The first problem here is that, minus signs or not, the fluctuating growth rates for the oldline churches (quite
healthy growth during the postwar revival; decline during the 1970s; some recovery in the first half
of the «80s) tell us little if they are not compared, and compared over a
number of decades, with the growth rates for the conservative churches.
The relatively small
number of such cells in a youthful tissue is so small as to be harmless, but after
decades of accumulation, the
number becomes large enough that their abnormal metabolic state begins to pose a threat to surrounding,
healthy tissues.