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Religion

In reply to the discussion: Does America Need A Reformation? [View all]

The Velveteen Ocelot

(126,099 posts)
3. The Reformation dealt with corruption and "bad" theology in a single entity, the Catholic Church,
Sun Sep 23, 2018, 11:13 AM
Sep 2018

which in those days was the only church. A modern "reformation" would have to be political because the evangelical churches are pursuing political, not theological goals. At the core of Luther's protest was the church's practice of selling indulgences, contributions that would buy a ticket to Heaven, which Luther considered both corrupt (it was; Pope Leo X was collecting the money to rebuild St. Peter's in Rome) and heretical. He believed that one could attain salvation only through faith, not through works (i.e., indulgences). But eventually the Reformation resulted in many Protestant churches with no central hierarchy or even a consistent doctrine, so it would be difficult to aim any sort of reformation at any of them. On which church door are you going to nail your 95 theses?

In the last 40 years or so in the U.S., the evangelical churches have involved themselves in secular politics, with their primary focus anti-abortion and anti-LGBT legislation. But the only "theology" involved is a based on a vague but nevertheless intense belief that abortion and homosexuality are sinful, even though neither is mentioned anywhere in the Bible. Since we have a Constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion, the government has to leave these churches alone and let them preach their craziness. What is both necessary and possible is not a "reformation" of these churches but a steadfast resistance to their imposition of their beliefs, through legislation, on our secular society.

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