Statistics and public opinion

A missionary colleague working in the South West has published this on her Facebook :

For those wondering about the 'real' statistics in France, at the Lourdes conference the Catholics say France is 5% (not 60%) practicing Catholics (church at least once a month) and 500 000 ( less than 1%) evangelicals (which, I have concluded, pretty much means 'practicing Protestant' here).

We have been using other statistics - but that's not the point. As in many Western countries now, those who are Christians (culturally or in reality) are very much in the minority. What's changing however, is their ability to organize themselves and to have a voice in the public arena. 

The latest example is the motivation within the Protestant organisations and the Catholic Church to speak out in the debate on "Marriage for All" which is the bill which is being debated now in Parliament. This bill is to allow same-sex marriage and open the way for adoption. It's hard to get people motivated for this sort of moral debate because we (I associate myself with the French in this case) have not got the experience and the impetus to speak out about our biblical understanding that homosexuality is not part of God's plan for his creatures. But the urgency of this situation and the realization of the consequences are pushing the usually timorous Christians to manifest their point of view. The challenge is to do it in a non-judgmental way.

Our advantage is that more scientific and psychological findings support our point of view. They need to be made known as well because we can't just argue on moral and religious grounds in our multi-norms society where most are allowed their own version of truth. There haven't been common moral values for a long time. We can state what we believe based on our Theology (as can the Muslims and Jews and other religious groups), but we no longer have the upper moral ground.

Please pray with us as we gather our courage to stand up and be different to what seems to be general agreement on the 'rights' of homosexuals to marriage and children. Latest opinion polls do indicate that there aren't as many French as that who agree.

Pray also that the Lord raises up those who have the ability to speak on His behalf to an increasingly non-believing society.