Like many others I saw the coverage of Peter Costello's appearance at a Hillsong Conference recently. What I found interesting was the analysis by David Millikan of the sociology of the religion exemplified by Hillsong. It was of a religion that endorses the materialism and capitalism of an upwardly mobile younger middle class, and has little to say about issues of social justice.
Leaving aside the issue of politicians trying to exploit religion for their own purposes, I wonder, does Hillsong typify the Christianity of the younger generations in Australia? That is, lots of contemporary music, but theology as deep as a rock pool at low tide and everything you wanted to make you feel comfortable about being materialistic and remaining silent on issues of social justice. Hillsong is, I believe, a branch of the Christian City Church - a Pentecostal denomination that believes that being a Christian is of necessity a two-stage process where one first becomes a believer and then later has a second, decisive experience of the Holy Spirit, necessarily indicated by speaking in tongues. Most churches of this denomination hide their denominational identity by "trading under" some other name. It's all very much North American-style Pentecostalism. Hillsong has been a prolific supplier of contemporary Christian music, but most of it in my experience is even shallower than the proverbial rock pool. What worries me more is the possibility that this is not just the thinking of an isolated sect, but a general characterisation of the majority of younger generation Christians. Is it so? And have I done Hillsong an injustice above? - Greg ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
