Christianity very much alive and kicking

Michael Fry's column (Opinion, 29 May) shows historical breadth in picking up on the centenary of the 1910 Edinburgh World Missionary Conference. However, his analysis of its significance is woolly. The key fact is that, since 1910, Christianity has become a worldwide religion. Secondly, the dynamic centres of that religion have moved from Europe to Asia, Africa and South America.

What this means is debatable. Fry thinks little of it, but ignores a relationship between the ideas of universal truth in Christianity – and other world faiths – and the struggle for universal human values such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights, environmental justice and international law. Without ethics rooted in respect for life, there is nothing between humankind and the worst effects of globalisation. Over the past century, Christianity has helped forge an alternative concept of global community.

In addition, Christianity has become more diverse worldwide than 1910 ever imagined. Any concept of a single institution or narrow ideology has been overtaken. Christianity has adapted culturally to give expression to our precious human diversity in its search for goodness. Christianity's founder would surely be pleased since he confronted ideologues, putting faith and goodness before institutional commitment or "correct" belief.

Which all goes to show that, in the 21st century, the ethical and spiritual teaching of Jesus Christ is more influential worldwide that the ideas of any other single historical figure.

DONALD SMITH

Curator, John Knox House

High Street

Edinburgh

Michael Fry, despite being an atheist, graciously acknowledges the influential impact of the modern missionary movement, but his conclusion in my view is somewhat unfair. The recent policies of George Bush and Tony Blair hardly equate to Christianity in action, while paganism is no guarantee of world peace.

True, the materialistic secularism of today has given rise to the decline of Christianity in Europe and the West, but this is certainly not true of Africa, Asia, Latin America and even Russia.

George Kerevan (Opinion, 20 May) gave some startling statistics on the growth of Christianity worldwide. In China, there has been an increase in the past nine years from "14 million to 21 million". Since the collapse of Communism, the Russian Orthodox Church has experienced an explosion of numbers. Further, at the start of the 20th century, only 2 per cent of the population of the African continent claimed to be Christian, and now it is 48 per cent.

If Christianity is currently in decline in the West, this most certainly is not the case worldwide. Missionary enterprise has now gone full circle, as partner churches in Africa and elsewhere send missionaries to proclaim the Christian message in Scotland.

(REV) J HARRISON HUDSON

Hamilton Avenue

Tayport, Fife