A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

validity is not very intense at this very point. Other
sectarian groups would consider this point very vital
to the question of baptism’s validity.
As of 1999, the WCC consisted of 339 Protestant and
Orthodox organizations, with a total constituency of
about 500 million, or 25 percent of the almost 2 billion
professing Christians worldwide. The remainder are
mostly Roman Catholics and Pentecostals. 218 The NCCC
had 35 denominations with 52 million constituents. 219
Liberal Trends
By century’s end, liberal ideas about the infallibility of
the Bible and other essential doctrines dominated most
mainline Protestant denominations, including the
Presbyterians and Reformed, Lutherans, Methodists,
United Church of Christ, Episcopalians, Anglicans,
United Church of Canada, and some Baptists. In the
United States, the two major exceptions are the Southern
Baptist Convention and the Lutheran Church–Missouri
Synod. There are some conservative organizations in the
denominational groupings we have mentioned, and even
in the liberal organizations there are significant conservative
minorities.
A survey of 10,000 Protestant ministers by sociologist
Jeffrey Hadden indicated the extent of liberal thinking
among mainline Protestant clergy in 1982. He obtained
the following results from 7,441 who responded: 220
Jesus born of a virgin?
60% of Methodists said no
49% of Presbyterians said no
Liberalism and Neo-Orthodoxy
195