[Dialogue] Church Split in Virginia

[FacilitationFla at aol.com]

Interesting From Andrew Sullivan, "The Daily Dish" a very thoughtful  writer: 
 _http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/_ (http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/) 
 
Here's a fascinating _piece  of context_ 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/03/AR2007010301952.html)  for the decision of at 
least two Virginia Episcopalian  congregations to seek inclusion in a much more 
conservative, Nigerian diocese.  The shift was not driven so much by politics; 
and it wasn't sudden. In some  ways, it was the inevitable consequence of a 
thirty-year process whereby modern  evangelicalism and pentecostalism came to 
dominate a previously more  traditionally Episcopalian church. Money quote:
 
 
At least two-thirds of the worshipers [at Falls Church] are Methodists,  
Presbyterians or Baptists, and there is no pressure on them to be confirmed as  
Episcopalians, said the Rev. Rick Wright, associate rector. 
Wright said the diverse membership of both congregations illustrates one of  
the great changes in American religion of the past half-century: The divisions 
 between denominations are far less important today than the divisions within 
 denominations. 
"I tend to feel very comfortable rubbing shoulders with folks at McLean  
Bible or Columbia Baptist ... that are real orthodox, evangelical, biblical  
churches," said Truro's chief warden, or lay leader, Jim Oakes, referring to  two 
Northern Virginia megachurches. "We share core beliefs. I think I would be  
more comfortable with them than with anyone I might run into at an Episcopal  
Diocesan Council meeting."
They key divide in faith today is between fundamentalists and  
non-fundamentalists. The divide exists within most churches, including the lay  Catholic 
population. As fundamentalism advances, the clash between the two may  become so 
severe in the U.S. that more and more American churches will tilt to  the 
developing world for leadership and clout. The orthodox Catholic hierarchy  would 
have no future without reinforcements from Africa and Asia. And  charismatic 
pentecostalists, with socially conservative politics, are going to  find their 
worldview far better represented in Nairobi than New York.  
But you also see in this story a shift from a traditional, ritual-based,  
small-c conservative form of faith toward a radical, modern, individualistic  
brand of fundamentalism. This is the strain within Islam as well. The Wahhabists  
- with their contempt for tradition, custom, conventional authority, and 
ritual  echo the modern mega-churches of evangelical Christianity. Both strains 
hark  back to the ideal of an original, pure faith - and deploy modern 
technology to  advance it. They also more crudely but effectively answer the sense of 
personal  loss and fear of "moral entropy" that tends to occur in periods of 
rapid  economic and social change. They have the momentum. Whether they have the 
answer  is another question. 

Cynthia N.  Vance
Strategics International Inc.
8245 SW 116 Terrace
Miami, Florida,  33156
305-378-1327; fax 305-378-9178
_http://members.aol.com/facilitationfla_ 
(http://members.aol.com/facilitationfla) 

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