This is one of those things that absolutely broke my heart when I studied abroad in England. I guess I’d grown up reading one too many Victorian novel. Church-going had always seemed something respectable and enriching. It’s something I grew up loving. Indeed, the church had always seemed a very warm, welcoming place to me.
Arriving in England, I saw people not only not attending services, but outright bitter and spiteful towards it. Meanwhile, it was pretty routine for people my age to wind up stuperously drunk 3-4 times per week.
I saw kids take a piss on a Union Jack flag, and I, the American, was the only one who stood up against them.
The downward spiral in England is depressing. When you read up on the liturgical history of Britain, it was once the single strongest Catholic tradition in Europe. They’ve completely tossed all that aside. Many a beautiful church goes wholly unrecognized and un-entered by kids my age.
Just very disheartening.
And, where the Lord is not welcome, Satan is.
Islam marches onward against the West.
From the eighteenth century onward, Britain also experienced periodic Christian revivals led by evangelists such as John Wesley, founder of Methodism, William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army and Rodney "Gypsy" Smith. Besides recharging Christianity's batteries, these revivals may have contributed to limiting the appeal of Jacobinism, Bolshevism, and other pernicious ideologies among the British.
It is quite likely that by 2050 or so there will be three billion Christians in the world; the proportion of those who will be non-Latino whites, people like myself, will be somewhere between 15 and 20 percent. Imagine a map of the Christian world as of 2050: Where are the largest Christian populations? It's an interesting list. Heading the list is the United States, though, of course, a lot of the Christians will be of Latino and Asian and African descent. Where next? Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Nigeria, Congo, Ethiopia and China. What are the names that are not on the list? Oh, Germany, France, Italy, Spain – maybe the people in this room are old enough to remember something called Western Christianity – (laughter) – well, it died in our lifetime.Global Schism: Is the Anglican Communion Rift the First Stage in a Wider Christian Split?
It is quite likely that by 2050 or so there will be three billion Christians in the world; the proportion of those who will be non-Latino whites, people like myself, will be somewhere between 15 and 20 percent. Imagine a map of the Christian world as of 2050: Where are the largest Christian populations? It's an interesting list. Heading the list is the United States, though, of course, a lot of the Christians will be of Latino and Asian and African descent. Where next? Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Nigeria, Congo, Ethiopia and China. What are the names that are not on the list? Oh, Germany, France, Italy, Spain – maybe the people in this room are old enough to remember something called Western Christianity – (laughter) – well, it died in our lifetime.Global Schism: Is the Anglican Communion Rift the First Stage in a Wider Christian Split?