Study Suggests That Christians’ Beliefs May Vary by Continent

The outlook for the Christian faith seems to vary according to continent, with Asian and African Christians expressing more optimism about its prospects.

Asians and Africans generally anticipate growth and renewal while Europeans and Latin Americans are pessimistic about those possibilities, foreseeing instead more secularization and less interest in religion.

The variations became evident in the answers to questionnaires circulated to church leaders on various continents by the Lutheran World Federation Institute for Ecumenical Research at Strasbourg, France.

Leaders of the newer churches of Asia and Africa, for example, were much more likely to see divine providence as a protection against contemporary dangers than are church leaders on other continents.

However, the view of God as “the Creator” predominates among Christians on all continents.

“Uncertainty about the meaning of faith in God the Creator in our contemporary world seems to be characteristic of Christians everywhere in the world,” Norwegian Lutheran Bishop Per Lenning said in reporting on the study.

Lenning said that the size of the study--204 responses from 12 countries--is not sufficient to draw certain conclusions but that it does point up variances that suggest further study.

Africans, for example, believe strongly that God “sides with the politically and socially oppressed.” Latin Americans are more inclined than other groups to see God as “the liberator” while respondents elsewhere--especially in Western Europe--are less likely to do so.

Africans and Asians favor beliefs that “God takes care of everything without our assistance” and that “God’s goodness will prevent any major evil from happening,” but European respondents largely do not accept such ideas.

Asked about their concrete fears for the future of humanity, Europeans and Latin Americans said they are most concerned about nuclear holocaust, while Africans said famine is the gravest danger. Asians responded that the worst threat is a breakdown in the Earth’s ecological system through pollution and misuse of resources.

Only a minority of all respondents said they believe that humankind will be happier in centuries to come. The biggest percentage of those expressing that hope were Asian; few Latin American respondents accepted that notion.

“The world will change only at the Second Coming of Christ” is the statement that received the most support overall, although the view that Christian hope centers on heaven and not earthly reform also received strong support.

Church leaders on all continents rejected the statements that “exclusive concern of the church should be personal salvation” and that “worldly concern should be left to others.” Europeans and Latin Americans rejected those views more strongly than did Asians or Africans, but all asserted that “the message of forgiveness in Christ always comes first.”