Religion
Related: About this forumShould Today's Form of Christianity Survive?
Theres been an interesting discussion going on about the future of Christianity in America. Though there have been arguments back and forth about who is worse off liberal or conservative Christians for some time, the dialogue has become more concentrated as of late, following the Episcopal Churchs decision to bless same-sex unions.
This, some conservatives claim, is yet another symptom of a Church in moral decline, and their shrinking numbers are proof positive that they have strayed from Biblical principles of discipleship.
Then some liberals shoot back, pointing out that, although mainline and progressive denominations have been losing members longer, the same has been happening for years, if not decades, in every conservative Christian denomination as well. Yes, there are big megachurches, most of which tend to be conservative, But these are statistically an aberration in a greater negative trend across the board.
The infighting reminds me of what happens when you put a bunch of crabs or lobsters in the same small bucket. As they clamor to get out, theyll climb on top of one another, and even pull each other back down as they attempt to gain purchase to help them escape.
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/religion/christianity/catholicism/should-todays-form-christianity-survive
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)With probably hundreds of smaller and larger denominations and sects, what are you referring to?
SecularMotion
(7,981 posts)struggle4progress
(118,295 posts)trotsky
(49,533 posts)msongs
(67,420 posts)dmallind
(10,437 posts)Not that I am calling the end of religion or even Xianity likely. But it absolutely will change. It always has. The doctrines of Augustine, or Urban III, or Luther, or even Wesley are much different from their origins, as are the social role of the church, the relationship with government, and the nature of the congregation. What will stop it from changing again? I don't think any significant schism is likely between RW and liberal(ish) denominations either. I suspect evolution not revolution. If I had to guess - and it's a guess for sure - I suspect we'll see more syncretism with orientalist influences being led by smaller less formalized groups as one trend - a sort of neighborhood Christo-Buddhist new agey feel-good path, and as another similar in nature but not direction trend we'll see the splintering of the powerful evangelical conservative synods into more and more charismatic blocs. Some of them - eventually more and more of them - will likely become slightly more authoritarian versions of the first trend, although for quite a while (generations) there will be plenty of less directed and even more conservative fundamentalist splinter groups often as small as one church.
It won't really be a schism as much as a slow explosion with every bit of ecclesiastical shrapnel claiming that they have the real message of Christianity with no one or two bodies central enough to even draw the lines of a schism like we saw in 1054 or 1529. But I'd see it as most likely that what that supernova will eventually coalesce into will be a much looser more mystical/philosophical less literalist and less anthropomorphic Christianity absorbing ideas akin to Zen and Taoism. Ironically perhaps this means that I agree in some ways with the DU believers who claim that eventually Christianity will become more liberal and less fundamentalist, although not quite in the same way or direction they generally suggest.