Whither Liberal Religion

Ross Douthat in the Sunday Review section of the New York Times for July 15 wrote a piece titled "Can Liberal Christianity be Saved?" Douthat notes that as liberal churches, in particular the Episcopal Church in America, become more liberal, they seem to lose members, while the more traditional and fundamentalist churches are increasing. Douthat notes especially that the liberal churches are more focused on "social reform," and therefore offer nothing that can't be sought in the secular social reform movements. Douthat seems to suggest that the liberal Christianity lacks an enthusiastic religiosity that appears to attract people to the more traditional fundamentalist churches.

The next day, Douthat received a comment from a British theologian Steve Holmes, who reminded Douthat that what is meant by the term "liberal" is a commitment to modernity in the form of a commitment to a rational approach to human phenomena, including religion, and more of a humanistic focus on the individual religious experience over against a reliance on a pre-modern understanding of divine revelation. 

Another interesting discussion has developed on the Religion Dispatches website titled "Future of Liberal Religion." What's really needed is a new conversation about God that rejects doctrine and focuses on the common human yearning for a connection to the divine, the sacred.

Follow the discussion...