A Growing Divide

It wasn't too long ago that the Evangelical Movement was seen as a monolithic group - moving in lockstep on every doctrine and issue. Liberals & Fundamentalists beware, the Evangelicals were rising up. The Evangelicals were seen as a powerhouse because they were seen as unified and they could deliver large votes or sentiment in a single direction for or against an issue.

But the lines of fracture are being felt more and more. One of the very first lines centered around the Emergent/Emerging Church. To simplify the issues way more than called for, but it is a good generalization anyway, the E___ Church wanted to adopt more leftist social issues while maintaining an Evangelical perspective on spiritual matters. The biggest of these social issues has to do with the Green Movement (not the political party, the "care of the world").

Today, the NY Times published a story about the divisions among the Evangelicals over this issue. Some Evangelicals are upset and worried over the "capitulation" of other Evangelicals to this movement. An article simply would not be about Evangelicals if the term "false religion" were not included - and this is no exception. They are worried that some Evangelicals have jumped on the "green bandwagon" without really understanding the issues (or dangers) - they simply liked being associated with "friendly-to-the-earth" issues.

I fear that the various sides of this (and other politically left) issues will not resolve their differences and will eventually disrupt Churches and denominations. The resulting chasms will certainly end the monolithic-ness of the Evangelical Movement.

(There have been some fractures in the Environmental Movement as well. This is one result.)