Yeah, but I was pinged to this article through a “Reformed” Baptist blog that I frequent. Agree or disagree with his assessment of the “impending changes” (i.e.- benefit to the Catholic and Orthodox communions) his analysis of the failings of the American Evangelical movement is just about spot-on, I think.
He’s pleased with the decline of “mainline” Protestant churches, and is extending and forecasting that same decline for Protestantism as a whole. “Mainline” churches are declining because they’re politically correct and spiritually dead, for the most part, unlike the vibrant, unorthodox evangelical Protestant churches that are growing by leaps and bounds.
Say what you will, but politically correct is not a term that can be honestly applied to the vast majority of evangelical churches, Rick Warren’s Saddleback and the like notwithstanding.
The term politically correct can be easily applied to Fr. Spenser’s church, though. Rather than gloat about perceived decline in a sect that he views as competing, he should be more concerned about tending to the salvation of souls.
Speaking of politically correct, just where is the growth of Catholicism in the US coming from? Illegal immigration? I note that the southwest has displaced New England, as far as numbers go. Cardinal Mahoney knows which side his bread is buttered on.
his analysis of the failings of the American Evangelical movement is just about spot-on, I think.
And not unusual.
Google on "moralistic therapeutic deism".
Everybody seems to be talking about that piece. I just saw the Pyromaniacs piece. I even saw it referenced in a libertarian/anarchocapitalist email list I follow, where a good fraction of the members would likely be rabid atheists.