Mainline Protestantism ‘Gone from’ Christianity; Santorum Just Lost the South

Gulag Bound ^ | February 21, 2012 | Arlen Williams

[unspun]

...I Believe, Michigan too, I Fear

 

Update:

This update is made simply to point out the problem with Rick Santorum's speech, excerpted below, as many are apparently having difficulty seeing it. I apologize for not making it clearer, earlier.

The problem lays in two sentences:

“And of course we look at the shape of mainline Protestantism in this country and it is a shambles. It is gone from the world of Christianity as I see it.

"...mainline Protestantism.... It is gone from the world of Christianity as I see it."

---

2/19/2012 @ 1:50pm CT

It was almost an excellent and critically important speech, but then...

[unspun]

A school of thought may be called "gone from the world of Christianity," but a school of people with Christians in it, may not be.

Thanks to you and all for the discussions.

[silverleaf]

Dittos

I linger between attending Mass as a visitor, and mourning the Methodism I was raised with

IMHO true people of faith will not abandon Santorum for this statement, in their hearts they know he is right

[EternalHope]

I’m Protestant and agree with Santorum on this 100%. The other posters on this thread have done a good job explaining why.

That said, it DOES seem like a very foolish thing for Santorum to have said.

[SoConPubbie]

Those churches were the pillars of establishment Protestantism. However, in the past 50 years they have rejected orthodox Christianity and replaced it with relativistic neo-pagan philosophy with a thin veneer of “Christianity” that questions the divinity of Christ.

And yet my post is still accurate and objective.

There are still many, many mainline protestants that have not abandoned Christ or the bible, I am attending one right now.

This was a STUPID move by Santorum and makes it appear all he cares about is a intercine battle between Catholics and Protestants and he has chosen the Catholics.

He is not being hired to be Pope, he is being hired to be POTUS.

Once again, for those slow to comprehend the point, STUPID move on Santorum's part.

[Linda Frances]

1. “Corporations are people, my friend… of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People’s pockets. Human beings, my friend.” —Mitt Romney to a heckler at the Iowa State Fair who suggested that taxes should be raised on corporations as part of balancing the budget (August 2011)

2. “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.” –Mitt Romney, using an unfortunate choice of words while advocating for consumer choice in health insurance plans (January 2012)

3. “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.” —Mitt Romney (January 2012)

4. “I’ll tell you what, ten-thousand bucks? $10,000 bet?” –Mitt Romney, attempting to make a wager with Rick Perry during a Republican presidential debate to settle a disagreement about health care (December 2011)

5. “I should tell my story. I’m also unemployed.” —Mitt Romney, speaking in 2011 to unemployed people in Florida. Romney’s net worth is over $200 million.

6. “There were a couple of times I wondered whether I was going to get a pink slip” –Mitt Romney, attempting to identify with the problems of average folk (January 2012)

7. “[My wife] drives a couple of Cadillacs.” –Mitt Romney, campaigning for president in Michigan (February 2012)

8. “I get speaker’s fees from time to time, but not very much.” —Mitt Romney, who earned $374,000 in speaking fees in one year according to according to his personal financial disclosure (January 2012)

9. “PETA is not happy that my dog likes fresh air.” —Mitt Romney in 2007, responding to criticism from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals following revelations that he had once put the family dog in a carrier and strapped it to the roof of his car during a 12-hour road trip

10. “I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that’s the America millions of Americans believe in. That’s the America I love.” –Mitt Romney

[cuban leaf]

Once I discovered (talking with Catholics here) that Catholicism teaches that Mary was perfect and that she NEVER had sex, I could no longer take Catholicism seriously.

And now that I’ve put that on the internet for everyone to see, it’s a good thing I don’t plan on running for political office.

[cuban leaf]

My apologies. I thought this was something he said in a political speech today.

There is a lot of blog pimping going on this last year. I’m learning now, more than ever, that I need to take the extra step. When I see something so inflamatory in an excerpt, I need to read the article and vet the source before posting anything.

This thread was just dumb. It’s the first time ever that blog pimping has actually bothered me.

[throwback]

Quite so. This speech was in ‘08 or something, but it's being resurrected now (”Just” lost the South), to pull off evangelical voters from Santorum. The characterizations of Santorum are pretty comical if you've ever actually seen his town hall meetings. He never discusses any of this stuff that they claim he discusses constantly. The media always baits him into it, and he has to just learn not to respond.

