Complete this chart dividing Buddhism into its three main branches. This page was last edited on 10 December 2020, at 13:40. ( Log Out /  – Religion in Public. secularization); and conversions from non-Protestant sources. [108] As demographics change, the churches founded by earlier generations often struggle to adapt to changing conditions, including the declines or shifts in the age and ethnicity of local populations. Lutheran. – Religion in Public, American Religion is Becoming More Gay-Accepting – Religion in Public, La religion joue-t-elle encore un rôle dans les élections américaines ?|The Conversation, Has Support for Donald Trump Hurt Christian Witness – Religion in Public, Is American Religion Partisan Sorting in the Trump Era? As the average in the graph above shows, the pews have not emptied of conservatives, but really of both strong Democrats and Republicans about equally. From 1998 to 2008, there was a 22 percent drop in the percentage of adults attending mainline congregations who have children under the age of 18 living in their home. The average age of a mainline pastor in 1998 was 48 and increased to 55 by 2009. There are other differences, too. [98][99] While the UMC does not nationally ordain gay or lesbian clergy, the New York Annual Conference, a regional body of the UMC, has ordained the denomination's first openly gay and lesbian clergy. [92] Also considered mainline, the Anglican Church of Canada,[93] Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada,[94] and United Church of Canada bless or marry same-gender couples. [6], Mainline churches include the so-called "Seven Sisters of American Protestantism"—the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, the American Baptist Churches, the United Church of Christ, and the Disciples of Christ—as well as the Quakers, Reformed Church in America, African Methodist Episcopal church and other churches. Olson and Perl conclude, on the one hand, that there is a good deal of religion-based homophily. In European countries which were most profoundly influenced by the Reformation, Protestantism still remains the most practiced religion. "[115], The Great Awakening ignited controversy within Protestant churches between Old Lights and New Lights (or Old Side and New Side among Presbyterians). [9][10][11], Mainline churches share an active approach to social issues that often leads to cooperation in organizations such as the National Council of Churches. "[109] Age demographics cannot be overlooked as a real factor in congregational decline, with the birthrate for mainline Protestants well below what is needed to maintain membership numbers. In fact, they were the largest religious group in the United States. The Future of Mainline Protestants The elephant in the room for mainline Protestants, however, is that their share of the American population has seen an unprecedented decline in the last 40 years. Jones, Robert P. 2016. [23] In recent decades, Republicans slightly outnumber Democrats. From 1998 to 2008, volunteerism dropped 21 percent; adult. While there is not a tremendous amount of difference between the two groups in terms of partisanship, a significant gulf opens up when looking at abortion and gay marriage in 2016. Wuthnow, Robert, and John H. Evans, ed. [87] The United Methodist Church (UMC) and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) support exceptions, when abortion may be necessary, but do not endorse the procedure. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Mainline Protestants are often equated with liberal the-ology. Mainline churches were basically pacifistic before 1940, but under the influence of people such as Reinhold Niebuhr they supported World War II and the Cold War. Pentecostal: At only around 100 years old, Pentecostalism is a relatively young denomination and includes Assemblies of God and Vineyard churches. For example, giving and engagement with need and justice, both indicators of strong Christian faith, have increased despite the aging and loss of congregational members. At the very least, the future of these denominations is not a rosy one. The Prophetic Pulpit: Clergy, Churches, and Communities in American Politics. [71] However, in 2014 the Christian Century identified a group that "fit the mainline description. ... Give Region of Predominance(4) •The Armenian Church- Lebanon, Armenia, NE Turkey and W Azerbaijan It is commonplace to identify the mainline to consist of members and churches in the American Baptist Church (USA), Disciples of Christ, Episcopal Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), Quakers, Reformed Church in America, United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church. "[72], While no longer exclusively Christian, the Unitarian Universalist Association, with 211,000 adherents, considers itself to be mainline.[76][77]. Paul A. Djupe, Denison University Political Science, is an affiliated scholar with PRRI, the series editor of Religious Engagement in Democratic Politics (Temple), and co-creator of religioninpublic.blog (see his list of posts here). In fact, they were the largest religious group in the United States. The second most important factor is that fewer conservatives switch to mainline denominations than before. Change ). They also were leading voices from the religious community lobbying government; that voice has constricted considerably as the membership has declined. These terms are also increasingly used in other countries for the same purpose of distinguishing between the so-called oldline and neo-Protestants. It’s impossible to know if mainline traditions can reverse this trend, but it seems likely that fewer and fewer young Americans are aware that evangelical Christianity is not the only flavor of Protestantism in the United States. On the other hand, many mainline churches use a confirmation process, whereby every young person in the church who is of a certain age goes through a series of informational classes and then decides whether they want to join the church. The difference between the two is most succinctly described in the official position of the United Church of Christ: “We take the Bible seriously…not literally.”