Is Christian Evangelism a threat to our way of life?

[Pappa]

This will vary from country to country, but here in the UK, church attendances have been steady decline for decades. People no longer feel stigmatised for not going to church any more, so those that don't believe stopped going. The whole time we've also seen a steady rise in secular thinking, but an equal rise in stupid woo too. In the last decade or so in the UK though, while church attendance as a whole has been in decline, evangelical born-again churches have been growing and attracting quite a significant number of new members. Evangelical sects couldn't be more different to the sedate, traditional options of CofE and Catholic. They tend to take the bible more or less literally and they have an annoying habit of being pro-ID creotards. We've grown accustomed to seeing secularism move in one direction... ie, more all the time. While we still have many, many lingering attachments to our religious past, such as Bishops in the House of Lords, religious school services, etc., it has always seemed (to me) that as we're moving gradually in a direction that removes religiousity from public life, the end result would presumably be complete secularism, individual freedom to follow a religion of your choice and likely a very widespread agnosticism/atheism. However, is this unidirectional change real? Not long after the Tories were back in power here, there were signs that "traditional Christian values" might start playing a part in our political climate again. Before that, Tony Cunt Face Blair had a direct connection to god inside his head and apparently thought it was good to go to war because he felt god thought it was the right thing to do. He also wasn't bothered that some academies were teaching creationism in science lessons. In recent years it's far more common to see street preachers with creationist literature than it used to be. Is all this the death throes of a failing religion, or a phoenix from the ashes (or neither)? Is the recent rise in Evangelism a danger to the way of life we've come to expect?

[Animavore]

Not remotely worried about them.

[Svartalf]

If left to flourish to the point that evangelics are numerous enough to be a nuisance, sure yes...

Of course, I don't trust most people not to be gotten at in the long run, those pests are persistent

[Seth]

Only if you allow your government to either favor or disfavor religion.

[Robert_S]

They are a threat everywhere!

however, you in the UK have a good chance of stemming the tide if you could somehow instigate enough internecine bickering that the undecided public declares "A pox on both your houses!"

[Svartalf]

put enough born agains where it counts, and 1st amendment will go the way of the 18th.

[JimC]

They are a threat everywhere!

however, you in the UK have a good chance of stemming the tide if you could somehow instigate enough internecine bickering that the undecided public declares "A pox on both your houses!"

Exactly!

I want to see mormons, 7th day adventists and Jehovah's witnessses brawling on the footpath for the right to knock on my door!

Before I turn the hose on the lot of 'em!

[Bella Fortuna]

Before I turn the hose on the lot of 'em!

Just imagining...

[Animavore]

They are a threat everywhere!

however, you in the UK have a good chance of stemming the tide if you could somehow instigate enough internecine bickering that the undecided public declares "A pox on both your houses!"

Exactly!

I want to see mormons, 7th day adventists and Jehovah's witnessses brawling on the footpath for the right to knock on my door!

Before I turn the hose on the lot of 'em!

If we were in America we could just shoot them and say they came into our property

[Svartalf]

They are a threat everywhere!

however, you in the UK have a good chance of stemming the tide if you could somehow instigate enough internecine bickering that the undecided public declares "A pox on both your houses!"

Exactly!

I want to see mormons, 7th day adventists and Jehovah's witnessses brawling on the footpath for the right to knock on my door!

Before I turn the hose on the lot of 'em!

will you provide lotion?

[HomerJay]

I'm not sure evangelism per se is the problem, as you can get to evangels that aren't too bad.

But certainly the west indian charismatic types are over represented in the current round of legal battles to bash gayers and such.

The problem is that the decline of secularism has been prompted by large scale immigration of religious types that has queered the pitch slightly. Trevor Phillips of the EHRC said all this last week when he upset everyone.

Muslims have made a greater contribution than the evangels though, have been eroding what they can for 20 years now. Some of the muslim academics you see are quite pleased with themselves for being at the forefront of the battle and are not slow to claim their successes.

The muslim demands for identity politics means we see evangels and other christians jumping on the victimisation bandwagon, and now even the British Humanist Association is doing the me-too thing.

So although overall secularism is moving forwards, the noise from the religious is growing ever intense. What this hides of course is the attrition rate they face, less easy to measure but large enough.

[FBM]

I thought Christian Evangelism WAS our way of life.

[JimC]

I thought Christian Evangelism WAS our way of life.

Amen, brother...

[Santa_Claus]

In the UK EVangelical Christianity is mostly nigger stuff - probably something to do with not being able to sit still for more than 5 minutes without dancing or going "whoop whoop". Also maybe something to do with not being very bright.

So, overall I think quite a good thing - as not exactly an advert.

[Tero]

Not the evangelicals, the Mormons. They run the boy scouts on the national level. My son had a sort of Arlo Guthrie thing with the scout council. The troop could care less, we were regular folk, some sort of agnostics and some cafeteria Christians. He wasn't moral enough to be an Eagle Scout if he was not religious. Taoist was fine, Hindu was fine. So he was Unitarian for a couple of years. At least they know where to take me for my funeral, if they need a ritual.