Christianity

Christianity today

Not all people identified as Christians accept all, or even most, of the theological positions that their particular church mandates. Like the Jewish people, Christians in the West were greatly affected by The Enlightenment in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Perhaps the most significant change for them was total or effective separation of Church and State, thus ending the state-sponsored Christianity that existed in so many European countries. Now one could be a free member of society and disagree with one's church on various issues, and one could even be free to leave the church altogether. Millions did take these paths, becoming freethinkers and developing entirely new belief systems such as humanism, atheism, agnosticism, and deism; others created liberal wings of Protestant Christian theology, and the long-suppressed Unitarian trend in Christitianity became an acceptable choice for many. The Enlightenment had a much less profound impact on the Eastern Churches of Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy.

This gain in personal freedom came with a social price: the dissolution of the Christian community as an entity with civic legal authority. In the United States and Europe, many secularized Christians have long since stopped participating in traditional religious duties, attending churches only on a few particular days per year or not at all. Many of them recall having highly religious grandparents, but grew up in homes where Christian theology was no longer a priority. They have developed ambivalent feelings towards their religious duties. On the one hand they cling to their traditions for identity reasons; on the other hand, the influence of the secular Western mentality, the demands of daily life, and peer pressure tear them away from traditional Christianity. Marriage between Christians of different denominations, or between a Christian and a non-Christian, was once taboo, but has become commonplace.

There have been many responses to this phenomenon within the Christian community, including the development of literally thousands of Christian Protestant denominations, traditionalist[?] splinter groups of the Catholic Church that do not recognize the legitimacy of many reforms the Catholic Church has undertaken, and the growth of hundreds of fundamentalist groups that interpret the entire Bible in a literal fashion.

For the full history of Christianity, see the article so titled.

The Persecution of Christians, both in the past and today, is the subject of a separate entry.

References

See also: born again Christianity, history of Christianity, Christian eschatology, eschatology, the stories of Christianity, missions, missionary, History of Christian Missions, predestination, Great Schism, John 3:16

Main branches of Christianity today:

Catholicism -- Protestantism -- Eastern Orthodoxy -- Oriental Orthodoxy -- (see below for exceptions)

Eastern Orthodox Churches:

Russian Orthodox Church -- Greek Orthodox Church -- Serbian Orthdodox Church[?] -- Romanian Orthodox Church[?] -- Antiochian Orthodox Church[?] -- Orthodox Church in America

Oriental Orthodox Churches:

Coptic Church -- Armenian Orthodox Church

Protestant families of denominations

Presbyterian Church -- Reformed churches -- Anglican (Episcopal) Church -- Lutheran Church -- Baptist Church -- Methodist Church -- Pentecostal -- Brethren -- Seventh-day Adventist Church (see: Millerites) -- Disciples of Christ (see:Restoration Movement[?])

Protestant theologies:

Calvinism -- Arminianism -- Fundamentalist Christianity

Non-Protestant, non-Catholic Christianity:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- Community of Christ -- Jehovah's Witnesses -- Unification Church -- Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) -- Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Scientists) -- Sons Aumen Israel -- Unity Church -- Christadelphians -- Abyssinian Church

Unitarian Universalism is not a creedal religion, and espouses no official spiritual beliefs. Unitarian Universalists see themselves as a liberal religious community where people of differing beliefs share with each other and learn from each other. Before the 20th century, the church was much more Christian, but it has become increasingly diverse. About 10% of their members claim to be Christian.

Ancient (largely extinct) Christian groups, also called heresies:

Adoptionism -- Albigensians -- Apollinarism -- Arianism -- Cathars -- Celtic Christianity -- Docetism -- Donatism -- Lollardy -- Mandaeans -- Manicheanism -- Monarchianism -- Montanism -- Nestorianism -- Patripassianism -- Pelagianism -- Priscillianism -- Psilanthropism -- Sabellianism -- Waldensians

Links to integrate with the above (taken from religion): Lutheranism -- Presbyterianism -- Evangelicalism -- Church of Christ[?] -- Charismatics[?] and many more.

In classical[?] times, Gnosticism exchanged ideas and symbolism with Christianity.

==Persecution

According to different sources ca. 200 000 - 500 000 Christians die every year due to persecution.

A summary of Christian views of homosexuality is available..

Relevant books: The Rise of Christianity (book by Rodney Stark)

See also: Christian Symbolism, List of Christians