is doing and stare at the ceiling. Did I mention it was Christmas Day Mass?