Mainline Protestant
[13] Some have criticized the term mainline for its alleged White Anglo-Saxon Protestant ethnocentric and elitist assumptions, and its erroneous association with the term "mainstream" since it almost exclusively described White American, non-fundamentalist and non-evangelical Protestant Americans from its origin to the late twentieth century.
[7][8][4][6] The term mainstream Christian in academic usage is not equivalent to mainline Protestant and is often used as an attempt to find impartial sociological vocabulary in distinguishing orthodoxy and heresy.
Mainline Protestantism should not be confused with Nicene Christianity which is more widely accepted as having the "mainstream Christianity" designation that also includes Catholics, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox believers, and non-Mainline Protestants such as Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Charismatic, Confessional, Confessing Movement, the historically Black church, and Global South Protestants.
[15][16] The largest mainline churches are sometimes referred to as the "Seven Sisters of American Protestantism,"[17] a term apparently coined by William Hutchison.
"[61] Though not listed as mainline in either the Association of Religion Data Archives or the Pew Research classifications, two groups also appeal to this label.
Richard Hutcheson Jr., chairman of the Office of Review and Evaluation of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, observed that clergy candidates were more likely to be rejected due to "excessive narrowness" than for violating confessional standards.
In practice, mainline churches tend to be theologically moderate and influenced by higher criticism, an approach used by scholars to separate the Bible's earliest historical elements from perceived later additions and intentional distortions.
Mainline denominations generally teach that the Bible is God's Word in function, but that it must be interpreted both through the lens of the cultures in which it was originally written, and examined using God-given reason.
[89][90] Regarding human sexuality, TEC, the ELCA, PC(USA), Society of Friends (Quaker), UUA, and UCC recognize same-sex marriages.
[95] The American Baptist Churches USA does not perform same-gender marriages, but allows each congregation the freedom to decide for itself.
[100] Some congregations of the Church of the Brethren have also voted to perform same-gender marriages although the national denomination opposes this practice.
At the 2016 General Conference for the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historically Black denomination but also identified as mainline, Hillary Clinton was invited to offer an address for the delegates and clergy.
[103] The term "mainline" once implied a certain numerical majority or dominant presence in mainstream society, but that is no longer the case.
"[111] Age demographics cannot be overlooked as a real factor in congregational decline, with the birthrate for mainline Protestants well below what is needed to maintain membership numbers.
Many older Protestant churches lived a vibrant lifetime and continue to evidence vital ministry and faith regardless of declining populations or birthrates.
For example, giving and engagement with need and justice, both indicators of strong Christian faith, have increased despite the aging and loss of congregational members.
[114][115][116] Demographers Hout, Greeley, and Wilde have attributed the long-term decline in mainline membership and the concomitant growth in the conservative Protestant denominations to four basic causes: birth rates; switching to conservative denominations; departure from Protestantism to "no religion" (i.e. secularization); and conversions from non-Protestant sources.
Despite speculation to the contrary, Hout, Greeley, and Wilde argue that switching from a mainline to a conservative denomination is not important in accounting for the trend, because it is fairly constant over the decades.
[106] Their analysis gives no support for the notion that theological or social conservatism or liberalism has much impact on long-term growth trends.
The largest and most influential Protestant denominations in Britain's Thirteen Colonies were the Anglicans (after the American Revolution called Episcopalians) and the Congregationalists (from which the Unitarians would later split).
[119] It was, according to historian Jason Lantzer, "the emerging evangelical movement that would help forge the Seven Sisters and which provides a core to the wide variety of theological and doctrinal differences, shaping them into a more coherent whole.
Efforts to improve the rights of women, reforming prisons, establishing free public schools, prohibiting alcohol, and (in the North) abolishing slavery were promoted by mainline churches.
As the practice of historical criticism spread to the United States, conflict over biblical inspiration erupted within Protestant churches.
[123] The Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy of the 1920s widened the division between evangelical and non-evangelical Protestants as the two sides fought for control over the mainline denominations.
[123] Episcopalians and Presbyterian WASPs tend to be considerably wealthier[124] and better educated than most other religious groups in America,[125] and are disproportionately represented in the upper reaches of American business,[126] law and politics, and for many years were especially dominant in the Republican Party.
[130][131] In 2014, Pew Research completed and published the Religious Landscape Survey in which it was estimated that 14.7% of Americans identified as mainline Protestant, excluding historically Black and African American denominations, while 25.4% identified as evangelical Protestants, also excluding membership in historically Black denominations.
[136] Marsden argues that in the 1950s, "Mainline Protestant leaders were part of the liberal-moderate cultural mainstream, and their leading spokespersons were respected participants in the national conversation.
[138] Episcopalians and Presbyterians also tend to be considerably wealthier[140] and better educated than most other religious groups,[141] and they were disproportionately represented in the upper reaches of US business and law until the 1950s.
[126] In the 1990s four of the US Supreme Court Justices were Mainline Protestants: Sandra Day O'Connor, John Paul Stevens, William Rehnquist and David Souter.
