Liberal Christianity Is Paying For Its Sins

This excellent Los Angeles Times article chronicles the demise of mainstream Protestant denominations in the United States and correlates dwindling the membership within these denominations to the liberal reforms of the last forty years that have encouraged Christians (and Catholics) to water down Christian doctrine, ordain women, bless same sex unions, and embrace openly homosexual clergy.

Quote:

The accelerating fragmentation of the strife-torn Episcopal Church USA, in which several parishes and even a few dioceses are opting out of the church, isn't simply about gay bishops, the blessing of same-sex unions or the election of a woman as presiding bishop. It also is about the meltdown of liberal Christianity.

Embraced by the leadership of all the mainline Protestant denominations, as well as large segments of American Catholicism, liberal Christianity has been hailed by its boosters for 40 years as the future of the Christian church.

Instead, as all but a few die-hards now admit, 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.

Here's the rest of the article: Liberal Christianity is paying for its sins

Comments

[John Hetman]

Who wants a teddy bear for a savior; or an agnosticism that is so malleable it can be bent and fitted to match every fad that blows through society? How many liberal Christians are willing to stand up, suffer, and die for their faith? And I don't mean media savvy, polyester-clad nuns who get six months in a chushy federal prison for climbing a missile-enclosure fence, with all the martyr fanfare.

Actually, the terms liberal Christian or progressive Christian are beginning to sound like oxymorons.

[Jacqueline Y.]

I'm curious about the photo in this post. Who are the clergy with Bishop Tod Brown, & what was the occasion?

[O.C. Anonymous]

Jesus never said that following Him would be easy. The decline in these chuches demonstrates the folly of watering down and softening Christianity, and serves as a warning for those who are trying to do the same thing to the True Church.

[fedup]

What a surprise. "Liberal Christians," who essentially believe that most anything is OK, are finding that their "followers" are not attending their churches. Why should they? They believe that man is superior to God, if they believe in God at all. I suspect that many, if not most Liberal Christians, are atheists just hedging their bets. Now, if the Pope would just clean house of the liberals in leadership positions in the U.S. Catholic Church.

[Thomistic]

The picture in the post was taken at the event detailed below:

Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission, News, March 2001

THE CLOSE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY WEEK, Thursday, January 25, saw a gathering of leaders from three Christian denominations with Bishop Tod Brown of the diocese of Orange at Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano for an ecumenical prayer service, according to the Los Angeles Times. Episcopal bishop J. Jon Bruno, Lutheran bishop Murray Finck, Presbyterian elder Jane Odel, and Bishop Brown each led a part of the service in which a crowd of 500, including 40 clergymen and clergywomen, participated. The service included a choir composed of the members of five churches and liturgical dancers moving interpretively in the aisles

The service closed with a prayer for unity in which the congregation and the clergy joined hands. "As our prayer for Christian unity draws toward its close," said Bishop Brown, who is chair of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs Committee, "we join hands with those nearest to us to show our commitment to seek daily in this newly begun millennium that perfect unity which the Lord desires for those who are his own."

This event and others like it are also documented in the Open Letter to Tod Brown, Bishop of Orange

[Manzanita and Sage]

I can't seem to access the posted LA Times link.

[Manzanita and Sage]

I was able to access the site afterall. Interesting article. It makes me sad, but let us take the last line of the article as a warning.

"And they [liberal Christians] keep telling the Catholic Church that it had better get with the liberal program — ordain women, bless gay unions and so forth — or die. Sure."

I wasn't happy to hear about the liturgical dancing at the San Juan Capistrano Mission. I thought that the mission was at least maintaining a semblance of liturgical adhearance. Latin mass is still offered there unlike the church in Huntington Beach.

[Some Day]

The picture only claims Justice.
My soul just went to psalm 93.
And my hand looked for s sword.