From: portland!tom@tredysvr.tredydev.unisys.com (Tom Albrecht)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Realignment (was Re: Billy Graham carrying message from the Pope)
Date: 14 Apr 92 07:30:10 GMT
Organization: Unisys - Applied Technology

In article <Apr.13.01.32.47.1992.22951@dumas.rutgers.edu> jevans@wheaton.wheaton.edu (Jonathan Evans) writes:
>    I think you make a good point in that Protestants and Catholics need
>some re-unification. However, I don't think a synthesis of the two 
>traditions (with countless denominations) is the answer. I think it would
>benefit the work of Christ for both groups to come together to discuss
>important religious matters (which happens in academics) and more importantly
>joining together to aid in overcoming the social ills plaguing our planet (e.g.
>helping the poor, working in the third world, et al...). Already a lot of this
>work is being done, but unfortunately it isn't enough.  ...

I would like to suggest that there might be a realignment within
Christendom in the near future based on the conservative/liberal tension in
both Protestant and Catholic churches.  Many conservative Protestants and
Catholics are already found working side-by-side in the anti-abortion
movement and for other traditional Chirstian causes, such as the pro-family
movement.  It's probably safe to say that many of these same people would
agree on the historic teaching of the Christian church with regard to
essentials such as the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, and the authority
of Scripture.

Liberal churchpeople, both Catholic and Protestant, are united in their
common quest to redefine the Christian message and example by calling for
such sweeping changes as female clergy, a recognition of homosexual
Christians and their place in the church, the appropriateness of abortion
in many cases via RCAR, support of Marxist political causes in Central
America, etc.

Of course there are always the sticky issues, such as the place of
tradition and the pope, whenever you try to discuss Protestant/Catholic
unity.  And unfortunately these issues will be more of a problem for
conservatives in both the Protestant and Catholic camps than they will be
for liberals, since liberals are more easily swayed by radical
reinterpretations of either tradition or the Bible.

There is a movement beginning in the conservative, Reformed Protestant camp
to explore unification along confessional lines.  It is attracting the
interest of conservative factions in some of the more liberal Reformed
denominations such as the PCUSA and the Reformed Church in America.


-- 
Tom Albrecht

[I certainly agree that many traditional theological distinctions have
become irrelevant, and that issues of inerrancy and other
"liberal/conservative" ones are now what concern people most.  However
I don't think past distinctions are going to go away very quickly.
You indicate that you realize there are still going to be problems
with conservatives, but wonder whether maybe liberals will find it
easier to get together.  I think not.

Certainly Catholics and Protestants are working together, and you're
probably right that liberal or conservative Catholics and Protestants
may in many ways feel closer to each other than to those in their own
group at the other end of the spectrum.  However there are basic
traditional issues between Catholics and Protestants that I don't
think are going to go away, even on the liberal side.  

As you may know, several decades ago (I see to recall it from the last
60's) there was a group started to unite the "mainline" churches.  The
result was to be called COCU (The Church of Christ Uniting).  That
attempt didn't succeed.  The group is still meeting, but I have seen
no signs that real merger even among liberal Protestant groups is
making much headway.  What does seem to be happening in the liberal
end is the same sort of thing you observe in the conservative end:
reunification among groups with close historic ties, e.g. the N. and
S. Presbyterian churches.  But I see no real progress, or even real
desire, for union among say Presbyterians, Methodists, and Lutherans.
Rather what seems to be happening are attempts to closer working
relationships.  The newest incarnation of COCU is a set of discussions
aimed at intercommunion and mutual recognition of ordinations (though
ordinations have some problems, because the offices in different
denominations don't always map into each other completely), and
encouragement of joint work in preparing educational material,
missions, etc.

--clh]