Washington DC, Jul. 11, 2006 (CNA) - Liberal Christianity is disintegrating and it is evident in the accelerated fragmentation of the Episcopal Church USA, says Charlotte Allen, author and Catholicism editor of Beliefnet.
“All the mainline churches and movements within churches that have blurred doctrine and softened moral precepts are demographically declining and, in the case of the Episcopal Church, disintegrating,” says Allen in a July 9th, editorial.
The breakdown of the Anglican Church in the United States isn't simply about homosexual bishops, same-sex unions or the election of a woman as presiding bishop, she says.
Rather, she argues, it indicates the near-end to an almost 40-year movement within all mainline Protestant denominations that has presented liberal Christianity as the future of the Christian church.
“When a church doesn't take itself seriously, neither do its members,” she states.
Allen points to the demographics as evidence. In 1960, members of mainline churches - Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Lutherans - accounted for 40 percent of all American Protestants. Today, this demographic is down to 12 percent or 17 million people.
More specifically, there were 3.4 million Episcopalians in 1965; now, there are 2.3 million. The number of Presbyterians fell from 4.3 million in 1965 to 2.5 million today.
While some of the decline is due to lower birthrates, “it also is clear that millions of mainline adherents, and especially their children, have simply walked out of the pews never to return,” Allen states.
Allen also refers to the work of sociologist Rodney Stark and historian Philip Jenkins. Both contend that the more demands that a faith places upon its adherents, the deeper the adherents' commitment to that faith. These types of churches are growing robustly, both in the United States and around the world, Allen states.
As an example, Allen points to the Southern Baptist church, which currently numbers 16 million members.
Allen also noted the 21-year-old Christ Church Episcopal in Plano, Texas, which is one of the largest Episcopal churches in the country, averaging 2,200 Sunday worshipers weekly. Christ Church broke its ties with the more liberal national Episcopal Church USA, desiring instead, to stick to its traditional gospel values. Now, Christ Church is one of the few Episcopal churches in the country which is growing.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Catholic News Agency: Liberal Christianity is disintegrating, says Catholic columnist
Shawn TribeMore recent articles:
The Third Sunday of Lent 2025Gregory DiPippo
At that time: Jesus was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb: and when he had cast out the devil, the dumb spoke: and the multitudes were in admiration at it: But some of them said: He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. And others tempting, asked of him a sign from heaven. But he seeing their thoughts, said to them: Every ...
Pictures of Montecassino AbbeyGregory DiPippo
Following up on yesterday’s post of pictures of the crypt of Montecassino Abbey, here are some of the main church and some of the things around it, starting with the most important part of it, the burial site of St Benedict and his sister St Scholastica, behind the high altar.As I am sure our readers know, Montecassino Abbey was heavily bombed duri...
The Prodigal Son in the Liturgy of LentGregory DiPippo
In his commentary on the Gospel of St Matthew, St Jerome writes as follows about the parable of the two sons who are ordered by their father to go and work in the vineyard (21, 28-32). “These are the two sons who are described in Luke’s parable, the frugal (or ‘virtuous’) and the immoderate (or ‘wanton’).” He then connects these two sons with the f...
Another Chant for the Byzantine Liturgy of the PresanctifiedGregory DiPippo
Now the powers of heaven invisibly worship with us, for behold, the King of Glory entereth! Behold, the mystical sacrifice, being perfected, is carried forth in triumph. With faith and love, let us come forth, that we may become partakers of eternal life, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! (Recording by the Lviv Archeparchial Clergy Choir.) Нині сили ...
The Crypt of Montecassino AbbeyGregory DiPippo
For the feast of St Benedict, here are some pictures of the crypt of the abbey of Montecassino, the site where he ended his days. The crypt was built in the early 16th century, and originally decorated with frescoes, but by the end of the 19th century, these had deteriorated so badly from the humidity that they were deemed unsalvageable. The decisi...
An Interview with Fr Uwe Michael Lang on LiturgyGregory DiPippo
I am sure that our readers will enjoy this interview with the liturgical scholar Fr Uwe Michael Lang of the London Oratory, which was recently published on the YouTube channel of the Totus Tuus Apostolate. It covers a wide range of subjects: Pope Benedict’s teaching on the liturgy, the liturgical abuses in the post-Conciliar period and our own time...
Dives and Lazarus in the Liturgy of LentGregory DiPippo
Before the early eighth century, the church of Rome kept the Thursdays of Lent (with the obvious exception of Holy Thursday) and the Saturdays after Ash Wednesday and Passion Sunday as “aliturgical” days. (The term aliturgical refers, of course, only to the Eucharistic liturgy, not to the Divine Office.) This is attested in the oldest liturgical bo...
The Feast of St Joseph 2025Gregory DiPippo
Truly it is worthy and just... eternal God: Who didst exalt Thy most blessed Confessor Joseph with such great merits of his virtues, that by the wondrous gift of Thy grace, he merited to be made the Spouse of the most holy Virgin Mary, and be thought the father of Thy only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Wherefore, venerating the day of his b...
Why Should We Build Beautiful Confessionals?Peter Kwasniewski
Confession is a sacrament in which we confess dark deeds, shameful sins, cowardly compromises, repeated rifts. It is something we often wish more to be done with than to do; we know we must go, that it is “good for us” as a visit to the dentist’s or the doctor’s is good for us. It might seem as if the place where we fess up, red-handed, and receive...
Both the Chaos of Jackson Pollock and the Sterility of Photorealism are Incompatible with ChristianityDavid Clayton
Unveiling the middle ground where faith, philosophy, and beauty all meet in the person of Christ, image of the invisible God.Authentic Christian art strikes a balance between abstraction and realism, rejecting the extremes of Abstract Expressionism—where meaning dissolves into unrecognizable chaos—and Photorealism, which reduces reality to soulless...