March 12, 2005

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER'S:

An unlikely alliance of faiths - over science, of all things (LANE LAMBERT and TOM BENNER, 3/12/05, Patriot Ledger)

They still disagree over the virgin birth and the power of the holy spirit. But when it comes to identifying what's wrong in this state, Catholics and evangelicals are preaching from the same page of the Bible.

The unlikely duo, which teamed up last year to lead the charge against gay marriage and before that abortion, is once again joining forces to fight stem cell research.

Leaders of both groups are rallying the opposition as legislative leaders plan to vote later this month on a bill legalizing embryonic stem cell research.

‘‘Traditionally these two groups never agreed on anything,'' said Boston College historian Thomas O'Connor, referring to Irish-Catholic Democrats in Boston and New England Brahmin Protestants who were primarily Republican.

Those divisions have dissolved, to the point where Catholics and conservative Protestants now hold the same views on issues ranging from Internet pornography to presidential politics, according to O'Connor, a Braintree resident.

‘‘What you (had) in the recent election was this joining of right-wing Catholics with right-wing Protestants, in terms of their agreement on abortion and right to life, and more recently gay marriage,'' O'Connor said.


I forget who first observed this, but the divide between religions in America is no longer particularly significant, especially as compared to the divide between the religious generally and the irreligious.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 12, 2005 5:12 PM
Comments

I think it was you. And we are all richer for it.

Posted by: Peter B at March 12, 2005 5:54 PM

I've mentioned before that when various attacks by "dissident" Catholics are made against the Church hierarchy (meaning the Pope) on issues such as married priests, gay priests, abortion, etc it seems the visceral reaction of conservative Protestant Churchs is to defend the Pope.

On the issue of married priests, you would think they would obviously support the "dissidents" (or protesting group). Maybe it's just an ornery knee jerk reaction.

Posted by: h-man at March 12, 2005 5:59 PM

"They still disagree over the virgin birth..."
Wait a minutes...do Protestants not believe in Immaculate Conception?

Posted by: Governor Breck at March 12, 2005 6:12 PM

Governor, generally not. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception refers to the Virgin Mary being conceived without sin and leading a sinless life; evangelical Protestants generally don't believe that, Catholics do. Evangelicals and orthodox Catholics generally do agree that Jesus was conceived without human agency and that the Virgin Mary was a virgin before, during and after giving birth to Jesus.

Posted by: Random Lawyer at March 12, 2005 7:30 PM

Only Christ could live a sinless life. The whole Marian thing is way too Jewish.

Posted by: oj at March 12, 2005 7:43 PM

Wha... huh? Hey, we were just over here minding our own business. Don't try to drag us into this.

(But I take it you're having second thoughts about converting?)

Posted by: David Cohen at March 12, 2005 8:27 PM

Nah, just making the observation.

Posted by: oj at March 12, 2005 10:56 PM

"The whole Marian thing is way too Jewish."

It was purely Middle Eastern paganism.

Posted by: Robert Schwartz at March 12, 2005 11:29 PM

If Jesus was the Word, Mary had to be immaculate. Even Luther understood this.

Posted by: Palmcroft at March 13, 2005 6:43 AM

I always thought that Virgin Mary nonsense was from some cult of Demeter or Ceres. It has no basis in Judaism. We've caused enough trouble, we don't have to be blamed for other stuff.

Posted by: Bart at March 13, 2005 8:37 AM

Bart:

It's all about mothers.

Posted by: oj at March 13, 2005 8:44 AM

Random Lawyer, thanks for clearing that up. Somewhere in the afterlife Mrs. Camarco (my old CCD teacher) is plenty annoyed at me for not remembering that.

Posted by: Governor Breck at March 13, 2005 10:00 AM

So the Virgin Mary is nonsense, but the Trinity and the Resurrection make total sense? On what basis do mortals judge what makes sense in the divine realm?

Posted by: Robert Duquette at March 15, 2005 1:16 PM

She was a virgin, just not sinless. To be sinless is to be not human.

Posted by: oj at March 15, 2005 2:15 PM

Not all Christians agree with either part of your propositions; either that Catholics are Christians, or that there is no real difference among sects.

That most Christians are more or less tolerant of other Christians is true for the United States (though of few other places); but there are large fractions of Christians who would say Orrin's statement is, literally, devilish.

Posted by: Harry Eagar at March 15, 2005 5:02 PM

So what? Not all anythings agree about anything.

Posted by: oj at March 15, 2005 5:14 PM
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