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Post by LD no S on Mar 20, 2011 13:34:20 GMT -5
It's hard to find anything liberal in the Deep South, biglovejunkie!  I would think in my area, Methodists are the most liberal, mostly because they are, as rismeek mentioned, just happy you're there. LOL Back to the LDS/FLDS topic, though, I've personally never been to a church that demands quite so much from their members. I can certainly see how LDS women become depressed...they are not considered "whole" in and of themselves. They have to be attached to a man and will never be equal to that man or any other man. I'm way too outspoken to be a successful Mormon, mainstream or fundamentalist. not to mention all that pressure to "tithe" ... people can really suffer financially having to do that ... and if you don't, you are"persona non grata" in that church ... |
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Post by writerwannabe on Mar 20, 2011 14:38:58 GMT -5
Labels like Methodist or Baptist won't tell you very much. There are plenty of liberal Baptist and conservative Methodist churches out there. Penecostal and evangelical are similarly imprecise terms--by themselves they don't tell you what kind of church it is. The thing that matters is what the doctrine and regional authority for the particular church happens to be. I don't know much about Baptists, but as a lifelong Methodist I agree that individual Methodist churches (now officially called United Methodists) vary from church to church in regard to the conservative/liberal bent of the congregation in both matters of theology and politics. However, John Wesley, the Church of England priest who set out to reform the Church of England and without intending to started a new church, Methodist, was a strong advocate of social justice and vehemently opposed slavery which was the big issue of his day. Despite the fact that Wesley was opposed to slavery, some Methodist churches in the south did not integrate until the 1970s. Little slow to catch on. Today the official position of the United Methodist church is to refuse to ordain openly GLBT persons and to refuse marriage to same-sex persons. However, my congregation just voted to join the "reconciling" network, which is a group of congregations whose goal it is to change the official policies of the church towards GLBT folks. To me it's just sad when churches let their social biases get between believers and the spirit. What kind of church acts out its prejudice against people based on gender, sexual orientation, race, or (dis)ability? Human churches! Churches are just collections of people, and they can get really off track! Enough sermon. ;D |
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Post by rissmeek on Mar 20, 2011 14:52:07 GMT -5
It's hard to find anything liberal in the Deep South, biglovejunkie! I would think in my area, Methodists are the most liberal, mostly because they are, as rismeek mentioned, just happy you're there. LOL Back to the LDS/FLDS topic, though, I've personally never been to a church that demands quite so much from their members. I can certainly see how LDS women become depressed...they are not considered "whole" in and of themselves. They have to be attached to a man and will never be equal to that man or any other man. I'm way too outspoken to be a successful Mormon, mainstream or fundamentalist. I'm with you there! The thought that if I wasn't married I couldn't get into "the right heaven" would have never flown with me. I really figured I'd never marry. |
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Post by rissmeek on Mar 20, 2011 14:54:09 GMT -5
Labels like Methodist or Baptist won't tell you very much. There are plenty of liberal Baptist and conservative Methodist churches out there. Penecostal and evangelical are similarly imprecise terms--by themselves they don't tell you what kind of church it is. The thing that matters is what the doctrine and regional authority for the particular church happens to be. I don't know much about Baptists, but as a lifelong Methodist I agree that individual Methodist churches (now officially called United Methodists) vary from church to church in regard to the conservative/liberal bent of the congregation in both matters of theology and politics. However, John Wesley, the Church of England priest who set out to reform the Church of England and without intending to started a new church, Methodist, was a strong advocate of social justice and vehemently opposed slavery which was the big issue of his day. Despite the fact that Wesley was opposed to slavery, some Methodist churches in the south did not integrate until the 1970s. Little slow to catch on. Today the official position of the United Methodist church is to refuse to ordain openly GLBT persons and to refuse marriage to same-sex persons. However, my congregation just voted to join the "reconciling" network, which is a group of congregations whose goal it is to change the official policies of the church towards GLBT folks. To me it's just sad when churches let their social biases get between believers and the spirit. What kind of church acts out its prejudice against people based on gender, sexual orientation, race, or (dis)ability? Human churches! Churches are just collections of people, and they can get really off track! Enough sermon. ;D I haven't kept up with Methodist politics since I left the church, which was only because the median age of ours is 70. I figured by now they were allowing GLBT ministers. They've always been on the fore front of those kind of things. |
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Post by marigoldmama on Mar 20, 2011 15:15:15 GMT -5
I grew up fundamentalist baptist. I stayed that until I was about 5 years ago and was conservative Lutheran for a while. I'm floundering around now. I"ve actually been visiting the LDS.
