THREE years ago,a noteworthy study on religious belief and social well-being was published in the Journal of Religion & Society where a comparison was made ofthe 18 booming democracies from the U.S. to New Zealand, author Gregory S. Paul exposed that faith in a deity doesn’t necessarily strengthen society. The statistics found that secular societies have lower rates of violence and teenage pregnancy than societies where many people profess belief in God.
This new study showed that Japan mostly consisting of atheistic population(over 80%)embraces evolution and fewer than 10% are certain that God exists. Despite its size – over a hundred million people – Japan is one of the least crime-prone countries in the world. It also has the lowest rates of teenage pregnancy of any developed nation. Next in queue are the Norwegians, British, Germans and Dutch. At least 60% accept evolution as a fact and fewer than one in three are convinced that there is a deity. There is less teenage pregnancy. Homicide rates are also low -- around 1-2 victims per 100,000 people a year. At the other opposite end comes America. Over 50% of Americans believe in God, and only 40% accept some form of evolution. The U.S. has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy and homicide rates are at least five times greater than in Europe and ten times higher than in Japan.
Though statistic doesn’t prove that atheism is weightier than theism but it does leave us pondering as to whether the pills of religions is really assisting the world. Religion does more harm than good if it’s swayed by extreme radicalism and fundamentalist or irrational propagandas. It emits poisonous smokes wherever it inhabits. It invokes fear and legalistic rules and norms whichbinds people. Christianity as a religion is growing clandestinely in the gospel-resistant populaces. Christian community boast about those growths. On another page, the so-called many Christian nations in the West and European nations have witnessed therise of Christian nominalism. The “Christian state/country” tagappears more a disrepute than repute because of innumerable points defying the Laws of God’s book. Christianity for most has become a matter of traditions, feastings, festivities and culture.They abused the freedom of power granted in their hands. But who am I to point finger when the rest of it is pointing right at my own face.
Anarticle published recently on reviewing the tag “Nagaland for Christ” by one of our local astute writer was a pertinent point in the light of the despicable settings in which we find ourselves in. With 90% or more so claiming to believe in the life-changing-reconciliation gospel, it has proved a disastrous testimony to the world. With unrestrained sexual immorality, religious disunity, fighting, greed, bigotry, internal dissidence, political mayhems and the like;we negate our Christianity. The Christian culture thing is really proving very unhealthy. Now Christianity has been reduced to a set of rules of “do’s” and “don’t.” Grant meto jot a few clichés and let’s face the fact head-on:Shouldn’t our society be the most transparent and least corrupted place in India? Shouldn’t our streets be the safest place for denizens to roam about inthe midnight hours? Shouldn’t our roads be the best of all among the seven sister states? Shouldn’t our society be the most generous in helping the lost and broken if we claim to be who we are? And questions could pile up. But maybe we have a faulty assumption of what Christianity is!What we have married to is not Christianity but Churchianity! Nagaland has married the wrong bridegroom and it’s proving to be a fatal blow to all the institutions from top to bottom.
Iperceive that Christian nominalism is an unspoken evil that pervades our land. There’s not a town or village in our land where Church (building) is missing but the real Church (body of Christ) is rarely found. I’m not a perfectionist and I ain’t expecting that of the Church either. But is it not perplexing that a 90% Christianized population still stands unabashed today in the laxity and decadence of our moral, social, political and spiritual level? Would we request the demographists to reduce the level of Christian statistic in our land? Wouldn’t it be better if we call ourselves a pagan society and involves in the dirty affairs that we so love? Wouldn’t it exalt Christ more if we are plain honest about our indifference about His word and kingdom? There is no middle-ground in calling ourselves a Christian. Either you follow Him or you follow the world. Lukewarm attitude is repulsive is God’s sight.Christ said that.
With that in mind, Christian nominalism has deep-seated roots in our land and it’ll be hard to pull it out. The so-called Christians should realise that a name-tag will not save them. The Christian life is about a total transformation of the life lived in the realm of undivided attention to follow Christ. The church in Sardis wore a Christian label, but Jesus saw the truth behind the label: “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead” (Revelation 3:1). Or, as the KJV reads, “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” Greater responsibility comes with greater amount of knowledge gained. Nagas have learned much but done very less. None of the sermons preached on Sunday pulpits lack any difference from well-known preachers in the world. Our problem then, is not information but action.
A Native American proverb reads, “You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.” This message rings loud to Christians who are hearing the call of God to stand up for justice but pretending to sleep and roving in sackcloth. The passivity of Christians in disengaging with the societal, ethical and moral issues will boomerang soon if Christians don’t act quickly. Don’t let the statistic deceive us from being complacent in evangelising and bringing Nagas back to God! Don’t boast about the outward statistic of our rotten “90% Christian” religious population!This religious statistic shouldn’t blind us from looking deeper into the real face of unregenerate minds and hearts of our people. At the moment, the need of our land is not revival but regeneration, quoting a scholar’s voice from Hyderabad University. God Bless my Nagaland!
Vebu Khamo
Seoul Christian University, Korea.
