The Giant Rift Within Denominations Mirrors the Rift Over Slavery


The period around 1840, a few years before the Civil War, church members and churches themselves were arguing about whether it was OK to be both a Christian and a slave holder. Some wanted their denominations to condemn slavery but officers were afraid of offending some. Others wanted members who held slaves to be removed from membership. Those who held slaves used the Bible to defend themselves. It's easy to forget slavery was practiced in the U.S. for 200 years. 

Before all of this heated up, Protestant Christianity was so popular it took in as much money as the Federal Government. Needless to say, leaders liked the huge membership and the money that came with it.

But like most every time in history, a huge disagreement was coming to a boil. The public was made up of church members mostly and a big part of it began to ask how anyone could hold humans as slaves the call himself "Christian." This when a Bishop in the Methodist branch himself owned a couple of slaves.

Splits grew and denominations began to form that were either for or against slavery. As we would predict the pro slavery break offs were mostly in the South. In my lifetime there were both Southern Methodists and Southern Presbyterians. These were mostly patched back together in the 1970-80's. As we know denominations are splitting up again, this time over GLBTQ. 

These days, Christian sites have headlines about hundreds of Methodist churches leaving the main Methodist denomination because the main denomination will not condemn gay preachers or gay marriage ceremonies. While I'm not an expert in this, it is apparent the numbers leaving are far fewer than the numbers remaining. If history is any predictor of the future, in a generation the gay issue will evaporate and the groups will start to reunite again.

Then they will start to split up over something else. Christianity has no firm foundation so it has been a rudderless ship over its entire history. This history tells us what to expect in the future.


Comments

  1. Matt NoahDecember 14, 2022 at 6:25 PM

    Here is where the trapper is the beast found in the trap. As Jon states, "It is easy to forget slavery was practiced in the U.S. for 400 years." The 1619 project is a disputed, liberal theory which states unequivocally that slavery started here* with the first slave ship to enter the Americas in the year 1619.

    *The country, the USA was founded in 1776 so our 400th birthday is in 2176; quite a ways into the future.

    Even so, 400 years from 1619 is 2019. No one in their right mind claims that slavery in the USA ended in 2019. The general consensus is that slavery ended in the USA on December 18, 1865 with the passing of the 13th Amendment. So, slavery had a 94 year history in the USA, measuring from 1776 to 1865. We have been slave-free for 157 years.

    It's always good to test Jon's math, his logic, and what he calls 'the truth'.

    There are apples and oranges. When one claims that white and black are similar in some way to heterosexual and homosexual, you might find the number of people you insult is much greater than you think. It's been that way for 400 years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JonDecember 14, 2022 at 8:53 PM

      Matt--The number should have been 200 years. Thanks for catching that.

      Delete
    2. Matt NoahDecember 15, 2022 at 7:27 AM

      The number is 94 years old, 1776 to 1865. It is certainly not 200 or 400 years old.

      Delete

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