That's a legitimate reading of CH's father's comment, but I'm more inclined to think it means the war gave *purpose* to his life. Submitting to authority can grant purpose, true, but purpose is a deeper, independent need.
2. I suspect that this is actually very hard to measure, and that statistics regarding the growth of religions are manipulated for all sorts of political and organisational reasons (and not just by faiths trying to be “the most popular”, more subtle politics is at play).
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3. Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism represent conservative or reactionary movements within the general entropic drift of Protestantism. Leftism (and entropy) is situationally relative. They are, generally, less corrupted than, say, the Church of England (no longer Christian).
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4. Ultimately, Evangelicalism is being subverted by what I call technocratic liberalism & others call “the Cathedral”. It’s a sort of Christianity without Christ that favours egalitarianism. The CofE spouts its talking points, & some Evangelical orgs have also been subverted.
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5. Technocratic liberalism is, as Nietzsche observed of socialism and the left in general, merely another stage in the degeneration of Christianity (Protestantism more specifically). So it seeks to undermine the least entropic parts of Protestantism.
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6. This is why the BBC/PBS/universities and the chattering classes hate Evangelical Protestantism so much and make so many programs ridiculing it. It’s like a fight between Trotskyites and Stalinists. The competition is fierce, because these are two similar sects.
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That the two are closely related is undoubtedly true. Whether we are seeing degeneration or progress or something else I cannot say. But I suspect the ridicule from the intelligentsia will become harder to maintain as Christianity becomes less identified with whiteness.
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Fair enough. But I offered no statistics and do not rely on them in forming my opinion.
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1. Yes, true. But the assertion of being “fast growing” or “fastest growing” usually derives from research based on statistics making that claim. I would say, for example, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the UK—based on personal observation. But that is rarely reported.
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2. So, regarding Pentecostalism and Evagelicalism, I would go from experience. I meet many Muslims and see many Muslim children in primary schools. I meet few Pentecostals or Evangelicals (and see mosques being built, but not Evangelical/Pentecostal centres).
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I don't doubt that your observations are true of the UK. I do not spend much time there. My hunch is, though, that if there is *any* growth in Christianity in the UK, it will be found in Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism.
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The state, being technocratic liberal, takes every opportunity to frustrate these groups, because they are the rival religious sects most close to it. Growth is unlikely.
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Unlikely in the UK, as it is currently ethnically constituted, yes.
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