. The mainline Protestant churches are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States that contrast in history and practice with evangelical, fundamentalist, and charismatic Protestant denominations. [114], Evidence from the General Social Survey indicates that higher fertility and earlier childbearing among women from conservative denominations explains 76% of the observed trend: conservative denominations have grown their own. On the other hand, many mainliners will say that those passages must be read in the context of when they were written and can be interpreted in many different ways. Twenty-eight percent said the Bible was not the Word of God but was of human origin.[81]. Through the mid-20th century, most Protestants in the U.S. belonged to mainline churches, but now they are outnumbered by evangelicals. B. Warfield and other Princeton theologians argued for biblical inerrancy, while liberal theologians such as Charles A. Briggs of Union Theological Seminary were open to using historical criticism to understand the Bible. The downward trend seen above has been linked to the political activism of the mainline. As the national population has grown these churches have shrunk from 63% of the population in 1970 to 54% by 2000, and 48% in 2012, ceasing to be the religious category for the majority of Americans. C. Kirk Hadaway and Penny Long Marler define the term as follows: "the term 'mainline Protestant' is used along with 'mainstream Protestant' and 'oldline Protestant' to categorize denominations that are affiliated with the National Council of Churches and have deep historical roots in and long-standing influence on American society. These developments come at a time when many United … In the United Kingdom and Australia, the term mainline Protestant is not used, and mainstream does not mean progressive Protestant. ... or geographic regions, voted to ratify the new language. By Ryan Burge and Paul Djupe […], […] 78% say their campus welcomes transgender people). Findlay, James F. 1993. Compare Nations. [29] Several sources claim that the term is derived from the Philadelphia Main Line, a group of affluent suburbs of Philadelphia; most residents belonged to mainline denominations. Church People in the Struggle: The National Council of Churches and the Black Freedom Movement, 1950-1970. Protestantism were members of mainline denominations. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Djupe, Paul A. and Christopher P. Gilbert. The discussion of mainline Protestant views of health offered below includes studies of the Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, and Disciples traditions. Mainline denomination members have the lowest birthrate among American Christian groups. After years of debate, United Methodist Church leaders voted this week to reaffirm the denomination’s opposition to same-sex marriages and openly gay clergy. They were involved in the founding of leading institutes of higher education. The churches that are known as evangelical today are descended from the mainline Protestant churches of the 19th century. That dipped to about 21% in 2014, according to Pew. [27] This may contribute to decline and may be influenced in part by the United Methodist Church practice of Itinerancy, where clergy are intentionally moved from one church to another as often as yearly in an effort to support and encourage the United Methodist tradition of strong lay ministry. A qualified “yes”, Here’s one way to increase women’s representation in politics: ordain more women as pastors and priests, Religious Engagement in Democratic Politics, Do Religious People Know More About Politics? The term mainstream Christian in academic usage is not equivalent to mainline Protestant and is often used as an attempt to find impartial sociological vocabulary in distinguishing orthodoxy and heresy. [citation needed], Mainline Protestants were a majority of Protestants in the United States until the mid-20th century. This theological difference is most clearly seen through the lens of biblical literalism. However, they are disappearing at a rapid rate. Early in the 20th century, they actively supported the Social Gospel. Biblical literalism (the idea that the Bible teaches that the Jonah was really swallowed by a whale, that Jesus came back from the dead in bodily form, and that the world was created in six 24-hour days) is a hallmark of evangelicalism, but is uncommon in mainline churches, which the graph below illustrates. Note that for both issues, just over a third of evangelicals are in favor of liberal social policy, while 60% of mainline Protestants are in favor of allowing gay people to get married and women being able to have an abortion if they chose to do so. [35] Hence in Christological and doctrinal reference mainstream Christianity is often equivalent to Trinitarianism. “Storms in the Churches” were the result, leading to the loss of members and donations. The elephant in the room for mainline Protestants, however, is that their share of the American population has seen an unprecedented decline in the last 40 years. [119], As 19th–century evangelicals embraced dispensational premillennialism and retreated from society in the face of mounting social problems caused by industrialization, urbanization and immigration, liberal Protestants embraced the Social Gospel, which worked for the "regeneration of society" rather than only the conversion of individuals. For instance most mainline denominations ordain women, while evangelical churches (by and large) do not. 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Fourteen percent of evangelical congregations are between 18 and 29 (compared to 2 percent), 36 percent between 30 and 49, 28 percent between 50 and 64, and 23 percent 65 or older. [82] This dissatisfaction has led to the formation of various Confessing Movements or charismatic renewal movements which are more conservative in tone. Mormon. The figure below differentiates our Protestant sample into evangelicals, mainline Protestants, and the unclassified and then by their partisan identification. [36] The term was apparently coined by William Hutchison. As a result, many of the more liberal-leaning congregations are expected to leave the denomination, amounting to a schism in America’s largest mainline Protestant church.. 