Traditional biblical principles continue to fall like dominoes in what we call mainline Protestantism. Even though the shift from fundamentalism to modernism began in the 1920s, the big lurches to the left began in the ’50s when the United Methodist Church began to ordain women as pastors.
The dominoes tumbled with the introduction of liberation theology and the emphasis on the civil rights movement in the ’60s. Then, engagement with the gay-rights movement in the ’70s dropped another domino. In 2003, the Episcopal Church consecrated its first gay bishop, and the move leftward accelerated.
Denominational splits took place. The Presbyterian Church in America split from the Presbyterian Church (USA) over cultural and theological liberalism. The North American Lutheran Church spun off from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2009 when the ELCA decided to allow gay clergy. The Global Methodist Church separated from the United Methodist Church in 2024 over the UMC’s embrace of the LGBTQ+ lobby.
“Most mainline bodies now ordain LGBTQ+ clergy, affirm same-sex marriage, and emphasize progressive social teachings,” Grok told me as I was conducting my historical research. “Clergy surveys show strong liberal/Democratic self-identification (e.g., UCC 84%, PCUSA 70%).”
Flashback: The United Methodist Church Chooses the World Over Truth
What’s the next battle line in mainline Protestantism’s surrender to the culture? Look no further than the PCUSA’s latest discussions taking place this summer: monogamy vs. polyamory.
Religion News Service reported earlier this month:
A proposal that would require ordained clergy to be monogamous is on the docket at the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General Assembly this summer.
The overture, CON-10, has generated strong reactions online but not yet earned broad support from PCUSA groups. A separate asks for theological studies on gender and sexuality, life-giving relationships and the Christian vocation of family that would support the denomination’s commitment to inclusion of different familial realities. Together, these overtures show that as polyamory gains visibility in broader culture, it may have policy implications, especially in theologically progressive Christian denominations.
Naturally, the people most interested in having this discussion are the LGBTQ (and sometimes Y)-embracing clergy. One woman pastor (shocker) is weighing in.
“I think it is the next big conversation that most mainline denominations will have,” said Rev. Claudia Aguilar Rubalcava, director of engagement for the Rainbow Cult-loving nonprofit More Light Presbyterians.
“The board and staff of More Light Presbyterians released a statement last month, saying the proposal on monogamy targets queer communities,” Religion News Service explains. Poor babies.
“It centers a single model of relationship as the only faithful expression of Christian life, ignoring both the breadth of biblical witness and the lived realities of many faithful people,” the statement reads in part. “Scripture speaks richly about covenant, mutuality, justice, and love but does not prescribe one uniform relational structure across all contexts.”
The thing is that the scripture does have an order for relationships. It’s called marriage. In Matthew 19:4-6, Jesus answered the Pharisees’ question about divorce:
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Pretty clear, amirite?
Dr. Albert Mohler talked about the controversy on his podcast on Wednesday:
All right, so there has to be a story behind this, right? There has to be a story behind this, and at least from Presbyterian friends, I can tell you, and that’s conservative Presbyterian friends, I can tell you what I think the story is. And the story is that there are those in the Presbyterian Church (USA) who do not want to see the church allow polygamy, and they want to force a discussion and some kind of clarification now. And you know, this is a problem in liberal Protestantism, mainline Protestantism as it was known, and the fact is that almost all of these efforts come too late. They come too late because the door is wide open. The bull’s already left the barn. The cat’s already out of the bag. That’s just what is going to happen. I have to say it’s going to be very interesting to watch and see what happens.
I’m pretty sure that this is the next domino to fall. And after the PCUSA, other mainline denominations are sure to follow suit.
“Here is found the most fundamental difference between liberalism and Christianity —liberalism is altogether in the imperative mood, while Christianity begins with a triumphant indicative; liberalism appeals to man’s will, while Christianity announces, first, a gracious act of God,” J. Gresham Machen presciently wrote over 100 years ago. Mainline Protestantism is increasingly falling to the will of man, and it’s failing to seek the will of God.
Mainline Protestantism keeps finding new ways to negotiate with the culture instead of submitting to Scripture. Now the PCUSA is staring down a debate over monogamy, polyamory, and whether biblical marriage is just another outdated “relationship model.”
It is a mess, and it is not likely to stay confined to one denomination.
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