Comments on: Mainline Clergy Support Church/State Separation

By: Brett Davis

Brett Davis — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:52:05 +0000

Actually, most churches do not believe in separation of church and state because they have received tax-exempt status from the government. It is this state funding which allows the government to tell a church what can or cannot be said in the pulpit. If a church does not pursue exemption from paying taxes, they can legally say anything they want about politics, or anything else for that matter. As long as they are exempt, they are not separate.

By: Reginald Selkirk

Reginald Selkirk — Sun, 24 May 2009 23:25:02 +0000

I grew up Catholic, was not sexually abused, and had no grudges. But with the current leadership, i.e. Pope Indulgence, I cannot maintain any sense of connection with the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and actually think less of anyone who still calls themself Catholic.

By: MikeTheInfidel

MikeTheInfidel — Sun, 24 May 2009 03:48:44 +0000

Heh. I grew up in the UCC. Can’t say I’m surprised.

By: Meta

Meta — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:53:53 +0000

How weird is it that after five or six years of being an atheist, I still feel like I have a stake in the church I grew up in? I was looking at that graph and thinking, “Rock on, Episcopalians.”

Caitlin sounds like she’s doing the same thing – anyone else?

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:53:30 +0000

I’m proud of the UCC. I was a scout at one of their churches, and of the three rotating pastors they had, two were openly gay

By: mkb

mkb — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:53:11 +0000

Mainline churches is a term of art. It goes back to the Philadelphia Mainline with its very waspy churches. Evangelical churches are not mainline. Catholics are not either. Mainline churches, I think, all belong to the National Council of Churches. They used to run the country but now only represent 18% of it.

By: Noadi

Noadi — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:04:31 +0000

It did say mainline Protestants which automatically excludes Catholics, that whole Protestant Reformation thingy. I also wonder why the SBC wasn’t included? I think their answers would have been significantly different.

By: Reginald Selkirk

Reginald Selkirk — Sat, 23 May 2009 23:32:22 +0000

Gosh, if all the clergy support separation of church and state, why does all my money say “In God We Trust,” and why are school children made to recite the God-awful pledge of allegiance?

I think use of the word “mainline” is questionable. As the official position of these churches has become more liberal, customers have flocked to the more conservative Evangelical/Fundamentalist brands. As Robert Madewell has already noted, exclusion of the SBC tells a story. Catholics not counted as well? That’s a large fraction of U.S. christians right there (unless you accept the position that Catholics are not Christians, which I have heard from some Southern Baptists).

By: medussa

medussa — Sat, 23 May 2009 23:28:30 +0000

If this majority would grow some balls and stand up and challenge the abusers of power among christian clergy, we wouldn’t be needing atheist ad campaigns, lawsuits, and protests.
I would have no issue living side by side with people who choose to believe silly superstition, but have no intention of foisting that nonsense onto me, mine, or our legal and educational system.

But for them to stand silently by and allow the christian fundamentalists to hijack the entire american religious community is to silently accept those terms and to be guilty by association.

By: Noadi

Noadi — Sat, 23 May 2009 23:08:08 +0000

I think that’s encouraging news. Now I’d like to see clergy in those churches start speaking out about fundamentalists. They are hurting reasonable people of faith by associating Christianity with the worst of intolerance and the mixing of politics and religion.