But then the violence got worse! Read history! Also, there was no Bible; there were many, and none were the same. The oldest surving Bible is only years old and is in Russia. No complete bible exist from earlier times! So, no one knows what earlier bibles said. He wrote the Bible as we know it! I could go on and on, but, no, the Catholic Church was not founded by a guy called Jesus. Will Knutsen.. I would love to know the full true history of the beginning of Christianity.
Wish I had a time machine! German-born Rev. Bishop Sunberg has earned a number of advanced degrees in religion, and honored with several honorary D.
Thw Church of the Nazarene International has grown to 29, local congregations with 29, pastors since This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Have a comment, a great photo or a religious site you'd like to nominate for the weekly spotlight?
We would love to hear from you. Email us at hkramer thecompletepilgrim. Howard has been writing about religious sites for the better part of the last decade, and The Complete Pilgrim is the culmination of years of his work and passion. Comments I think the reason there is so many churches is a lot harder to the wrong thing then the right thing. Good job Howard. Everything I know is in this article. What is your faith? There was even a temporary schism, known as the Western Schism, within the Catholic Church itself in , when two men, and eventually a third, claimed to be the true papal heir.
The division lasted almost 40 years, and by the time it was resolved in , the rivaling popes had significantly damaged the reputation of the papal office. Despite this handful of schisms, the Catholic Church successfully suppressed other potential Christian offshoots "partly by sustained persecution [including] actual military expeditions against some labelled heretics, but then also a new system of enquiries into people's beliefs, called inquisitions. With the backing of secular rulers, heretics might be burned at the stake or forced into denying their beliefs," MacCulloch told Live Science via email.
Related: What led to the emergence of monotheism? But after the Protestant Reformation in , the number of denominations really began to multiply. The Reformation — instigated by a number of events, most notably Martin Luther's 95 Theses — emphasized a personal faith. This movement was in reaction to the fact that interpretations of the Bible, grace spontaneously given love and mercy from God , the absolution of sins and entry into heaven were all mediated through priests in Catholicism.
Luther and his followers claimed that the Bible, not a church hierarchy, was the ultimate authority over all people, including priests and the pope, and that several ecclesiastical practices, such as granting indulgences paying the church money to be absolved of sins , were corrupt. As you can see here , they define a denomination as an organized Christian group within a specific country. So it is quite misleading to say that there are 40, denominations worldwide, if by that we mean that there are 40, organised bodies of Christians who are divided against each other.
The actual number of denominations is a far smaller number they count major ecclesiastical traditions worldwide, grouped into 6 ecclesiastico-cultural mega-blocs , and even across denominations there is significant partnership and unity. Denominations are human institutions, and while different denominations do often represent differences in certain doctrines or beliefs, the vast majority of Christian denominations are united in a common faith in Christ.
Christian unity does not require that we be a part of the same institution. Nor does Christian unity require that we agree on everything. While beliefs are absolutely important, what binds Christians together is our faith in Christ and our submission to Him.
Real Christian unity is a common faith in Christ, and it is not man-made, but God-made and God-given. And who is it that sanctifies us and calls us? God is the One who both sanctifies us in Christ, and the One who calls us to Himself. These churches tend to be evangelical or Pentecostal, and they may be independent of mainline Protestant denominations that are similar in name.
Because these churches probably constitute a significant but currently unknown percentage of the U. I queried each church that appeared in the top 10 list about the compatibility of their faith with evolutionary biology, and the results are below. The name of the church is followed by the number of weekly attendees and their position if known based on their reply or on known affiliations.
North Point Community Church Alpharetta, Georgia , 22,, Unknown e-mail indicating a broad acceptance of, and appreciation for, diversity. The above numbers are not included in Table 1. Some of these churches, such as those affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention Second Baptist, Saddleback or with Calvary Chapel Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale may have been included in the membership estimates of mainstream denominations given earlier.
There is also a lot of volatility in the membership of these large churches; the number 6 and 7 churches on the list did not make the top 10 in There are a number of important caveats that must be considered when comparing the data summarized in Table 1. First, as noted earlier, it is difficult to find accurate estimates of membership numbers for many religious groups and organizations. Some groups do not maintain membership figures, some use attendance figures, and some have no central governing body or headquarters.
Some denominations did not respond to my queries, and some websites and related documents I located appear to be old and might not reflect current thinking. Second, not all of the estimated 1, Christian denominations in the U. The sheer number of Christian groups means that there are likely to be some large groups not known to me and thus not represented here.
Denominations have come and gone over the years, especially in the U. Names have changed, groups have merged and split, and there is apparently no single source that tracks all of these changes, although several do a respectable job of maintaining lists of U.
Third, not all groups have a statement or position on what they believe as concerns science, faith, and evolution.
Some offer clear statements about their beliefs on this topic while others do not, and some offer statements that are slightly ambiguous. Fourth, many Christians in the U. This unknown but undoubtedly significant number of Christians probably is not represented in the membership counts of mainstream denominations, although some of them are see earlier. Such statements, if they exist, might not reflect the opinions of, and might not even be known by, the general membership of the group. I know Presbyterians who are creationists and Baptists who are not.
Table 1 is at best a generalization. Yet even with all of the above qualifications noted, it seems clear that acceptance of evolution as being compatible with faith is a majority, and not a minority, view among Christians as represented by their denominations , even in the United States. Even so, these numbers dispel the myth that it is all Christians, or even a clear majority, that are opposed to teaching evolution or feel that it is in conflict with their faith.
Perhaps this is not surprising. According to geneticist Dr. In fact, the majority of Christian seminaries do not teach a Biblical literalist creation.
In the United States and Canada, one tends to find Biblical literalist beliefs being promoted most strongly in small, independent denominations, where it is not uncommon for the leader to have little or no formal theological training.
The exception is the very large Southern Baptist Convention, a well-organized denomination with a very large membership that is against compatibility. These data could be helpful in teaching evolutionary biology by dispelling the myth that persons of faith, and specifically Christians in the United States, are opposed to it on religious grounds.
Beyond these figures, a more interesting and more telling statistic is that, within a denomination, it appears that at least in some cases it is the more theologically educated leaders pastoral staff who accept evolution, more so than the less educated members at large. Footnote 7 It would be interesting to see if this pattern holds true for the other mainstream Protestant denominations.
If so, it would allow the following, and rather strong, argument to be made: Among Christians, those who have received a deeper theological education are more likely to understand evolution as being compatible with their faith. In the absence of additional studies for other denominations, such a statement is currently premature, although I am also unaware of any data that would contradict it. For example, Gibbons , chart on p.
Other references e. Other sources for estimates of the number of Christians overall and within each denomination include: Time Almanac , p. Plattner, and Philip J. The June General Assembly of the UUA "…urges the Board of Trustees and President of the Association, member societies, and Unitarian Universalists in the United States to: … oppose efforts to compromise the integrity of public school teaching by the introduction of sectarian religious doctrines, such as "scientific creationism," and by exclusion of educational materials on sectarian grounds".
Additional statements from a wide variety of religious groups Christian and non-Christian that support the acceptance of evolutionary biology as being compatible with their faith can be found on the website of the National Center for Science Education www.
Religious bodies of the world with at least 1 million adherents; Accessed 26 January Accessed 4 January World Christian encyclopedia, 2nd edition: a comparative survey of churches and religions in the modern world. I: the world by countries: religionists, churches, ministries. New York: Oxford University Press; Curry A. Creationist beliefs persist in Europe.
Martin JW. The prism and the rainbow: a Christian explains why evolution is not a threat. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press;
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