Theistic Satanism: Home > Politics > Hardcore Christianity is GROWING
Hardcore Christianity is NOT dying. It's GROWING! (Alas!)
by Diane Vera
Copyright © 2003 by Diane Vera. All rights reserved.
A persistent delusion in the Satanist scene has been the idea that Christianity is dying. This notion is just plain wrong. Both hardcore Christianity and hardcore Islam have been gaining lots of converts around the world, especially in the Third World, but also here in the U.S.A. For a dose of reality, see the following Atlantic Monthly articles:
- The Next Christianity - About the kinds of Christianity that are gaining popularity in the Southern hemisphere: very hardcore, including a revival of witchhunts.
- Christianity's New Center - More about the rapid growth of hardcore Christianity (along with Islam) in the Southern hemisphere.
- Oh, Gods! - About worldwide religious trends in general, including new religious movements.
- Welcome to the Next Church - About the new American evangelical (not quite fundamentalist, but fundy-leaning) Christian megachurches, some with wealthy parishioners, although Christianity's primary appeal is to the poor.
Why do so many Satanists believe that Christianity is dying? Perhaps because Anton LaVey lived in ultra-liberal San Francisco, where, perhaps, Christianity was indeed dying. But San Francisco is not the Bible Belt.
It might be true that liberal and middle-of-the-road forms of Christianity are dying. Liberal and middle-of-the-road churches have been shrinking steadily over the past several decades. But not the hardcore Christian churches. And Christianity is still, by far, the world's most popular religion.
For more on religion statistics and analysis, see also:
- Mainline Churches: The Real Reason for Decline on First Things
- adherents.com -- huge colletion of statistical studies
- American Religion Data Archive
- Harvard Pluralism Project
- Online Religion Journalism -- links to religion sections or pages of major newspapers.
- Cults and Religion by Irving Hexham
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