01: Although the United Methodist Church is often said to be on the verge of schism on the issue of homosexuality, a new study suggests that the denomination will stay together and that members are liberalizing their views on the subject.
The study, entitled Where the Spirit Leads (Abington Press, $15) by sociologist James Wood, surveys leaders and delegates at the church’s 1996 General Conference, as well as analyzes polls on attitudes to gay rights and homosexuality among United Methodists in general. Wood finds that although gay rights in the church — specifically the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of homosexuals — was reported to be the key issue at the General Conference, the majority of delegates viewed other concerns such as world unity, spirituality, worship, ecumenism as more pressing and important.
Yet Wood also found that that one-fourth of the U.S. delegates did feel strongly enough on the homosexual issue that they would leave the church if the opposing view prevailed.
Wood, however, doubts whether a serious split will come to pass. For one thing, the role of caucuses — or special interest groups — in the UM tends to institutionalize conflict, giving most members a voice in deliberations. Furthermore, it is the lay delegates themselves (they are more liberal than the clergy and superintendents in their general interpretation of the Bible) who have, over time, taken a more liberal view on homosexual issues, particularly the women, more educated, and younger ones — and a greater percentage of each will be delegates in the future.
Of those who have changed their minds on the issues at the conference, more than three-quarters shifted to more acceptance of homosexuals. Wood concludes that agreement to disagree on these issues will hold sway more than serious plans of a major schism, at least for the near future [The General Conference this summer will deliberate on the denominational dispute on the blessing of same-sex unions; see May `98 RW for more on this issue as well as a different view on the possibility of a United Methodist schism].
02: American Muslims are politically diverse, although many lean in a conservative direction on moral issues, according to a new poll.
The survey, conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and one of the most extensive of the American Muslim community, found that over half of the respondents (55 percent) believe abortion should be prohibited except to save the life of the mother. The Washington Times (Dec. 23) reports that the poll found that 35 percent identified themselves as politically conservative, 34 percent “politically independent,” and 16 percent liberals.
Overall, however, 41 percent of the 878 respondents surveyed said they are “more sympathetic” with the Democratic agenda. Muslim respondents were strongly for gun control (72 percent) and supported the government’s continued role in health care. One-fourth of those polled give George W. Bush and former Senator Bill Bradley their support, followed by Al Gore (15 percent) and John McCain (10 percent). The respondents also showed a 56 percent voting rate, which is 10 percent higher than the national average of voters. The largest number of responses to the survey came from the states of California, Virginia, Texas, Illinois, and Maryland.
03: The rate of front page news stories on religious subjects in newspapers has remained stagnant for a generation, reports a study conducted by the American Journalism Review.
RNA Extra (January/February), the newsletter of the Religion Newswriters Association, reports that the survey examined the evolution of religion news coverage (among other topics) by analyzing content in 10 mainstream dailies — Cleveland’s Plain Dealer, Fresno Bee, Houston Chronicle, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Macon Telegraph, Memphis’ Commercial Appeal, Richmond Times-Dispatch, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Topeka Capital-Journal, and the Wilmington News-Journal. Of the newspapers surveyed, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Richmond Times-Dispatch gave the most space to religion coverage.
Only in 1999 was that coverage more than one percent of all front page news. For instance, the St. Louis paper had four percent of its front page news about religion. Half of the newspapers analyzed decreased in front page religion stories during the 35-year period. The survey, however, noted that religion has gained readership in general as it has been integrated into general news coverage.
(RNA Extra, PO Box 2037, Westerville, OH 43086).
04: Successful church unions have been small in number and even when they take place there has been no increased dynamic toward evangelism and missions in the merged denominations.
These are a few of the trends surveyed by missions experts David Barrett and Todd Johnson in their latest annual statistical summary on global missions in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research (January). By the year 2000, there have only been 60 united or uniting denominations, with 70 million affiliated members. “Numerically they form a mere drop in the ocean of 1.9 billion church members worldwide today,” write Barrett and Johnson. They add that for every successful union, there are “ten abject failures.” These usually take the form of negotiations for mergers that after years of dialogue only break down and are never taken up again (such as with the Anglicans and Methodists in Britain during the 20th century).
This search for unity is rendered increasingly superfluous by the ever growing number of denominations in the world. In 1900, there were 1,880 distinct denominations in the world; as of 2000, the total is 33,800. While Protestantism continues to be the most fragmented, even the relatively unified tradition of Eastern Orthodoxy is experiencing this trend. Since the collapse of communism, “virtually every Orthodox country has suffered schisms and counterschisms.”
But the writers add that there may be some positive aspects to this fragmentation. “One is that it is far more difficult for totalitarian countries such as Communist regimes to make a dent in this massive global Christianity, no matter how much they may try to regulate, harass, suppress, or — the one-time goal of many regimes — liquidate it.”
(International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 490 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06511)
05: The recent English Church Attendance Survey finds a sharper decrease in attendance than in previous time periods, although the whole matter of going to church in the UK is becoming more complex.
The Quadrant (January), the newsletter of Christian Research, which conducted the survey, finds that 7.5 of the population of England were in church on an average Sunday. The survey, conducted among 12,400 churches, finds that the new figure is down from the 12 percent of the population who attended church on an average Sunday in 1979 and 10 percent in 1989, suggesting that the pace of decline may be accelerating.
But counting average church attendance is a tricky matter in today’s England. For the first time the survey asked ministers about the frequency of attendance in their parishes, finding that 16.2 percent of the population are in church at least once a year. This means that less frequent church attendance, rather than its cessation, accounts for one-third of the decline in regular church-going. Another new question asked whether churches are holding midweek services.
Forty two percent answered positively, likely increasing overall attendance figures.
(Quadrant, Vision Bldg., 4 Footscray Rd., Eltham, London, England SE9 2TZ)