Ethical chocolate update
16 May 2012 2 Comments
in Serving Tags: behaviour, Change the world, Chocolate, christianity, ethics, mission, Protest, western society
I have previously reported on the ethical dilemmas posed by eating chocolate, due to the trafficking and exploitation of children in growing cocoa in West Africa (see My pleasure, their misery? and Easter eggs and slavery), and on the responses to my letters to chocolate manufacturers (see Fair Trade chocolate – report 1).
I have received some more replies, and have researched some more information, all of which is very revealing.
Atheists who once were christians
14 Apr 2012 17 Comments
in Culture Tags: Atheism, behaviour, christianity, christians, churches, reason, religion, western society
We can read the statistics which show that, in most western countries, church attendance has fallen in the last century. In some cases it is still falling, though in others it has levelled out. The ‘leavers’ are not necessarily giving up all belief in God – many list themselves as ‘not committed’ – but some are choosing to be atheists.
But this is all statistics. There is also a human face to these changes.
Easter eggs and slavery
15 Mar 2012 3 Comments
in Serving Tags: Change the world, Chocolate, ethics, Protest, western society, what is human?, world
Easter’s coming soon, and if you live in the west as I do, you’ll probably be eating your share of easter eggs. But what if the eggs came from cocoa grown using child labour, that is effectively slave labour?
Urban Neighbours of Hope
11 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Serving Tags: Change the world, christianity, christians, Good news, Hope, western society
I met Jon Owen at the Black Stump music festival. Over three days I listened to his stories and was impressed. I laughed a lot, but had the odd tear as well.
Jon and his wife Lisa live in one of Sydney’s most depressed suburbs as part of a community supported by Urban Neighbours of Hope, and try to bring hope to the many people who need it. I deeply admire them and their work, and I don’t think I could do it. I blogged about his book, Muddy Spirituality.
Here is an article from the Sydney Morning Herald about their life. It’s worth reading. (The photo above was taken from the article.)
Fair Trade chocolate – report 2
22 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Serving Tags: behaviour, Change the world, Chocolate, christians, ethics, Protest, western society
Back in November I reported on exploitation in the world cocoa trade in My pleasure, their misery?. At that time I wrote about this to two prominent chocolate manufacturers.
I subsequently reported (Fair Trade chocolate – report 2) that I had received a reply from Cadbury indicating their ongoing support for Fair Trade products. I think they could do more, but it is encouraging that they have come this far.
Now, more than a month after I wrote to Darrell Lea, I still have not received a reply. Of course, Christmas is probably their busiest period, so I may hear from them in January. We shall see.
Anyone want to join in writing to Darrell Lea, and also to Nestle, Lindt or others?
Photo courtesy of World Vision.
Christians and Twitter
18 Dec 2011 2 Comments
in Behaviour Tags: behaviour, christians, mission, western society
I’ve never used Twitter. I’m not really interested, and I doubt anyone would want to read my tweets anyway. But many christians use it, especially well-known ones – writers, leaders, entertainers and bloggers.
But I’m beginning to wonder whether a lot of this christian tweeting is counter-productive.
Books: make your church a better place
10 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Church Tags: Books, Change the church, christianity, churches, Leadership, making disciples, western society
Over the years I’ve read a lot of books about changing the church. Probably out of desperation, I think. Things really must change, and they are, but too slowly. I’ve read a lot of good books in that time, and bypassed a few that didn’t look so good.
But here’s four books I can recommend wholeheartedly. If you read them and take notice, they can hardly fail to challenge you and lead to your church being at least a little more effective in carrying out the mission Jesus left for us.
Gay marriage
03 Dec 2011 15 Comments
in Culture Tags: apologetics, christians, ethics, Protest, western society
The Australian Labor Party, which forms the present Australian Government, is having its national conference, where policy ideas are discussed and decided. This year, one of the “hot” topics for discussion is gay marriage. (Technically, I think the proposal is a change to the Marriage Act, which currently specifies marriage is between a man and a woman.)
The main opposition comes from the churches, especially the Anglican and Catholic churches, and Labor party officials with church links. Are they right?
Barriers to belief: Exclusivity
30 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, christianity, christians, churches, doctrine, western society
A recent survey in Australia identified common barriers that made it more difficult for people to believe in Jesus or attend church. I think it is important that we christians consider these barriers, and do what we can to remove them. I have addressed one, Church abuse, and now I want to look at exclusivity.
How much to save the world’s poor?
05 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Serving Tags: behaviour, Change the world, christianity, ethics, mission, western society, world
Last post I raised concerns about world poverty in the light of the world’s population reaching 7 billion people. But how big is the need, and how much would it take to bring some relief for those who most desperately need it?
Christians and world poverty
30 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Serving Tags: behaviour, Change the world, christianity, christians, ethics, mission, western society, world
Those of us who are christians in the western world are currently facing one of the biggest ethical challenges we have ever faced. Consider the following population graph – the world’s 7 billionth person is about to be born.
Christians in society
28 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Behaviour Tags: behaviour, christianity, mission, religion, western society
A recent survey of American religion reveals some interesting facts
Robert Putnam (Harvard) and David Campbell (Notre Dame) undertook extensive research of religious attitudes in the US, and late last year published the results of their research in American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. I haven’t read the book, but I’ve seen an outline of their findings and an interview with David Campbell.
What do christians have to say about a broken society?
27 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Serving Tags: christianity, christians, ethics, western society
Last weekend’s Sydney Morning Herald carried two opinion pieces on greed, ethics and a “broken” western society that presented a disturbing picture.
Attracting people to church
11 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Church Tags: christianity, churches, making disciples, western society
If you attend a church, here is an interesting exercise. Think about your church’s regular services and its “outreach” activities. Do you try to make your services attractive to outsiders? Are the “outreach” activities held on church property? How many activities (whether evangelism or community service) are located in the community?
I want to suggest to you that your answers to these questions may give some clues as to why church attendances have generally fallen in recent years.
(The future of atheism)
03 Sep 2011 1 Comment
in Culture Tags: Atheism, western society
Last post I looked at some statistics on church attendance, which has been declining in recent years in many countries. This is just a brief aside to reference a post on the Christian CADRE blog suggesting that while churches may be losing numbers, these people are not going over to atheism, at least not in the US.
It seems that people who leave churches either keep on following Jesus, probably more seriously than they did before, or else they hold to some religious beliefs, probably in a less formal way.
The future of the church
01 Sep 2011 4 Comments
in Church Tags: christianity, churches, God, western society
The church as an institution is losing ground in the western world. Most of us are pretty familiar with that. But what is its future? And what is the future of belief in God?
There are some interesting statistics on all this.
My ecological footprint
29 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
in Serving Tags: environment, western society, world
If you are reading this, you probably live in an English-speaking western country. And it is no secret that we in the west use a greater amount of the world’s resources than do people in less affluent countries. Is it fair?
David Sloan Wilson, evolution and religion
19 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
in Culture Tags: wellbeing, western society
David Sloan Wilson is an eminent evolutionary biologist at Binghamton University in New York. He is an atheist “but a nice atheist”, he assures us, and he is interested in the study of religion from an evolutionary viewpoint and the use of evolutionary principles to develop community development programs.
You may be surprised to know I believe christians can learn something useful from him.
The western world is dying?
25 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in Culture Tags: Jesus, western society
John Carroll is Professor of Sociology at La Trobe University in Melbourne, and a secular humanist. He believes secular humanism has failed western society and he has something useful to say to believers about how we communicate to postmodern people.
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