I don't think I was the strictest of the strict Fundamentalist Baptist because I have a masters degree and that was never a problem or ever mentioned. I'm also in the NYC are so that might have something to do with it. The culture is not dominant here like it might be in the South or other parts of the country. That might be true of a lot of religions. When it's the dominant culture, things can get heavy. When you are the total minority, things are just different because there are so few of you, things slide a bit easier. Ya know? I think being LDS in Utah is very different that being LDS in Georgia or up North.
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Post by writerwannabe on Mar 20, 2011 15:41:15 GMT -5
I grew up fundamentalist baptist. I stayed that until I was about 5 years ago and was conservative Lutheran for a while. I'm floundering around now. I"ve actually been visiting the LDS. I don't think I was the strictest of the strict Fundamentalist Baptist because I have a masters degree and that was never a problem or ever mentioned. I'm also in the NYC are so that might have something to do with it. The culture is not dominant here like it might be in the South or other parts of the country. That might be true of a lot of religions. When it's the dominant culture, things can get heavy. When you are the total minority, things are just different because there are so few of you, things slide a bit easier. Ya know? I think being LDS in Utah is very different that being LDS in Georgia or up North. I think you are right about what happens when a religion dominates a culture. My in-laws were Irish Catholic in New England. I can totally see how the Catholic church was able to hide all those pedophile priests because no one ever questioned the church. Everyone was so invested in it, and every family had it's share of nuns and priests. However, I worked with a man who was a former Baptist to converted to LDS. There are not many LDS here (Texas). He loved his new church and told us a lot about it. I was shocked to see how it absolutely permeated everything about his life. Maybe that was convert zeal, though, and not the expectation the church put on him. Don't know. |
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Post by rissmeek on Mar 20, 2011 15:45:17 GMT -5
I grew up fundamentalist baptist. I stayed that until I was about 5 years ago and was conservative Lutheran for a while. I'm floundering around now. I"ve actually been visiting the LDS. I don't think I was the strictest of the strict Fundamentalist Baptist because I have a masters degree and that was never a problem or ever mentioned. I'm also in the NYC are so that might have something to do with it. The culture is not dominant here like it might be in the South or other parts of the country. That might be true of a lot of religions. When it's the dominant culture, things can get heavy. When you are the total minority, things are just different because there are so few of you, things slide a bit easier. Ya know? I think being LDS in Utah is very different that being LDS in Georgia or up North. I think our exposure to different denominations can influence us for a long time. I thought non-denominational churches were wacky for being loud, I mean they talked during the sermon, and for having it piped into the bathroom. (Ok I still find the bathroom part odd, I don't need the minister in my ear when I'm going to the bathroom.) Then when I moved away to college I ended up attending a non-denominational church that I just loved. I thought Methodist were too old and the Baptist in town too strict and stuffy. I've never bought into the fact that God cared if I was dressed to the nines from 1950 or if I was dressed comfortably. I'm also pretty sure that God could careless if I'm in a skirt and heels or if I'm in slacks and flats. I go to church to learn not to put on a fashion show. The church I was married in I loved to pieces. But when the minister passed away the politics that went on really burned me. I've been floundering since then. I've been thinking about finding an RLDS church and trying it out. The LDS that I was exposed to in college though are the main reason I'll never go to a LDS church. |
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I would think in my area, Methodists are the most liberal, mostly because they are, as rismeek mentioned, just happy you're there. LOL
