A

ACRIMONY WITHIN MAINLINE PROTESTANTISM

Declining Membership

The 1980s marked the third consecutive decade of declining membership for America's top mainline Protestant churches. The United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ, and the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. all experienced decreases in membership. For the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. and the Episcopal Church the decline was 25 and 28 percent, respectively, between 1965 and 1989, while the United Methodists, the nation's second largest Protestant body, reported losses of 18 percent during that same period. The loss of membership was accompanied by severe decreases in revenue for some denominations. The National Council of Churches (NCC), the umbrella organization for mainline Protestant denominations, suffered great financial hardship in 1989 and was forced to eliminate four hundred staff positions. Mainline churches also faced decreasing enrollments in their programs; Sunday school programs, once a staple of Protestantism, for example, had declined 55 percent during the previous two decades. Missionary work abroad had also declined: in 1965 mainline churches had more than four thousand missionary workers, but by 1989 the number was down to slightly more than twelve hundred. With these losses, mainline churches found it difficult to remain the shapers of American values. Faced with this reality, mainline churches sought recommendations on how to stem the tide of losses, and several conferences were held and works written on the subject. Analysis showed a relationship between demographic trends and church membership. Protestant birthrates continued to decline in the 1980s, becoming lower than they had been since the 1960s. The loss of young adults in the churches had also greatly disrupted growth. In 1983, 24 percent of all Americans were young adults between eighteen and twenty-nine. The percentage of Protestants in that age group was also 24 percent. By 1987, however, the percentage of young adults in the United States rose to 29 percent, while the percentage of young Protestants dropped to 23 percent. While there were more young church members, the rate of growth in church membership lagged alarmingly behind the population growth. The mainline churches' inability to pass their traditions on to the next generation greatly reduced their chances for future growth. Other factors that contributed to the continuing decline of membership included the loss of the "baby boom" generation, increasing diversity of religions, and the churches' inability to tailor their spiritual messages to attract non-Protestants.

Inclusiveness

Mainline churches continued mission to promote social justice, create equality, and foster an atmosphere of inclusiveness. Trying to move the nation into a more progressive era, churches spoke out against perceived injustices in the United States and abroad. Internal reforms were also made as the churches tried to keep pace with the thinking of their memberships. Several mergers of churches occurred during the decade—the two biggest taking place in the Lutheran and Presbyterian denominations. Controversial issues such as racism, sexism, and homosexuality were confronted. Though they realized that some of their liberal positions were not fully supported by their congregations, the majority of mainline church officials felt it important not to bow down to the new conservative trends.

A Battle from Within

The long-standing conflicts between mainline churches and fundamentalist ones continued to take center stage. The two spheres had been at odds for almost a hundred years, and by the 1980s they were separated by more than their opposing views of Scripture. A host of economic, social, and educational factors had a great influence on whether potential members would affiliate themselves with the liberal Protestant mainline denominations or the more-conservative evangelical ones. The liberalism of mainline churches, such as the Unitarian-Universalists, Society of Friends (Quakers), United Methodists, and Episcopalians stemmed from a tradition of modernism, while more conservative sects, such as the Assemblies of God, Seventh-Day Adventists, and other evangelical churches, traced their roots to a fundamentalist background that stressed personal morals and adherence to the Bible over social activism. In poll after poll throughout the decade the most crucial factor that determined the side on which Americans fell on this issue was education. A survey in 1981, for example, showed that approximately half of college-educated Americans identified themselves as "religious liberals/' while only one person in seven among those who had only a grade-school education identified himself or herself in that way. The same pattern appeared when more- and less-educated respondents were asked how they viewed the Bible. A Gallup poll in the mid 1980s showed that 45 percent of those with less than a high school degree and 34 percent of those who had graduated from high school but had not attended college believed in a literal interpretation of the Bible, while those with a college education were much less apt to believe that the Bible is literally true. The gap between the educated and the uneducated has fueled much of the controversy between religious liberals and conservatives, as it represents a difference not only in religious beliefs but also in cultural attitudes.

The Southern Baptist Convention

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is the nation's largest Protestant denomination, with nearly 15 million members. With the election in 1981 of Baily Smith as president of the SBC, a new era of conservatism swept over the once-moderate sect. Smith, a strong conservative and fundamentalist, made belief in an "inerrant Bible" a litmus test for SBC members. He also stirred up controversy with several flagrant anti-Semitic remarks toward Jews and prayer. By 1983 Jimmy Draper, the new president of the SBC, attempted to move the denomination back toward the center by lowering the voices on the issue of biblical inerrancy and by reversing the support that the SBC had given President Ronald Reagan's policies in 1982. There was a massive conservative revolt in 1984, and Draper was ousted as president of SBC. Charles Stanley, a pastor and former director of the Moral Majority, became his replacement. Stanley wished to restructure the church and systematically weed out its liberal elements. One of Stanleys major policy changes was a resolution barring the further ordination of women. In 1986 another fundamentalist conservative, Adrian Rogers, was elected president of the SBC. His victory demonstrated that fundamentalism was now the dominant force in the SBC, as moderate to liberal members could do little to stop his election. By the end of the decade such members held little hope that the SBC would hold any place for them, and questions of a schism began to loom on the horizon.

Mormons in the Mainstream

The Mormon religion turned 150 years old in April 1980. This celebration was marked with much fanfare and some controversy. Becoming part of the mainstream had now exposed the Mormons to much outside criticism and ideas. By far the most prominent example of this was the excommunication of dissident feminist Sonia Johnson in 1979 for her views on the ERA. Her harsh treatment provoked strong responses within and without the Mormon community. On the theological front the church also faced great turbulence. In 1981 new historical documents were found that raised questions about the historical succession of Mormon authority. Mark W. Hofmann, a collector of rare Mormon documents, claimed to have discovered writings that showed that Joseph Smith III, son of Joseph Smith, the religion's founder, was to have been named the head of the Mormon Church in 1844 and not Brigham Young. The document caused some stir in the Mormon Church; yet it did not change any of the current power structure or heal the rift Utah Mormons had with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints based in Missouri. Worldwide Mormon membership passed the 5-million mark in 1982, and by 1984 the church attempted again to shed its image as a Christian cult by starting to associate more frequently with other Christian sects and by adding the subtitle "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" to the Book of Mormon. In 1985 the Mormons elected a new president, Ezra Taft Benson, a former cabinet official in the Eisenhower administration. Also that year the church was rocked in controversy as a letter was found indicating that the religion's first leader, Joseph Smith, had been part of a superstitious cult before founding the Mormons. By 1987 it was found that the letter concerning Smith and countless other Mormon documents were forged by Mark W. Hofmann, who later pled guilty to two counts of felony theft as well as to two counts of second-degree murder. By the end of the decade Mormon membership had surpassed the 7-million mark with the majority of membership residing in North America. The struggle to remain unique while gaining acceptance in the mainstream remained the denomination's greatest challenge.