Protestants | TLG Christian News

Churches in America—Part 2

06/07/2016 0 Comment

Mainline Protestantism as a whole is hemorrhaging.

Mainline Protestants

Mainline Protestants (those in the United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America [ELCA], Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church [U.S.A.], American Baptist Churches, United Church of Christ [UCC], and The Christian Church [Disciples of Christ]) have fared poorly in recent decades. While Christianity overall is not dying in America, Mainline Protestantism is getting closer. According to the GSS, 28% of Ameri..

Three cheers for missionaries

06/07/2016 0 Comment

Over at the Centre for Public Christianity, we’ve been doing a lot of research lately into some of the worst bits of Christian history. The Spanish Inquisition. Sectarian violence. Early-modern witch hunts, and torture techniques I didn’t know existed (see: “squassation”). The casualness with which Crusaders massacred peoples not remotely connected with their war aims.

The end result of such disheartening research will, I hope, be worth it: CPX..

300 denominations meet for ecumenical gathering in Munich

05/07/2016 0 Comment

German Cardinal Walter Kasper, who attended the ecumenical gathering in Munich

Some 1,700 Christians from around 300 denominations have met in Munich for a 'Together in Europe' gathering of the Ecumenical Congress promoting unity between Catholics, Protestants and Evangelicals.

In a meeting supported by Pope Francis and Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I, leaders of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, several Orthodox Churches, Protestant denominations and free evangelical..

Russia: Evangelicals pray, fast and lobby Putin as severe restrictions placed on evangelism

01/07/2016 0 Comment

Russia has been accused of backing the Russian Orthodox Church at the expense of evangelicals.

Russian evangelicals are praying, fasting and petitioning President Vladimir Putin after measures severely restricting their ability to evangelise and practise their faith were passed by the country's upper legislative house.

The measures are included in a package of anti-terrorism laws put forward by Deputy Irina Yarovaya and have now been passed by both houses, the Duma and the Federati..

Survey: Christians Say Predatory Loans Are Sinful

13/04/2016 0 Comment

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Self-identified Christians in 30 states—from Alabama to Wyoming—say it’s a sin to lend money to someone who can’t afford to pay it back.

Most want the government to protect consumers from loans with excessive interest. Still, 1 in 6 Christians has taken out a high-interest payday loan, while few of their fellow believers know how such loans work or look to the Bible for guidance about fair lending.

Those are among the findings of a new online survey of Christi..

Survey: Americans Say Christians Face Intolerance, but Complain Too Much

30/03/2016 0 Comment

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A growing number of Americans believe religious liberty is on the decline and that the nation’s Christians face growing intolerance.

They also say American Christians complain too much.

Those are among the findings of a new study of views about religious liberty from LifeWay Research. Researchers surveyed 1,000 Americans in September 2013 and September 2015 and then compared the results.

Two-thirds (63 percent) say Christians face increasing intolerance, up..

Is the Reformation Mostly Over?

26/10/2015 0 Comment

Today, nearly 500 years after the Protestant reformation, orthodox Protestants and Catholics are closer to each other than they perhaps have ever been. And this is as it should be. While they still have important differences about the primacy of Rome, the place of Mary, justification by faith, and the structure of the church, it is not uncommon on practical ethics issues for conservative Protestants and Catholics to be working alongside each other in the political trenches – and to view each other as allies in every possible sense of the term.

What has driven them closer together is the need for survival in the face of an aggressive and advancing secularism. Today faithful Christians of all kinds – Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox – are being urged by their secular counterparts to cast aside their antiquated beliefs about God and families, and instead to embrace new ideas about gender, marriage, human personhood, and God (i.e. God’s non-existence) that are more compatible with ‘conte..