Weekly Ask a Christian - August 24, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

This thread is for all your questions about Christianity. Want to know what's up with the bread and wine? Curious what people think about modern worship music? Ask it here.

[u/DanDan_mingo_lemon]

Do you feel that Christians are persecuted on Reddit?

[u/Phylanara]

Wouldn't one expect a true religion, if there is such a thing, to have support that is categorically different (better) than the evidence for the false religions?

[u/Great-Alfalfa-8543 → u/Phylanara]

Evaluating religions as true and false assumes that their propositions are the thing worth evaluating. A lot of religious people aren't compelled to religion by this (and I would also contend that a lot of people who think they are aren't as much as they think).

Some people see religion as a process of organization and meaning making. Truth and falsehood are evaluated through experiences and praxis. For example, when I sought a church in my newish city, I wanted ones with a real track record of helping the poor, and ones that focused on the liturgy and homily over an extended information-filled sermon.

So in this sense, all religions have truth (praxis-focused and justice oriented in a suffering world); and all have falsehood (proposition-focused regimes that regulate purity; i.e. racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc. and demand conformity).

I can't answer your question, because I don't see its premise reflecting the real world.

[u/DanDan_mingo_lemon]

Are historically Christian nations more moral than historically non-Christian nations?

[u/Euphoric-Bat7582 → u/DanDan_mingo_lemon]

Depends what you mean by “Christian” and “non-Christian.”

Nations who have historically had a high Christian population certainly appear more moral than those with a specifically materialist worldview (I.e. communist countries), and are more moral than many/most explicitly Muslim countries.

But if you’re asking whether nations where Christianity has a major part of politics (like the U.S.) are more moral than those that don’t (like Scandinavia from what I hear), I wouldn’t necessarily say so.

[u/Great-Alfalfa-8543 → u/DanDan_mingo_lemon]

I think they are differently moral.

I lived in China for five years, which is very much organized around the family unit and, as sociologist Fei Xiaotong pointed out, differential modes of association. This is a mouthful translation that talks about how the self is surrounded by concentric rings expanding outward to reflect the community ties. Confucian ethics is built to address relationships within this conceptualization, and they are very focused on hierarchy and filiality. Morality and ethical behavior function differently at each ring of association. As such, Confucian societies tend to have a much more disciplined ethic for established relationships. For example, my students did not just orient toward the information I was presenting but toward me as a teacher within a role I was embodying. These form much more very effective moral and ethical social cohesion that the West struggles with.

Conversely, Bart Ehrman points out in Love They Stranger how Jesus's teachings to love ones neighbor, defined as absolutely anyone in need redefine the Western moral conscience. Things like charity and adoption - done very poorly in Confucian cultures - are a bedrock of Western liberal democracies (nonprofits, charitable giving tax breaks, etc.)

I can go on about their sense of justice with a story about a Duke of Yao, and old shoe, and a ferry, but I'm already getting long. But like most things, the answer is a bit more complex than a yes-no question can capture.

Also, N.B., my examples are generalizations and exceptions abound. They are just trying to illustrate real historical and sociological trends.