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Highlands Today

Religous Remarks

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Dale L. Gillis

Published: December 9, 2007

In Raleigh Whiteman's column of Nov. 8, Democracy Not Always The Answer, he appears to slight democracy in the title. Actually, the column is about religion. Whiteman says there are over billion atheists and agnostics in the world, the wildest estimate I have ever heard.

According to Whiteman, "Nary a one of these 37 churches considers any of the others to be equal or valid." On the contrary, today the Roman Catholic Church considers a baptism in virtually any Protestant church to be valid. Although there are several sects of Eastern Orthodox, they all recognize the others as having valid Apostolic Succession. The Church of England practices InterOrdination with a sect called the Old Catholic Church.Bishops of either church are sometimes ordained by Bishops of both churches.

The Methodist Church split off the Church of England, but not because of differences in belief. John Wesley did not introduce new beliefs, he wanted a new emphasis on Bible study and to bring Christian services to the American frontier.

Whiteman says, "Martin Luther started the branching of Christian Churches." Has Whiteman heard of the split between Rome and the Eastern Orthodox, or earlier splits such as the Novatians and the Coptic Christians? Long before Martin Luther, the Catholic Church spent three hundred years suppressing a chain of churches run by an excommunicated branch of the Franciscans.

Besides having a negative view of religion, Whiteman gives the impression that Protestants are incurable schismatics. What is the truth? Since 1950, Protestants have merged denominations, reducing the number of long standing sects. Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Quakers have reduced denominational barriers, merging into fewer separate churches.

The Disciples of Christ, where I attend, came into being in 1971. However, the Disciples of Christ is not a split off of any other sect, but formed when hundreds of unaffiliated churches came together.

Dale L. Gillis
Sebring

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