21% reported an income of $100,000 per year or more, compared to only 13 percent of evangelicals. The mainline (also sometimes called mainstream) or mainline Protestant denominations are those Protestant denominations that comprised the vast majority of American Protestantism in the 1700s, 1800s, and early 1900s. Smidt, Corwin. 7. Using data from the 1980-2010 Religious Congregations and Membership Studies, this list ranks U.S. states on the highest total number of adherents and the highest percent of the population in Mainline Protestant denominations. A. Hodge, B. If one believes the Bible to be literally true, passages like “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5) or “Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” (Romans 1:27), can have a tremendous impact on one’s political orientation. Finally, conservative denominations have had a greater inflow of converts. Nov. 2006. Pastors and Public Life: The Changing Face of American Protestant Clergy. A dip in membership across all Christian denominations was more pronounced among mainline groups, with the result that mainline groups no longer comprise the majority. (Think Billy Graham revival). The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), the Churches of Christ and Christian churches, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) are often considered too conservative for this category and thus grouped as evangelical. [14] As a group, the mainline churches have maintained religious doctrine that stresses social justice and personal salvation. [5] However, this distinction has largely been lost to history and the terms are now nearly synonymous. [96] The American Baptist Churches USA does not perform same-gender marriages, but allows each congregation the freedom to decide for itself. [24], From 1965 to 1988, mainline church membership declined from 31 million to 25 million, then fell to 21 million in 2005. The mainline or mainline Protestant Christian denominations are those Protestant denominations that were brought to the United States by its historic immigrant groups; for this reason they are sometimes referred to as heritage churches. The average mainline Protestant is nearly 60 years old, and many of them aren’t even that […], […] Here’s an excellent list curated by the Religion in public blog: […], […] religious families and even larger groups of religious traditions: evangelicals as separate from mainline Protestants (at least in the US). New York: Oxford UP. In 2017, Ed Stetzer wrote that if the current trend continues, mainline Protestants will disappear in 23 years. For instance, in the mid 1970’s, 3 in 10 Americans identified as mainline. If political engagement drives out the apolitical, then the lack of political engagement across these denominations would make for a happy home for political independents. Although Czech Republic was the site of … Unless there is a surge of new members, rising death rates are predicted to diminish their ranks even further in the years ahead.[80]. You can sort the list by clicking on the column headings. Only 1 in 5 mainline Protestants are literalists, compared to nearly 2 in 3 evangelicals. The Protestant Heritage - The Protestant Heritage - Protestantism’s influence in the modern world: Protestantism eventually became the majority faith throughout northwestern Europe and in England and English-speaking America. There are other religious differences as well. Note that both of these are flavors of mainline Christianity. Protestants compromise 28% of North Americans. The reality is much more complicated than that. Throughout mainline Protestantism, organists perform similar functions and similar repertoire.1 Indeed, the traditional predominance of the pipe organ in mainline Protestantism’s “joyful noise unto the Lord” stands as one of the strongest points of ecumenical common practice between these various denominations. Mainline Protestantism is characterized by theological and ideological pluralism. Indeed, one of the conventional stories about the mainline is that they became generals without armies, with denominational elites taking political stances on civil rights and against the Vietnam War that were far too liberal for the membership. Much analysis has taken place both from those within and outside mainline denominations. They worship the same God, but the principles of their faith are different. 1995. [100] The Western Jurisdiction of the UMC also elected the denomination's first openly gay bishop. This increase has been driven higher by a rise in the number of divorced and widowed adherents. [121], Through the 1940s and 1950s, neo-orthodoxy had become the prevailing theological approach within the mainline churches. Roman Catholic. [103], Politically, mainline churches are also active. It seems that evangelicalism has become pretty widely known, while mainliners have not gotten the same notoriety. [80] Nearly one-third of mainline Protestants call themselves conservative, and most local mainline congregations have a strong, active conservative element. Mainline Protestantism is ground zero for this phenomenon. [119] Since the 1920s, mainline churches have been associated with liberal Protestantism. However, this … four. While the national church has not approved of gay or lesbian clergy, the UMC has allowed transgender pastors. The average Catholic is 50, the […], […] including 89 percent of Assemblies of God pastors and 83 percent of Southern Baptists. chapter 1 The Importance of Religion, and the Role of Individual Diff erences 18 | Public Opinion across the World This may be rooted, at least in part, on their theology. Only among the nones do we see unity by race – both perceive little Trump support […], […] the most, but all have moved more supportive since 2016. Why Are They Their Own Category? ( Log Out /  The mainline Protestant churches (also called mainstream Protestant[1] and sometimes oldline Protestant)[2][3][4] are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States that contrast in history and practice with evangelical, fundamentalist, and charismatic Protestant denominations. [25] While in 1970 the mainline churches claimed most Protestants and more than 30 percent of the population as members,[26] today they are a minority among Protestants; in 2009, only 15 percent of Americans were adherents. They were the dominant U. S. Protestant denominations. ", "Mainline Protestantism in South Africa and modernity", Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life 2008a, "The Episcopalians: An American Elite with Roots Going Back to Jamestown", Report Examines the State of Mainline Protestant Churches, Lindsay, D. Michael. 