Thursday, July 19, 2012

NBC: Is liberal Christianity signing its own death warrant?

The Rt. Rev. Mark Joseph Lawrence, the Episcopal bishop of South Carolina, fears for the future of his church.

One week after the U.S. Episcopal Church overwhelmingly voted to approve a provisional rite for blessing gay unions and the ordination of transgender people, Bishop Lawrence said in an interview with NBC News that his denomination is moving too far out of the mainstream.

"Do I think that these two decisions will cause further decline? I believe they will," Bishop Lawrence said. "I think we've entered into a time of sexual and gender anarchy."

Lawrence's comments come amid a growing debate over the future of so-called mainline Christian churches: Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, some Lutherans and more. These denominations, which are generally more liberal than their evangelical counterparts, have been in decline for decades, a trend some observers attribute to their supposed leftward drift.
Read the rest here.

2 comments:

Fr. Oliver said...

Interesting. I had suggested there might be a link just today in my comments section. That said, I honestly don't think it's the only factor at play in their demographics.

Jason said...

Was just reading the Orthodox England Journal Vol 11 No. 4, and Fr. Andrew was discussing Salvation. In light of his points regarding the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, I would answer "yes," the liberal church is signing its own death warrant with this type of drift because they are abandoning their main purpose and appeasing man instead of God.