[circlecity]

"Mainline Protestantism — United Methodist, Episcopal, United Church of Christ, Presbyterian Church in the US, the Evangelical Lutherans, etc. — has by and large departed from anything recognizable as Christian orthodoxy."

Absolutely right and that's clear what Santorum was referring to. This Protestant agrees with him. The old mainline confessional denominations have gone to the dark side.

[silverleaf]

If you want to understand Church doctrine, then talk to a priest, a learned one, not “catholics here”

On the other hand if you want to find reasons to stay a protestant, then just stop and stay protestant

Don’t let little things like abortion waffling, allah embracing, abandoning Israel and and celebrating homosexuality stop you

[Terry Mross]

A third of the angels chose to follow satan and were kicked out of Heaven with him.

I wonder if those type pastors and those who follow obama aren’t in the same group.

[marron]

I’m not catholic, but I know exactly what Santorum is talking about, and most evangelicals and fundamentalists also know.

Yes, Santorum’s remarks would apply to about half of the catholic church as well. Since his remarks were in a speech at Ave Maria, he was talking to catholics who know that first hand.

The churches that have embraced gay marriage and the like aren’t going to be voting for Repubs in any case. Publicizing remarks about them, made in a religious setting, isn’t going to cost Santorum any support at all since most people know exactly what he is talking about.

Gingrich is my #1, and Santorum is my #2. I like Gingrich better but I’ll have no problem supporting Santorum if and when the time comes.

[Windflier]

He’s been talking like he was running for head preacher rather than president.

I think he's confused about which office he's running for, but voters sure aren't.

I can appreciate a man having a solid religious grounding in his life, but I feel that it's better for him to show that grounding in deed, rather than word (as Rick is doing).

Voters want to know how he intends to serve their political interests, and how he intends to lead the country from the position of president. Most aren't all that keen on being preached to by a politician. Especially one who's running for president.

[RinaseaofDs]

The unfortunate aspect of this is the truth of it. He’s not wrong. All one has to look at is the ELCA and Episcopalian churches to see that he isn’t.

He may not be the nominee, but he’ll sleep at night.

[cripplecreek]

yikes... Did that really happen?

yeah and it was on;y one in a series of things that drove her away. It really did break her heart but fortunately a British pastor and his wife started a new church just down the road. They call themselves non denominational but have a traditional bible centric view and don't try to appease in an attempt to fill pews.

While the Methodist and Baptist churches of my hometown have shrunk the new church has grown mostly due to middle age and elderly parishioners from the other churches. Naturally there's a threat of the new church dying with its aging population but the pastor told me that he doesn't concern himself with that. He told me that he puts his faith in God and younger people are starting to show up. I'm 30 miles away and I've specifically made the trip out there a couple of times partly to make my grandmother happy and partly because I like the message.

[cuban leaf]

—If you want to understand Church doctrine, then talk to a priest, a learned one, not “catholics here”

On the other hand if you want to find reasons to stay a protestant, then just stop and stay protestant

Don’t let little things like abortion waffling, allah embracing, abandoning Israel and and celebrating homosexuality stop you—

I am not protestant. I am not Catholic.

I am Christian.

I vetted the Mary stuff vigorously. It is what the Catholic church teaches.

[cripplecreek]

I wonder if those type pastors and those who follow obama aren’t in the same group.

Jim Wallis is a perfect example of a marxist masquerading as a Christian. All you have to do is take a quick look at his "Sojourners" magazine to see that he is anything but a Christian.

Sojourners: Celebrating 40 years of faith in action for social justice.

[Toespi]

“The media always baits him into it, and he has to just learn not to respond.”

So when can we count on him learning? Cause media aren’t going to go away after the primaries, in fact, it will be magnified by a 1000 once Obama gets into the mix. We have one shot at taking this country back and I am not going to waste a vote on someone that has to “learn” anything.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I’m not sure that trying to compare yourself to Andrew Breitbart, and just after he died an untimely death, is a wise move. Nor probably is pinging the site owner to speculate about whether someone “gave up on” his site.

Of course, I’m not sure that asking what three dead people would think about what Santorum said makes any sense either.

Or telling people not to format your post for easier reading because “you like how you posted it.” — you get to format your blog anyway you want, but what is posted here, anybody can requote it in any format they like, including in really little tiny letters if they think that is all it is worth.

[Mr Rogers]

I’m Southern Baptist, and his comments don’t bother me. But maybe Arizona Southern Baptists are different from the ones elsewhere.