| April Research Brief |
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| Richard's Blog | ||
| Written by Rev Richard Adams | ||
| Monday, 02 June 2008 10:20 | ||
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Latest from Christian Research attached. Enjoy! Richard
Research BriefApril 2008The Gospel according to Bob Geldof … Sermon spotlight: Religion can make you happy … Website of the Month: Focus on Bible translation … --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The proportion of UK citizens choosing to marry is at the lowest level since the figure was first calculated in 1862. The figures, published by the Office for National Statistics, shows a steady decrease in the number of marriages. The marriage rate for men in 2006 was 22.8 per 1,000, and for women 20.5. A Church of England spokesman said: “Marriage affirms the goodness and rightness of love, affirms this in the public sphere, and is the best option for couples to grow together in mutual support.” The fall has been partly attributed to a change in the law in 2005 that was designed to crack down on “sham” marriages carried out, for example, to secure a visa. Visit the Office for National Statistics pages www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=322 and www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/pt0607.pdf. Several news reports can be found via news.google.co.uk/nwshp?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1146051998&hl=en&topic=n The Adam Smith Institute (ASI), a leading free market think-tank has published a report “Unfair Trade” that criticises Fairtrade for doing little to aid economic development, focusing instead on sustaining farmers in their current state. ASI argues that free trade is the most effective poverty reduction strategy. However, Christian organisations in support of Fairtrade products have slammed ASI’s claims that the scheme is little more than ‘marketing hype’. Both Christian Aid and Tearfund say the criticisms are unfounded and that Fairtrade is improving the lives of thousands in developing countries. “Unfair Trade” can be download from http://www.adamsmith.org/publications/economy/unfair-trade-20080225961/ and some of the criticisms of it can be found on http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=1677 The Gospel according to Bob Geldof A quarter of people in Britain confuse the Bible with speeches by Sir Bob Geldof, according to new research published by Theos, the public theology think tank. The research was designed to examine social attitudes and perceptions of the Bible. The findings were released to coincide with the launch of Bible Society’s new Poverty and Justice Bible, the first to highlight more than 2,000 verses that relate God’s attitude to issues of poverty and justice. Among the results, 27% of people questioned wrongly believed that the statement "You must defend those who are helpless and have no hope. Be fair and give justice to the poor and homeless" came from a speech by the singer, songwriter and activist Bob Geldof. A further 20% thought it was from a report by former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. Only 13% of people correctly identified the statement as coming from the Bible (Proverbs 31 v 8). Despite this, the majority of people (52%) rightly stated that the Bible offered more teaching on poverty and justice, compared with hell (11%), adultery (10%) and homosexuality (2%). There was diversity among respondents on the issues that concerned them most. Top of the poll was the breakdown of traditional family structures with 29% of respondents stating this was their greatest concern. Next was the extent of poverty and injustice (28%), international terrorism (24%) and then climate change (18%). The statement 'The Bible champions the cause of the poor and marginalised' split opinion between those who agreed and disagreed, both 42%. Even among Christians, 29% disagreed with this statement! Commenting on the results of the research, Paul Woolley, Director of Theos said, "The issue of global poverty and injustice is a major concern to a majority of people in society. It is encouraging to see that 52% of people rightly think that the Bible offers more teaching on this subject than hell, adultery and homosexuality. "However, there are clearly some important challenges to the Christian community contained within these findings. The fact that people confuse the Bible and a speech by Bob Geldof is intriguing, but the fact that 42% of people disagree that the Bible champions the cause of the poor and marginalised demonstrates a significant degree of biblical illiteracy and the need for the Christian community to model the emphases of its sacred text more clearly." Visit http://campaigndirector.moodia.com/Client/Theos/Files/Tables.pdf to study the research in full. For headlines of the poll, go to http://campaigndirector.moodia.com/Client/Theos/Files/Headlines.pdf. Sermon spotlight: Religion can make you happy This should encourage your congregation. Research at the Paris School of Economics and the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research in Vienna shows that religious believers have “higher levels of life satisfaction”. Their paper was presented to a Royal Economic Society conference and reports that believers are able to cope better with life’s problems than non-believers. It also suggests that religion acts as a protective “buffer”, and adds that believers are happy in the here and now, and do not just focus on the promise of eternal life. Study leader Professor Andrew Clark said “What we found was that religious people were experiencing current day rewards, rather than storing them up for the future.” There are, however, a number of caveats attached to this, and these include the influences of lifestyle and upbringing, and the stability of family life and relationships. News reports can be found on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7302609.stm and http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3577517.ece. Website of the Month: Focus on Bible translation On the United Bible Societies website (http://www.ubs-translations.org), there is a statistical summary of languages with the Scriptures and an interesting chart that shows the growth of Bible translation since 1800. At the end of 2007, at least one book of the Bible had been translated into 2,454 languages. The complete Bible has been translated into at least 438 languages, and the New Testament into 1,168. However, this is less than half of the world’s 6.900 languages and dialects. There is quite a good general article on Bible translation in Wikpedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_translations). See also Bible Society (http://www.biblesociety.org.uk), International Bible Society (http://www.ibs.org) and Wycliffe Bible Translators (http://www.wycliffe.org.uk). Bible Societies around the world work on translation to put the Bible in people’s everyday language, but they also focus on distribution and releasing the Bible into different formats. IBS specialises in translating the Bible for languages of 1 million or more speakers whilst Wycliffe concentrates on small language groups.
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