Is there a future for mainline and liberal Christianity?

[loriersea]

What do you think?

 

[CaDan]

Yes.

 

[stumpjumper]

Certainly.

In fact, I think that a progressive faith that is willing to accept change and subjective worship is going to have a great future. Check out some of the emergent Church websites.

 

[higgs2]

What do you think?

I sure hope so.

 

[Im_A]

What do you think?

yes i think so, but i hate saying this...but it may depend on what president we have in office. or maybe it just needs a few more decades to keep on going.

but i think in the end there is hope. just as long as we all get over semantics.

 

[aixia]

I think it absolutely has a future. Things tend to happen in swings, you know? We seem to be on a conservative swing now, but that doesn't mean it'll stay that way. We'll go back toward the middle ground and possibly even swing back toward the liberal. In any case, there will always be those who won't agree with the conservative line, and there will have to be a place for them.

 

[*Liberty*]

I agree with aixia that things happen in swings. Everything is based on a balance and right now we are tipping waaaaay to the right. In order to compensate for that eventually things will have to tip left before coming to a happy middle ground - of course it will eventually sway again, but that's not my point . I think it is fair to say that while the radicals leave a hard mark, it never lasts. Radicals, both conservative and liberal will never have complete and everlasting control because each side is too thickheaded to leave any slack for a common ground to be found. It has to be one way or the other and that is why our society is so dysfunctional. The bright side is that everything happens in cycles and our turn is coming up. It is what we do with our turn that is important to ensure that our progress cannot be easily undone.

 

[DividedWeFall]

What do you think?

All signs point to YES!

 

[ottaia]

I think it will. People are going to get fed up and toss the fundies out on their ear. Well, not toss them out, I guess. But are going to get tired of their vitriol and just ignore them.

 

[tulc]

Uhmm....I thought we were going to Heaven?
tulc(or am I missing out on that by being a Liberal?)

 

[Waiting for the Verdict]

No. Mainline churches have been shrinking for years, and the evangelicals are growing like crazy. However, I think there is hope that some of the evangelical movements will start a kind of mainline-lite CHristianity, though I don't think it will have much substance compared with the current mainline movement.

 

[DailyBlessings]

Certainly. Fundamentalism is a bright flare, to the steady flame of the mainline branches. The conservative arm of the American church has embraced, for instance, a doomed stance on origins and a militaristic vocabulary that will soon grow unpopular. This excited revitalization movement will die out eventually, while the mainline church weathers the storm as usual. Do not be fooled by numbers... fundamentalism is very fast spreading, but sown in shallow soil.

 

[higgs2]

Certainly. Fundamentalism is a bright flare, to the steady flame of the mainline branches. The conservative arm of the American church has embraced, for instance, a doomed stance on origins and a militaristic vocabulary that will soon grow unpopular. This excited revitalization movement will die out eventually, while the mainline church weathers the storm as usual. Do not be fooled by numbers... fundamentalism is very fast spreading, but sown in shallow soil.

Wow, very interesting perspective. I hadn't seen it quite this way.