Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Fault lines

Terry Mattingly, like the others at GetReligion, writes about the quality of religious news reporting. Today, at the end of a commentary, he reminds us of a test he thinks useful for any reporter writing about the controversies among Christians.
For several years now, I have argued that if mainstream reporters want to find the fault lines in Christian churches and denominations, all they need to do is ask these questions and then listen carefully to the answers:
  1. Are the biblical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus accurate? Did this event really happen?
  2. Is salvation found through Jesus Christ, alone? Was Jesus being literal when he said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)?
  3. Is sex outside of the Sacrament of Marriage a sin?
These questions remain relevant. Ask the Anglicans. Ask the Lutherans. Ask just about anyone, in fact.
Today, in the United States, the answers to those questions would pretty accurately sort the orthodox from the "mushy" and the theologically liberal.

As ELCA Lutherans meet. it would be interesting to know whether the opposing sides in their debate about gay clergy divide neatly on all three questions.

News flash! Mushy faith on the rise » GetReligion

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