there is little point to espousing a mythology-based belief system and then not bother to follow most of its tenets. What is left, so to speak, is the Democratic Party platform; thats ok, but its not needed as the basis for a church. The relgions that do no stand by their founding texts and tenets will drift away to nothing and/or split apart (see Episcopal Church as an example). It starts to make you think that perhaps we dont need to waste our time on mythology anymore while supporting public health insurance; Odin might agree with you in this regard, but do not under any circumstance eat the meat of the sacred kangaroo!

Actually, nakiberu, I'm an atheist and an ex-catholic, so I'm not the least bit concerned about my standing with "God" or worries about salvation--I've been liberated from that. I offered a suggestion that would open up possibilities for Catholic Christians, who generally have a better take on the communal family spirit of Christ's teachings, to practice their religion in a more enlightened institutional structure than the one they are tethered to.

You, on the other hand, are living in a hell of your own making and seem to be beyond the reach of either God or man until you do some talking to yourself and root out the source of your anger...

What the liberal churches fail to realize is that there isn't much point in wasting your time on a church that isn't substantially different from what you can hear for free on Oprah.

Liberal churches will continue to fade away until they find something that makes them vibrant, different, challenging and exciting.

nakiberu,

Actually the synopsis of today's Christianity has been posted many times. And please note it is simply the reiteration of the conclusions of many of todays historical Jesus exegetes to include four who are panelists for the On Faith blog.

ccnl1:

You actually had time to post all that?? Get a life please! Another one who thinks he/she is the cat's whiskers, you guys are very well trained in the industry of clownery or clowness, I hope you are compensated to max. However, anyone who has been blessed by God with any kind of wisdom and intelligence couldn't be bothered reading all your drivel, I didn't even bother finish reading it, because frankly I have better things to do. Happy Clowning to you, Happy Clowning to you, Happy Clowning dear ccnl1, Happy Clowning to you!!

Why is membership in the UCC declining (as is the membership in or practice of all Christian denominations??

The "pew peasants" are becoming educated about the founders and foundations of their religions.

To wit: (only for those eyes that have not seen)

Jesus was an illiterate Jewish peasant/carpenter/simple preacher man who suffered from hallucinations and who has been characterized anywhere from the Messiah from Nazareth to a mythical character from mythical Nazareth to a mamzer from Nazareth (Professor Bruce Chilton, in his book Rabbi Jesus). Analyses of Jesus’ life by many contemporary NT scholars (e.g. Professors Crossan, Borg and Fredriksen, On Faith panelists) via the NT and related documents have concluded that only about 30% of Jesus' sayings and ways noted in the NT were authentic. The rest being embellishments (e.g. miracles)/hallucinations made/had by the NT authors to impress various Christian, Jewish and Pagan sects.

The 30% of the NT that is "authentic Jesus" like everything in life was borrowed/plagiarized and/or improved from those who came before. In Jesus' case, it was the ways and sayings of the Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Hittites, Canaanites, OT, John the Baptizer and possibly the ways and sayings of traveling Greek Cynics.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/theories.html

For added "pizzazz", Catholic/Christian theologians divided god the singularity into three persons and invented atonement as an added guilt trip for the "pew people" to go along with this trinity of overseers. By doing so, they made god the padre into god the "filicider".

Current crises:

Pedophiliac priests, atonement theology and original sin!!!!

Luther, Calvin, Joe Smith, Henry VIII, Wesley, Roger Williams, the Great “Babs” et al, founders of Christian-based religions or combination religions also suffered from the belief in/hallucinations of "pretty wingie thingie" visits and "prophecies" for profits analogous to the myths of Catholicism (resurrections, apparitions, ascensions and immaculate conceptions).

Current crises:

Adulterous preachers, "propheteering/ profiteering" evangelicals and atonement theology, all male hierarchies and strange banking and funding.

Analogous problems are rife in Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism and "Baha'ism".

razzl:
Roman Catholics who want to join the Satanic liberal churches are indeed welcome to do so, after all God created us with free will. All these Catholics would risk would be their salvation, not a bit thing to you liberal protestant "churches" after all you think you are bigger than God and know more than he does. You talk like as if you and others in the liberal churches knows for certain what God wants, only he can judge that. Liberals think they are the cat's whiskers, why don't you wait until you face God in judgement day, unless you think you can supersede his power to give and take life, found the fountain of youth have you razzl, good luck with that!

fr dwightcollins:

>if you want your members back...
stop supporting gay marriage and abortion...follow the true path of Christ...

In other words, only be the type of Christian that YOU are, right, dwight?

The best of all outcomes in America would be for the shrinking mainline Protestant "high" churches, such as the Episcopalians ("Anglicans") and Congregationalists ("UCC"), and others, now that they've at last arrived at a form of Christianity which acknowledges the best spirit of the religion (charity, toleration, social responsibility, compassion) to prepare to receive the masses of Roman Catholics who are deserting their unreformable church and looking for a modern alternative to the old patriarchal pagan Roman priesthood wrapped up in Christian clothing. One key to enabling former Catholics to feel free to break from the church and join one of the protestant liberal denominations is acknowledging past historical sins of the denominations (like the Episcopalian/Anglican guilt in Henry VIII's massacre of clergy or the the Congregationalist suppression of catholics in American history and overblown distaste for catholic traditions like art and ritual). Your average surviving Congregational or Episcopal church in any given New England town or city is a welcoming oasis that the majority catholic population in those towns secretly wishes they could escape to, but it feels too much like jumping into the arms of an enemy on account of the old doctrinal hostilities still embedded in Protestant theology and rhetoric. American catholics have outgrown the spiritual dictatorship of Rome and are ripe for what the liberal protestant denominations have to offer, if only a welcome mat were placed for them.

And if anyone thinks fine points of doctrine really matter to the average person wanting to practice Christianity then they just don't get it. Hopefully Rev. Black and others in the liberal Protestant churches do and are willing to let go of denominational doctrinal dogma for the greater good...

Geoffery Black...General Minister of the UCC. BIG DEAL. That is like saying "Hi, I am Mr. Black, the President of the 8-Track Tape Come-Back Club."

Tell us how many members you have lost in the last 20 years.....tell us.

You have got to be kidding! The UCC has been dying on the vine, losing members, RAPIDLY. While there are a handful of churches in "okay" condition, this church (denomination) is on the verge of extinction.

if you want your members back...
stop supporting gay marriage and abortion...
follow the true path of Christ...