Hacker News Reader

Comment by rel2thr | Hacker News Reader

its interesting to see catholic tick up a bit as protestantism continues to decline

Anecdotally in christian circles there is a sense that the liberal churches are in big big decline , like methodism , anglicism , other liberal protestants. But churches that are more conservative ( baptist non denom, latin mass catholic ) are growing ( especially amongst the young ).

View on HN

And within your increasingly left-leaning mainline protestants, you have constant splintering. The conservative Episcopals, where they didn't convert to Roman Catholicism as whole congregations, made ACNA, which itself is a loose association that refuses to decide important issues like the ordination of women. This leads to many interesting lawsuits, since the Eoiscopal church is obscenely wealthy and owns all the buildings.

The Lutherans have Missouri Synod and probably some others.

The United Methodist Church seems to be avoiding any formal gatherings so that they can delay their own upcoming split, too.

I was fascinated to learn , recently that the Puritans became Unitarians! Overtime the religion wandered a lot as each generation reinterpreted what they believed- and it went from being what we call 'puritanical' to a generally more progressive faith. You can go into some of the most liberal Unitarian churches in New England and the original pastor was an OG puritan.

That is fascinating, but unfortunately not so surprising.. When you're unmoored from a strong governing structure or tradition, I think it's unlikely to be any other way.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com