Current Affairs1 Apr 2022

How Pentecostal Christianity Is Taking Over The World - an interview with Elle Hardy, journalist and author of "Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity is Taking over the World"

Pentecostalism is the fastest-growing religious faith in the world—by one estimate it obtains around 35,000 new converts per day globally. It now has over 600,000,000 adherents. Elle Hardy is a journalist who has contributed previously to Current Affairs and has traveled the world to speak with Pentecostals from South Korea to London to Nigeria to South Africa. Her book Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity Is Taking Over The World (Oxford University Press) documents the rise of this faith and what it means for the rest of us. The Sunday Times says of Beyond Belief: "Hardy is a first-class reporter. [...] Beyond Belief makes for an often gripping story, full of twists and turns."

In this conversation, we discuss what Pentecostalism is, why it's attracting so many people, and the political changes that are likely to result from its continuing growth. Elle shows that many of the working poor around the world are attracted to Pentecostalism because it offers both meaning and material gains—but it also pushes a reactionary social agenda that attacks LGBT people and is linked to the rise of far-right "populists" like Trump, Bolsonaro, and Duterte. To understand how to stop the far right, it may well help to understand the sources of Pentecostalism's appeal.

We discuss:

- Why "speaking in tongues" is part of the Pentecostal tradition—and what people think they are doing when they do it

- Why some preachers in Appalachia still perform "snake handling"—and frequently get bitten

- Where Pentecostalism came from (spoiler: Los Angeles)

- Why Pentecostalism is spreading like wildfire across the entire world

- The link between Pentecostalism and Donald Trump

- What the "seven mountains" are and why certain Christian Dominionists want to conquer them

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