The Bright Future of Liberal Religion

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-eric-h-yoffie/liberal-religion-_b_4005537.html\

Lecturer, writer, and President Emeritus, Union for Reform Judaism
RABBI ERIC H. YOFFIE

Posted: 09/29/2013 10:18 am

I am filled with optimism about the future of liberal religion in America.

It is not fashionable to hold this view. In both the Jewish and the Christian world, conventional wisdom affirms that the liberal religious groupings are in crisis: Their numbers are falling, their institutions are in decline, their birthrates are low, etc.

Don't believe it. Heaven knows that there are multiple problems that afflict liberal denominations of all faiths--although one should not think for a moment that all is well on the more traditional side of the religious spectrum. But at a time when religion is flourishing in America--for proof, read "God is Alive and Well," by Gallup Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport (2012)--and religious institutions of all kinds are buffeted by turmoil and change, the liberal religious world is generally responding to the difficulties it faces with typical American inventiveness. What we are seeing in liberal religious circles is not collapse but creative rethinking and a good deal of dynamism, along with openness to new ways of affirming liberal religious values.

I suggest that there are 5 very specific reasons to believe that prospects are good for liberal religion in America.

more at link

[pinto]

1. The Rabbi makes 5 good points. Especially on the growth of social justice issues in religion.

What he overlooks, though, is also the growth in "common interests" among the religious and secular components in our societies. Religions are bureaucratic and change can be a real slog like in any organization. Yet the cooperation that crops up can only help further a more liberal religious presence. Even if the change comes from the ground up - which is likely.

[cbayer]

2. Agree about the common interests.

Increasing numbers of interfaith groups and groups that include believers and non-believers who share common goals have the potential to be quite powerful.

I am quite hopeful.