I'm with you on the increasing polarization argument. But while it's simple the way it works itself out may be quite complicated. One illustration, just off the top of the head.
In my little central Texas town, the one in which I grew up, the Baptists were the biggest congregation in town (but not necessarily politically dominant--it shared that with the Methodists and Presbyterians). They were, of course, southern Baptists, which were a breed apart from the northern Baptists, a split which goes back, at least, to the civil war. However, they were, as you might expect for a church with a lot of town leadership, as staid as the other congregations. The only serious difference I was was they actually baptized in a bathtub like affair at the front of the church.
However, sometime after I left and before I returned for my 50th high school class anniversary, they split. An evangelical component left the town congregation and built a smaller church to the west of town. As I understand it, and folk were very unwilling to talk about it, which suggests the feelings were very raw--still, it was presented as largely a doctrinal split. But I'm not certain which.
My own guess, however, is that it was more likely a life style split. The folk who left became more evangelical, much less staid. The differences seemed to be class life style differences in the minds of the folk who stayed in town.
These divisions are much more about life style choices than doctrinal or political. |
