# Liberal Religions **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 26, 2000, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-religions/17736 "2000-01-26T21:38:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2000, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-religions/17736/61 "2000-03-14T14:40:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by CalifBoomer: > > There are several major, mainstream denominations that are very liberal. Methodists profess against what they call ‘duality’-ie., there is no satan, no hell. The claim God is bigger than to allow ‘duality’. They also perform homosexual ‘marriages’ and accept openly homosexual ministers into their church. My understanding has always been that Methodists are the most liberal of the major Protestant religions, but I think it varies from congregation to congregation. Do you have any info from Methodist HQ? I’m going to have to do some research, too, on how big these religions are - my understanding is that Catholics are by far the largest denomination, at least in the US. > [@](#): > > There are also two Baptist churchgroups. The Southern Baptists (Pat Robertson is one) are all hell fire and damnation. There is another group, can’t remember the name at the moment, who is also more liberal. Yes, I’d heard they were on the verge of a split. Which is larger, the Southern or, for lack of a better term, the Northern? I’ll have to check this out. > [@](#): > > And, as a former Catholic, I can tell you that church is not about to change much anytime soon. Well, no, of course not. But my OT was that the _majority_ of the “religous marketplace” is still decidedly not liberal. Esprix * * * [Ask the Gay Guy!](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/001376.html) ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2000, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-religions/17736/62 "2000-03-14T14:44:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Riboflavin: > > So what’s the point of going to a UU (or similar) church? The church’s beliefs seem to boil down to ‘do what you think you should do,’ so it seems kind of pointless to me to have a church. Isn’t religion supposed to provide answers for how to live your life, not just tell you that you should have been doing whatever you felt like doing in the first place? Yes… and no. A church is much more than its religious dogma - it is a place of community, a place of reverence and respect, a place of spirituality, and a place to connect with others of a like mind. I also often mis-speak myself by joking that it’s a “come as you are” religion. In a way it is, but we also have “rules” - they’re just more liberal and lax than most others. If you’re interested, check out the link I posted above to our Purposes and Principles, or, as someone jokingly called it, “The 10 Suggestions.” It’s not so much that we take everyone for who they are, we challenge them to improve themselves humanly and spiritually (at least, that’s my take on it all). > [@](#): > > The way I see it, if you’re going to be a unitarian you may as well be an > atheist and get it over with. > > - J. Michael Straczynski Now that’s funny! [http://www.beginbids.com/ubb/smilies/icon25.gif](http://www.beginbids.com/ubb/smilies/icon25.gif) Esprix, who is a **huge** “Babylon 5” fan * * * [Ask the Gay Guy!](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/001376.html) ---
**Author:** ![pashley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pashley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pashley)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2000, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-religions/17736/63 "2000-03-14T14:45:00Z")
Esprix: > [@](#): > > 'SINNER! Having lustful, impure thoughts about women! Repent, or feel the fires of Hell itself! > > (You just know you opened yourself up for that, didn’t you? ) > > Seriously, are you sure it wasn’t tangentially related to the freedom to breast-feed in public? Or perhaps for a nude beach somewhere? Where the heck do you live, anyway?" Yes, lustful thoughts are to be avoided, agreed. I do try to deter myself from it though. I don’t recall them ever making it a breast-feed issue, no. They just wanted to due this feminist thing, and now, you don’t see them doing it anyhow. I live Rochester, NY. * * * Patrick Ashley ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’ -Edmund Burke ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2000, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-religions/17736/64 "2000-03-16T16:44:00Z")
I’m giving this a ::bump:: because someone asked about it in another thread. Esprix * * * [Ask the Gay Guy!](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/001376.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liberal-religions/17736.md?page=3)