tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post5024696587748261781..comments2024-02-11T19:28:27.997+11:00Comments on Personal Reflections: Australia's Crumbling PillarsJim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-43550498069063374832008-02-16T08:10:00.000+11:002008-02-16T08:10:00.000+11:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.sundarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18124265148514987647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-18641980556282665092007-11-22T06:10:00.000+11:002007-11-22T06:10:00.000+11:00I would agree with your points, here, Neil, althou...I would agree with your points, here, Neil, although I think that you are misreading my arguments a little. That's not surprising actually, because I am mixing too many things together.<BR/><BR/>I think that there are some worthwhile points in what I have said, but I need to disentangle them a little.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-79629167298094171852007-11-21T23:24:00.000+11:002007-11-21T23:24:00.000+11:00I do find it troubling if I attempt to imagine our...I do find it troubling if I attempt to imagine our society minus such things as the Brotherhood of St Laurence, St Vincent de Paul, Uniting Care, and so on. However, a really deep issue is whether people remain convinced in the future that Christianity (indeed theism more generally) is actually true; that has been a long developing phenomenon, with a more aggressive atheism clearly working hard at this time. Without that core of believers the institutions will die, as surely as we no longer see many temples of Jupiter or Venus. We can't just have institutions because they used to be there if they are evacuated of all real meaning. Politics, left or right, would be impotent to sustain such institutions if they ever become hollow shells, no matter what good they may once have done.<BR/><BR/>On the other hand I don't think at the end of the day this worst case scenario is going to happen. We will no doubt have a greater variety of faith communities, and I suspect more ecumenism among them. I even saw that at the Hospice in the past year, and no-one at our Uniting Church would ask difficult theological questions of anyone willing to lend a hand.<BR/><BR/>Just a thought.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com