Liberal Protestants--No Endangered Species

With Pat Robertson expressing interest in a bid for the presidency, Jerry Falwell proclaiming his political views on South Africa, and a host of religious conservatives filling the radio and television airwaves, one might rightly ask whatever became of liberal Protestantism, so long in the forefront of the nation’s spiritual life.

There are some interesting brass-tacks answers that both wings of Protestantism, and folks in between, would do well to consider.

It is true that, proportionally, the conservative denominations have in recent years registered striking gains in membership, against losses in so-called mainstream churches.

Sociologists Wade Clark Roof and William McKinney, writing in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science last July, reported that from 1970 to 1980 United Presbyterian membership declined 19%, the Disciples of Christ 17%, the Episcopal Church 15%, the United Church of Christ 11% and the United Methodists 9%.

Meanwhile, such conservative denominations as the Seventh-day Adventists, the Assemblies of God and the Church of the Nazarene had growth rates as high as 70%.

Why this ecclesiastical migration? To a number of sociologists of religion, four trends are conspicuous:

First, part of the change is demographic. Women in liberal denominations are older and have fewer children than do women in conservative denominations. More than 40% of the memberships of the Disciples of Christ, Methodists and United Church of Christ are over 55. In contrast, 50% of Jehovah’s Witnesses are 18 to 34.

Second, liberal churches failed to maintain the commitment of their young people during the 1960s and ‘70s. They viewed the church as part of the Establishment that they rejected, so today there is a dearth of young families in many liberal congregations.

Third, the pattern of denominational switching has changed. The pattern formerly was for upwardly mobile individuals to move into liberal denominations as they gained in social class. But many of the conservative denominations have themselves increased in social status as they have shed their privatized notions of religion and have enjoyed the blessings of the last two American Presidents. Also, many more liberals than in the past are shifting to the “non-affiliated” category; about 9% of Americans no longer claim membership in any religious group.

Finally, the liberal gospel is simply not as compelling for many people as are the non-ambiguous professions of the conservative clergy. For many conservatives the Bible is a cookbook containing specific recipes for what is right or wrong. Liberal clergy are much more inclined to see both sides of many moral problems.

Many issues about which conservative Christians have been most vocal concern children or the family: prayer in public schools, abortion, homosexuality, the role of women, pornography--issues perceived to threaten the traditional family. In contrast, liberal Christians are focusing on political issues that do not address as directly the anxieties of the middle class, nor are they proposing simple answers.

Many issues championed by liberal clergy are global in scope or address the needs of constituencies that lack political power. In one large Episcopal church in the Los Angeles area, members are involved in sponsoring food and help for street people; they are educating the parish about world hunger and have generously responded to recent crises in Ethiopia and Mexico; they have a variety of programs focusing on political events in Latin America, and they house and help fund an interfaith center to reverse the arms race. These are issues that either represent direct challenges to the conservative vision of America riding “high in the saddle,” or have a global, rather than nationalistic, focus.

Members of the liberal and moderate denominations still constitute well over 30% of the American population, while conservative denominations account for about 15%. So there seems no immediate danger of liberal Protestants becoming an endangered species. In any event, I would not want to see those denominations alter their perceived mission in today’s society just for the sake of matching the conservatives’ membership gains.