The present schism... not prot and pope, but errant and innerrant.

[pecunium]

Ed Kilgore is discussing the, Broken Communion in the world of Christian believers.

On the night in question, the pastor offered a brief homily reminding the congregation that the Lord's Supper was limited to "believers" and "the godly." Knowing what I know about contemporary Southern Baptist views these days, I had to wonder if I was outside the circle of fidelity and godliness....

For nearly two millennia, of course, Christian "belief" was measured by adherence to creeds, confessions, and such big theological issues as the Trinity or the Atonement. Receiving the eucharist "worthily" also usually revolved around more than the moral condition of the communicant, and required in most traditions a common belief about the nature of the celebration itself--transubstantiation or consubstantiation, real or symbolic presence, sacrifice or memorial.

Nowadays, in the United States at least, such ancient indicia of "belief" have largely receded into the background. And among Protestants, the old disputes have been supplanted by one big dispute: the proposition of biblical inerrancy, and with it, a host of highly political and cultural arguments over issues of gender and sexuality, from the preeminence of men in family and community life, to gay and lesbian "lifestyles," to abortion.

Go read the whole thing.

Comments

[summers-place.livejournal.com]

I left Christianity years ago, yet I found his article interesting and refreshing. Beliefnet often has a lot of things like that cropping up, and I willingly read them. (Disclaimer: I myself am a volunteer co-moderator of one of Beliefnet's discussion fora (http://community.beliefnet.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=347).)

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

As someone who didn't grow up Christian, I've long been aware of the disregard with which many Christians view me and others like me. It was in my late teens that I first learned of a church with perhaps a few hundred members who believed that they followed the one true faith and that all others are doomed to suffer for eternity.

It saddens me that there are so many people who, in the need to feel that they belong to some special group, are willing to condemn others for a variety of reasons, including many that seem arbitrary. My understanding of Jesus as a teacher, is that he taught a message of love and acceptance that is greatly at variance with the ways in which his name is often used.

[bifemmefatale.livejournal.com]

"I quite like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ." - Gandhi

[packbat.livejournal.com]

The really depressing thing is that they know this. Read Unchristian (by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, 2007 - website (http://www.unchristian.com/book.asp)) and it just jumps straight off the page.

And it's the thrice-curséd "political and cultural arguments" that do it, too. But they can't figure out how to get past them.

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

The comments were interesting, too- especially this one (excerpted):

The cherry-picking of the Bible, the careful selection of only those natural sciences which are pleasing, the thinly veiled contempt of women, so much hypocrisy and willfulness is not easy to find in any other group. Since we, as Christians, all believe that we shall someday stand before our maker, I do wonder just what exactly their excuse will be for all the people upon whom they passed judgment, all the families they tore apart, all those who might have found peace in Christ but whom they drove away.

As one of those 'driven away' from the faith, I wonder the same thing.