I am a songwriter from Ireland. I read your books "The story we find ourselves in" and "A Generous Orthodoxy " as well as reading The Message, Some Phillip Yancey books, Writings of Oscar Romero and the Koran!
I really enjoyed and was inspired by your books, Just 2 questions though!!!
On page 172 of 'The story we find ourselves in' (4th paragraph) Neo seems to imply that overpopulation is a sin or at least the result of sin linking it alongside racial ethnic and religious hatred, terrorism and pollution!! Does Neo think we would be better adopting the Chinese idea of limiting to one the number of children couples are permitted?
Answer: Well, since he’s a fictional character, I can tell you he’s never thought about it! I think we Christians need to ask important ethical questions about population control. Usually, economics determines how many children families have. But your question makes me think that we should have ethical dialogue about this, since ethics are no less important than economics.
Also, on page 185 "How long do you suppose it will be before America is where Europe is now?" Neo seems to imply we are nations of pagans over here!! I've noticed this veiled attitude in Phillip Yanceys writings also (I'm a big fan!!) and wonder is it more to do with Americas position in the world, and the recent trade and political disagreements, a subtle denigration of Europe's spirituality. How can we compare and contrast love for God?
Answer: Sorry – no insult intended for Europeans! The fact is, I think Europe is ahead of the U.S. morally in many areas. I believe the issue in that section was church attendance rates. Church attendance has, over the last 100 years, plummeted in Europe, and it’s currently declining (so far, slowly) here in the U.S. Of course, there can be advantages to that situation as well: if Europeans were to have a widespread spiritual awakening, they might have less to unlearn than many Americans!