I want to take my boys to church, but I am not terribly big on social conservatism.
I am ruling out the Baptists. I was raised in that Church, and I am soured for life. I’ve tried Methodism, and it seemed all right for organized religion.
I’d rather not go to church, but I am fairly spiritual and want my boys to have a Christian upbringing.
My cynicism is too great to explain to them my views on the Bible. No one should learn about the Council of Nicaea at 4 years old.
So, church is my backstop.
You can consider it an assumption that I am going to go. Any suggestion that I not take them is fruitless. But if you could help me find a place that gives less emphasis to the literal word of the Bible and focuses more on the message of Christ’s geneorisity and promise of redemption, I would appreciate it.
[sub]I recall asking the Dope about how to reconcile my beliefs with raising a Christian child a while back, and Diogenes the Cynic, I believe, offered an atheistic (or agnostic)'s take on reading Bible stories to his kids that was very helpful.[/sub]
Methodists sounds fine enough although you sound like you want to join the Episcopalian Church. Plus even among the Southern Baptists not all of them take the Bible ultra-literally. Hopefully the church will be good enough so you can find genuine faith and your sons too will be saved.
Probably the least literal denominations are the United Church of Christ and the Episcopalians. The Unitarian-Universalists are even less literal, but since they don’t necessarily believe in the divinty of Jesus, it’s a stretch to call them Christian. They often use the Bible in their services, though.
But there are two things you need to remember. The first is that most denominations have a relatively loose theology that’s filled in by the particular minister. So while Southern Baptists and Missouri Synod Lutherans are generally pretty literal (and American Baptists and ELCA Lutherans less so) there are exceptions when it comes down individual congregations.
Second, it’s my experience that Christian churches tend to walk a line between the messages of personal salvation and social justice. The churches that put less emphasis on Biblical literalism tend to put more emphasis on social justice, and their ministries tend to get involved in “political” issues. You may end up agreeing totally with what you hear from the pulpit and disagreeing with how the Social Justice Committee votes.
I might actually give Episcopalian a try. I like a lot of their stances on social issues. I live in a very conservative community, so I figure wherever I go will be somewhat on the right hand side of the spectrum.
There is a wide spectrum of Episcopal churches, from conservative Evangelical* to far-left liberal to traditional Catholic. If you live near a decent-sized city, you’ll probably be able to find one that is where you want to be.
*Even the very conservative Evangelical Episcopal churches will be more liberal than your stereotypical Southern Baptist of Missouri Lutheran church. It’s very rare for Episcopalians to claim to take the Bible literally, although some take it as the authoritative Word of God and others as a collection of religious myths or anywhere in between.
I’d recommend looking first at the churchs in your area that seem like a possibility and attending once or twice without the kids, so you can get an idea of what the minister is like. Even within a denomination, the individual minister will be important in deciding whether or not it’s the right place for you.
Presbyterians in most cases choose to read the Bible with an understanding of the context of the time in which it was written. The educational requirements help ensure a more nuanced view of Scripture:
Doctor of Divinity is strictly used for honorary degrees in the US. Perhaps you meant D. Min. (Doctor of Ministry)? I’ve attended seminary and the D.Min. frankly isn’t a very rigorous degree. I’d but more weight in the requirement for an M.Div., although that’s shared by almost all mainstream Protestant denominations. Presbyterians do require greater knowledge of Greek and Hebrew than most denominations, though, and they seem to place slightly higher emphasis culturally on education, especially biblical knowledge, for their clergy. Still, that difference is tiny compared to the variation between ministers within any denomination. (Except Catholics. I have little experience or knowledge there, but I believe the minimum educational standards for Catholic priests in the US is significantly higher than for Protestants. Since they have a separate system of theological education, it might be a little harder to draw comparisons, though.) If you really want to know about a minister’s educational standing without actually talking to them, you would learn much more by finding out where they went to college and seminary than what denomination they are. Though you’ll probably learn more about what their theological bent is than how much they know.
The United Church of Christ is certainly worth looking into, but I’d second StrangeBird’s advice about attending a service or two before you decide. Different ministers can have a huge impact on the church’s character.
Just curious- seeing as how the “mainstream” Protestant churches are dwindling, how long can we keep pretending that they’re mainstream?
If and when there are more practicing Mormons than practicing Episcopalians (and that’s NOT hard to imagine), will we start saying that the Mormons are mainstream and the Episcopalians are a fringe group?
Presbyterian Church USA
The Episcopal Church
The United Methodist Church
Evangelical Lutheran Church (‘Evangelical’ in the Lutheran sense, not in the Billy Graham sense)
Disciples of Christ
United Church of Christ
American Baptist Church
Other groups which come to my mind~
Society of Friends (Quakers)
Community of Christ (formerly Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints- not exactly mainline but are liberal to moderate)
Church of the New Jerusalem (Swedenborgians- not exactly mainline but are liberal to moderate)
