I recently ran across this video on Youtube and thought it was very good. Enjoy.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
The Archbishop of Canterbury on Youth joining the Islamic State
Kudos to Archbishop of Century Justin Welby for grasping an important point and having the balls to say it out loud.
Going off to join the Islamic State (aka ISIS, aka ISIL) makes sense. I mean, it makes sense from the point of view that Christianity in Europe is pretty tame and lame and really offers no adventure for young men. And secularism? Ditto. You can play games, keep around, get stoned or loaded, you might even be able to be successful and make money (not likely these days).
But what if you are a young man who wants an adventure? Who wants respect and adventure and a great challenge in life?
As a Christian I would say become a missionary. God knows this has been a challenging and adventurous vocation for the last decade or so.
But the Churches in the UK don't do that sort of thing. Here are some key morsels from the article:
Going off to join the Islamic State (aka ISIS, aka ISIL) makes sense. I mean, it makes sense from the point of view that Christianity in Europe is pretty tame and lame and really offers no adventure for young men. And secularism? Ditto. You can play games, keep around, get stoned or loaded, you might even be able to be successful and make money (not likely these days).
But what if you are a young man who wants an adventure? Who wants respect and adventure and a great challenge in life?
As a Christian I would say become a missionary. God knows this has been a challenging and adventurous vocation for the last decade or so.
But the Churches in the UK don't do that sort of thing. Here are some key morsels from the article:
Young people are turning to Jihad because mainstream religion is not "exciting" enough, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Most Rev Justin Welby told faith leaders that Britain's religious communities must do more to provide an alternative to extremism which gives young people a "purpose in life".
He also warned against being too quick to brand people and groups with strong views on religious matters as extremists.
Nothing will ever be achieved if the only conversations which take place involve "nice people talking to nice people about being nice", he said.
And:
But he added: "I would want to turn the question back to us as religious leaders and say to the faith communities: what are we doing that provides a narrative about purpose in life and commitment to society and benefits of a purposeful, flourishing life that is so exciting that the evil temptations offered by extremist groups of all cultures and types anywhere in the world including this country are simply paled into insignificance?
Read it all at VirtueOnline.
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