Author: Karro (---.cybergnostic.com)
Date: 04-07-2005 12:49
I'm not sure it's all that hard to find a real-life example of mainstream American Protestants uniting together against a religious idea they considered heretical. In fact, I can think of one easily off hand, mainly because I'm a member of the younger "Religion X" in question--the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or more commonly the Mormons. I've seen the church mentioned before on this board, though it's been a while.
The initial ideas that the Protestants of the Reformation in America (circa 1830) found so heretical was that (a) Heavenly Father (aka "God") and Jesus Christ were two separate and distinct beings and (b) that the two of them would together deign to appear in a vision to a 14-year old boy [as though similar occurences had never occurred in the Bible]. The 14-year-old boy here, Joseph Smith, was spurned by the religious leaders of his community for his claims, eventually went on to receive further visitations and revelations from heaven regarding the nature of the church he was to establish. There were points early in the church's history that the animosity of those where the church was established was so great that they felt the need to kill prominent church members (and in one case, any Mormon was made subject to an official "Extermination Order" issued by a state governor.)
And still today, despite having about 12 million members (see the church's Statistical Report: http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/2004.htm/ensign%20may%202004.htm/statistical%20report%202003.htm?fn=document-frameset.htm$f=templates$3.0 ) we are still considered a fringe Christian Church with ideas that at least border on the heretical in their eyes (even though few of our doctrines--I daresay none of them--are not held as tenets by at least one other non-heretical christian denomination or were not held by earlier (pre-Nicean) christians).
But steppin off my soap-box, I just thought it would be interesting to point out a real-world example. But not to steal Bill's Thunder, because the Church of Superman certainly sounds cooler as a game-idea. I'm a die-hard member of my church, but our leaders don't wear a capes or fly ;)
|
|
