Completely agree with you, Walt !

O Me! O Life!

By Walt Whitman

 

Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,

Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,

Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)

Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,

Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,

Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,

The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

                                       Answer.

That you are here—that life exists and identity,

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

Source: Leaves of Grass (1892)

Talking politics

Not usually confident enough to talk about politics ... But analyzing the way things are evolving and why the general population is disenchanted with politicians is a worthwhile exercise. It helps me understand how Christianity can help see the truth and give us true values to base our lives on.

Read this : it's for the American public, but is also relevant to Australian and French politics.

Anti-politics

Missionaries : positive or negative influence on other cultures ???

Yes !
Finally someone has taken the time and put all his energy into finding out the truth of the matter !
Missionaries, in particular, Anglo-Saxon Protestant (and theologically evangelical ) missionaries, have majorly contributed to the development and the democratisation of former colonial countries.

Read this article : Surprising Discovery about missionaries

It corroborates what I had heard years ago in Australia explaining how missionaries contributed to recording Aboriginal language and culture before it got lost in the westernisation of Aboriginal population. Their efforts to speak the language and to understand the mentality in order to explain Christianity meant that much valuable research was done.

Another interesting text : One Blood , by Dr. John Harris, Ed  Albatross Books
(I have a second hand copy for sale if anyone is interested !)

I don't know you ....

"Je ne vous connais pas!"

We have lived in this region for seven and a half years and are still piercing the mysteries of the mentality and the culture of its inhabitants. A friend told me the following story :

C married into our town. One fine summer's day, she took her young daughter to the local swimming hole made by damming up the river. The girl had a great time in the water and found a little playmate her age. Near afternoon tea time, C invited the mother of the little playmate to come to their house, not far away, to share afternoon tea. C wanted to get to know other mothers in the area and to create a friendship network. So she was not only surprised, but hurt to hear the other mother refuse her invitation point blank.
"Why ?" she wanted to know.
"Because I don't know you !" replied the other.

This incident provided an important insight into the way people are here. Historically very isolated, in a fairly difficult agricultural context, marked by centuries of different conflicts from the Wars of the Religions (Catholics against Protestants) to the Resistance fighters during the Second World War, these people are independent, suspicious of outsiders, and very loyal towards their family. They will only trust those they grew up with. So they will only let you into their lives if you are already part of them !
 "I don't know you !" means 'you don't come from here, you are not part of my family, I can't trust you.' It means 'I'm not about to take time to get to know you' and 'I don't feel the need to get to know you'. It blocks out outsiders : better the devil you know than the one you don't.

Protestant Evangelicals in the World

Not many Evangelical Christians in France are respected in the public arena. We have some amazing Theologians, sociologists and historians in France and are really beholden to them because their work is serious and appreciated and raises the level of awareness of Evangelicals in France.

Here is Sebastien Fath, and his annual report in French, on the statistics concerning Evangelicals in the world.

Le sociologue chrétien Sébastien Fath

For French speakers only, however you will see some English books and sources you could look up yourselves.