Evangelicals without culture?

My French speaking readers already know this: in France, Evangelicals, like Pentecostals, are seen as without any culture except the one they make themselves. I hope their English is good enough to understand my answer:

NO.

I am not an Evangelical Pentecostal, I have never belonged to that movement. I have however been close enough to Evangelical culture, devotional and apologetic, to know the answer is NO.

There are atheists who have no culture except Michel d'Onfray or Dawkins. Obviously Michel d'Onfray is more cultured than that, or he could not have become the culture of other atheists. Same thing with Dawkins. And Carl Sagan. And between them there are lots of varieties in cultural proficiency.

Same with Evangelicals. There may be them whose culture (non-sacred) is Nicky Cruz and Billy Graham. And Dr Kent Hovind. If they had no culture (street smartness for Cruz, preaching abilities for Graham, scientific and historic pieces of knowledge for Hovind would be evident even to adversaries who say they have no more than that), they would not be the culture of so many others.

What IS TRUE, is that the Evangelicals reject a lot of culture, some of which Catholics would not reject, and for religious reasons. Even Orthodox have been known to agree with Evangelicals about Halloween (our day of All Saints is before the other big Fast).

So do atheists. For religious reasons? For anti-religious reasons? I do not care for what kind of religious reasons, as long as they are anti-christian and anti-catholic. And, when it comes to creationism and geocentrism, specifically and overtly anti-evangelical reasons, though historically anti-catholic ones. Of course, creationism does not work without a Creator, and geocentrism an ultimate mover himself unmoved.



Hans Georg Lundahl
11/24 Jan 2009
Montélimar