{"id":28609,"date":"2012-07-15T15:43:45","date_gmt":"2012-07-15T21:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/15\/the-shrinking-of-the-episcopal-church.html"},"modified":"2012-07-15T15:43:45","modified_gmt":"2012-07-15T21:43:45","slug":"the-shrinking-of-the-episcopal-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/15\/the-shrinking-of-the-episcopal-church.html","title":{"rendered":"The shrinking of the Episcopal Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

An interesting article linked below on how the Episcopal Church has declined in size over the last decade, even as it has grown more progressive and liberal. \u00a0A few thoughts on my part:<\/p>\n

1. A substantial amount of that decline is, from my observations, from more conservative Christians who have left the denomination because of its liberal evolution. \u00a0That's to be expected. (What has not happened is a substantial pick-up of folks leaving more conservative denominations; it's happened, but not in numbers enough to match those who leave.)<\/p>\n

2. It's also coming in the context of an overall decline in organized religion, especially Christianity, in America. \u00a0Regular church attendance is down all over, except for rah-rah mega-churches that have their own issues to grapple with, including reducing numbers of younger folks staying with the organized faith. \u00a0(Most of the mega-churches as well barely constitute organized relgion except on a local scale, and tend to be much more leader\/personality focused than what Americans would consider traditional denominiations.)<\/p>\n

The success of a faith is not about sheer numbers (virtue is not a majority decision), but it's worth giving some thought. The observation that, by not adhering to and promoting a strong religious ideology\u00a0liberal Christians aren't offering anything that liberal secular organizations do is an interesting one. \u00a0The virtue (IMO) of not be oppressively dogmatic can be taken to the point of not representing anything at all. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I don't think the Episcopal Church is there, but, liturgy aside, it should be considering what it does want to stand for in a religious<\/i> fashion, not just in the (very worthy nonetheless) idea of serving and loving our neighbors. Otherwise there are plenty of other way to do so that don't involve getting up early on Sunday mornings.<\/p>\n

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Embedded Link<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCan Liberal Christianity Be Saved?<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe more progressive the Episcopal Church becomes, the more it shrinks.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Google+:<\/strong> View post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interesting article linked below on how the Episcopal Church has declined in size over the last decade, even as it has grown more progressive and liberal. \u00a0A few thoughts on my part: 1. A substantial amount of that decline is, from my observations, from more conservative Christians who have left the denomination because of … Continue reading “The shrinking of the Episcopal Church”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12276,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/06\/10\/schadenfreude.html","url_meta":{"origin":28609,"position":0},"title":"Schadenfreude","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 10-Jun-08 10:47am","format":false,"excerpt":"For years, conservatives within the Episcopal Church have lambasted its Relativist Humanist Secular Godless Pagan Liberal Leadership for its evil, sinful ways. 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