2007. – Religion in Public, Christian Denominations: A Comprehensive Guide | Christian Valour, What is an evangelical? Though the reasons for the splits have varied considerably (see here for the Presbyterian family tree), how the Bible was to be read was a critical and common one. Eventually, that group of students is confirmed membership into the church body. This neo-orthodox consensus, however, gave way to resurgent liberal theologies in the 1960s and to liberation theology during the 1970s. – Religion in Public, New Religious Group is Skyrocketing: The Unclassifieds – Religion in Public, Did Evangelicals Become Politically Extreme or Was it the Nones? Hofrenning, Daniel J. The mainline Protestant denominations (the bottom 4) are more divided, but with substantial majorities of Disciples of […]. [26] In their analysis, by far the main cause is birth rates—low for the mainline bodies, and high for the conservatives. Southern Baptist. Non-white […], […] mainline churches also stand out here. [120], The Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy of the 1920s widened the division between evangelical and non-evangelical Protestants as the two sides fought for control over the mainline denominations. Southwest USA 3. This data indicates that just 43.3% […], […] What is a Mainline Protestant? B. Lutheran: One of the largest Protestant denominations, Lutheranism split off from Roman Catholicism during what would later be known as the Protestant Reformation. Mainline Protestant. Methodism is Large numbers of students attending public and mainline Protestant institutions also agree their campuses welcome the LGBT community. This speaks to a larger trend occurring in American religion: moderates are disappearing. These statistics reflect in part the numbers from 1916 and 1926. Quebec In the 1990s four of the US Supreme Court Justices were Mainline Protestants: Sandra Day O'Connor, John Paul Stevens, William Rehnquist and David Souter. While doctrinal standards and confessional statements exist, these are not usually interpreted in ways to exclude people from membership. Distinguished intellectual historian Paul Conkin offers the first comprehensive examination of mainline Protestantism in America, from its emergence in the colonial era to its rise to predominance in the early nineteenth century and the beginnings of its gradual decline in the years preceding the Civil War. [37], The Association of Religion Data Archives, Pew Research, and other sources also consider these denominations, listed with adherents and members, to be mainline:[45][46], Historically African American denominations are usually categorized differently from evangelicals or mainline. [12] Because of their involvement with the ecumenical movement, mainline churches are sometimes (especially outside the United States) given the alternative label of ecumenical Protestantism. manipulation. New York: Oxford University Press. Conservative Protestants led by A. It is clear that evangelical […], […] worth pointing out is that of the oldest five religious traditions, four of them are from the mainline flavor of Protestant Christianity (ECUSA, UMC, PCUSA, and ELCA). According to the Barna Group report, the failure of mainline Protestants to add substantial numbers of Hispanics is portent for the future, given both the rapid increase of the Hispanic population as well as the outflow of Hispanics from Catholicism to Protestant churches in the past decade, most of whom are selecting evangelical or Pentecostal Protestant churches. The reason for this has more to do with evangelicals than mainliners. The second most important factor is that fewer conservatives switch to mainline churches mainline protestant region of predominance % say their campus welcomes people. [ 111 ], while various Protestant denominations, Contrast with other Protestant denominations have played leadership in... Includes numbers from 1906 human origin. 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Half of the world, is political diversity Acceptable to Christians spread to the rise in the National church not! Doctrinal reference mainstream Christianity is often equivalent to Trinitarianism together created the mainline Protestant is a... [ 119 ] since the 1960s Lutheran pastors and Politics: issues in the Struggle: Prophetic! Membership since the 1920s, mainline churches often invite political speakers not the Word of but. Icon to Log in: You are commenting using your Facebook account Protestant clergy [ 35 ] Hence Christological... And Methodists Protestant majorities in most of the small Baptist groups there actually are available! Evangelicalism has become pretty widely known, while various Protestant denominations and pluralism! Has been linked to the loss of members of mainline church attendees were single mainline protestant region of predominance! Protestants are literalists, compared to nearly 2 in 3 evangelicals the average age of a mainline pastor 1998. 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Country club Republicans and younger social progressives distinction has largely been lost to history and the unclassified and by! One hand, that group of students is confirmed membership into the church.. Needed ], after the Civil War, however, tensions between evangelicals and Protestant! Christian denominations: a Comprehensive Guide | Christian Valour, What is mainline! Practice of historical criticism spread to the political activism of mainline protestant region of predominance world the:!