The Coming Downfall of Protestantism

The last several years have brought political controversy to the Protestant churches in America. Specifically, the leadership of the Anglican and Presbyterian Churches have made statements and decisions that, in the long-term, may lead to the downfall of the Protestant movement.

The Protestant movement has a proud beginning as the Christian alternative to the corrupt Catholic Church of the 16th century. Fed up with the selling of indulgences, Martin Luther started a revolution that eventually, though not after much unintended bloodshed, brought most of Christianity, including the Catholic Church, back to teaching morality and the word of God rather that focusing on the monetary enrichment of a few.

Yet the principled beginning of Protestantism is threatened today by the willingness of many church leaders to abandon the tenants of Christianity in favor of political correctness.

The Anglican, or Episcopal Church as it is called in America, has gone to the brink of splitting in recent years over the issue of gay clergy. Especially in America, the gay movement has pushed for the recognition of gay bishops and, in 2003, it succeeded when Gene Robinson became the first openly gay priest to be ordained. In fact in 2008, Robinson entered into a civil union with his longtime partner. The majority of the worldwide Anglican Church objected on principle, and a split in the Church was contemplated.

Whatever one's position on homosexuality, Christianity has always believed that the practice of homosexuality is a sin. Of course, every person is guilty of some sin, but the acceptance of openly and, more importantly, unapologetic gay clergy indicates that many Protestants today favor open acceptance of homosexuality rather than criticizing it and the lifestyle it tends to encourage. Consider whether Protestant ministers should be allowed to openly gamble or cheat on their wives or steal from others. All of these actions are sins and few, if any, Protestants would accept their ministers if they openly and repeatedly engaged in such sins. Yet today many Protestants are willing to allow ministers to openly practice the sin of homosexuality.

If the Anglican Church is so willing to allow ministers to openly and unapologetically practice homosexuality, which sin will they "accept" next? The message coming from the Anglican Church on this issue is not a positive sign that, in the future, Protestant churches will have the moral principles the Protestant movement has historically enjoyed.

The leadership of the Presbyterian Church has also created controversy when it recently denounced the state of Israel and the actions Israel takes to protect itself from the forces bent on its destruction. Specifically, PC(USA), the leadership body of the Presbyterian Church, voted in 2005 to divest its investment holdings of several companies that did business with Israel. In addition to that vote, PC(USA) issued a statement that criticized the nation of Israel for Israel's "punishment of the entire people of Palestine." Nevermind the fact that the terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad openly seek the destruction of Israel and directly target civilians, or the fact that Israel uses sophisticated equipment and targeted military strikes specifically to minimize civilian casualties while striking back at terrorists.

What the Presbyterian Church inexplicably failed to realize was the moral inequivalency of targeting your enemy on the battlefield while hoping to minimize civilian casualties and the direct targeting of civilian homes, buses, and marketplaces by Hamas, Hezbollah, and others. There is a clear moral difference when Hamas sends a suicide bomber onto an Israeli bus and kills men and women on their way to work and the death of a Palestinian who was unlucky to be near a known terrorist that Israel targets militarily.

The actions of PC(USA) were met with disbelief by its membership and Jewish leaders. The backlash from both forced the Church to backtrack a bit. Yet simply the fact that the Church took the actions it did in first place shows how many in the Presbyterian Church have lost their moral bearings and bought into the politically correct notion that the actions of Israel and its terrorist enemies are morally identical.

The decisions by the leaders in the Protestant movement to abandon the traditional beliefs of their parishioners in favor of more "progressive" or "understanding" positions threaten to destroy the Protestant movement. Without principles and beliefs and the fortitude to hold to them, the moral foundation of Christianity will disappear. Over the years the Catholic Church has been much more courageous in its insistence that the historical moral foundation of Christianity remain intact through its strong and unwavering opposition to abortion and embryonic steam cells, among other positions. The Protestant movement better learn from the Vatican if it hopes to remain a relevant moral and spiritual compass for mankind rather than fade into irrelevance.

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~ The Conservative Guy