[InOne]

Originally Posted by angus58

I think a distinction needs to be made between christian values and how those values are enacted and practised by professed christians in everyday life. The same could be said about most faiths where a certain way of life is proscribed in the scriptures and teachings, but followers simply pay lip service to the values and do their own thing.

However this country IS predominantly Christian and it is christian values and compassion that have allowed so many immigrants of different cultures and faiths to settle here, sometimes to the detriment of the indigenous population who feel their own culture is compromised.

I speak as a christian who has lived for many years in the Middle East, where I had the courtesy to respect the Islamic faith and to accept laws and traditions with which I disagreed. Furthermore Middle Eastern countries do not accept criticism or dissension from foreigners living on their soil - no such thing as freedom of speech there. And quite rightly since,after all, nobody dragged me there against my will and I was free to leave at any time. I did not expect, nor did I get, any compromises for my cutural differences and perferences, and no allowances were made for my inability to speak the native language properly. No expensive translators laid on by the governments there I can assure you.

The greatest myth of this century is that multiculturalism is a good thing when it is quite obvious it is not working. Diametrically opposed cultural values can only cause civil unrest,resentment and violence amongst different ethnic groups, and I am not talking about the indigenous population, but intra-ethnic prejudice. Throwing together peoples from a multitude of different cultures does not create a multicultural society. It simply creates a society in which a multitude of cultures lead separate lives! The only way for a society to live in complete harmony is to share common goals, aspirations, beliefs and values. How on earth is this possible with so many different cultures jostling for limited resources and with different agendas? Some serious rethinking needs to be done as to how best to assimilate all cultures into society whilst at the same time respecting the indigenous population's wishes to retain as paramount its christian heritage and traditions.

So before slagging off this country that has thrown its borders open to the world, remember it is BECAUSE we have christian values that we have done so, and at least we are trying to live up to those values.

I think I was probably on about the more hardcore values, such as the nuclear family, views on homosexuality the many Christians differ on today. I agree about the myth of Multiculturalism and clearly it does not work, but letting it happen was probably more the goverment than the church. And it's not all cultures and religions that have problems adapting. Catholics, Hindus, Jews, Sikhs ect have flourished over here, fitting in and contributing to society. And i'm talking about the immigrant Catholics, not the English ones.
The Church is at a major decline anyway, with attendances and all that, plus with the introduction of women vicars, many clergy are leaving and the younger generations are simply not interested. Also the new wave of American fundamentalist that has swept over here. But you are almost making it sound as if the Church actually has a say in what goes on in the UK today, it really doesn't, it is confused about it's own vaules and Christians are torn between all sorts of things. It could be easy to say that is has all happened because people stopped going to church or lost their 'Christian values' but that would be assuming that there was a golden age of religion, where almost everyone went to church, which is simply not true, obviously the numbers have increased but only because we've started recording them.
So the church does not and never will speak for the UK, the reason we have multiculturalism is not because of good christian values, it is because of the goverment, and the economy in the 40's 50's and 60's. Since then there has been a steady increase and we are left where we are today, a pretty much godless nation, faced with problems we never thought would arise.