Anyone still puzzled by the drastic drop in the number of Americans who count themselves

[Atticus]

as members of a traditional conservative protestant religious denomination need only consider this: Mike Huckabee is an ordained Baptist minister.

Is it really difficult to understand why people do not want to be associated with groups that reward mean-spirited hypocrisy with leadership positions?

[Jose Garcia]

1. Huckabee is with the Southern Baptist Convention

That is considered an Evangelical denomination, not a Mainline denomination.

[Lars39]

3. Yes, as much as they like to insist they're mainline, they're not.

[localroger]

6. SBC is as mainline as Republicans are conservative

When I was growing up in the 1970's (raised SBC) the SBC churches were reasonably conventional, but with the installation of Reagan they started to drift rapidly toward crazyville, gradually purging those members and ministers who resisted. Considering them mainline is a matter of tradition but their current practices are definitely more in line with other Evangelicals.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

8. Not sure how it is now but I'm sure about how it used to be.

All the old-fashioned Baptist churches in the South were under the umbrella of the Southern Baptist Convention and those churches were in no way like current-day evangelical churches.

Back then, evangelicals, holy rollers and snake handlers were complete outliers relative to the vast majority of Baptist churches and I think in fact, many of those odd-balls had their own national organizations not affiliated with the SBC.

Of course, back in my days in that area, almost everyone voted Democrat but that's changed drastically.

KY.......

[Turbineguy]

9. That was also before the so-called "Lunatic Fringe"

became the mainstream republican party.

[jmowreader]

18. Snake handling is its own religion

It’s either Church of God with Signs Following or Church of Lord Jesus with Signs Following. It comes from the Book of Mark. They handle venomous snakes, drink poison, speak in tongues...they also practice faith healing, which works well after you’ve been chewed on by a water moccasin.

[captain queeg]

21. I thought speaking in tongues was a Pentecostal thing?

My mom said that the “holy rollers” spoke in tongues and rolled around on the floor in some kind of religious fervor.

[jmowreader]

22. There are many churches that speak in tongues

Snake handling is a different story. Every state with snake handlers has banned it, so it’s really hush-hush.

As an aside, during the height of the pandemic a lot of Republican Christians were screaming about how hostile the state was to religion. I can just imagine what the Signs Following, Eastern Coptic and Rasta populations, all of which have had huge parts of their faith outlawed, thought of this minor impediment.

[Traildogbob]

14. Huckabee

Is a snake handler, speaks in “Forked” tongues. All the trump followers let the orange toxic serpent bite them. The vile toxin will take them all down. No amount of tambourine beating will save them. Trump toxin kills everything it touches. Fox has been beating the hell out of the tambourines and talking in forked tongues non stop. Only anti venom will save them. It is blue.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. The so-called "mainstream" denominations are all over the place,

both politically and theologically. The Southern Baptists and many other denominations are resolutely conservative in their theology and their politics, while others - ELCA Lutherans, Episcopalians, Unitarians and the UCC - tend to be quite liberal and supportive of causes like gay marriage, women's reproductive rights and lately, BLM. The Episcopal cathedral in my city lit up its tower in rainbow lights when the state's same-sex marriage law passed, and they've been on the front lines of the pro-protest movement. The Episcopal Bishop of DC strongly denounced Trump after he did his Bible stunt in front of their church. Don't paint with too broad a brush; some of these churches are valuable and powerful allies.

[Atticus]

5. Your point is well taken. I have edited my OP to use a "narrower brush". nt

[stopdiggin]

10. you're absolutely right.

there are real allies out there .. please don't shut them down, or try to shoulder them out.

And this coming from a voice that is particularly cast iron (almost dogmatic) on "separation of .." But also remember who was there and doing a lot of the foot soldiering on immigration, gender inclusion, domestic violence .. and now the BLM/police brutality front.

[BrightKnight]

16. North Texas faith leaders stand in front of their own houses of worship

They actually appear to be remarkably close to the same place regarding standing in front with sacred text.

It is worth reading the reactions from the Dallas Morning News.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/06/07/n-texas-faith-leaders-pose-in-front-of-their-own-houses-of-worship/?outputType=amp/

“On Monday, local and military police used tear gas and flash bangs to drive people out of Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., clearing the way for President Donald Trump to walk to St. John’s Church to have his picture taken holding a Bible.

We asked some North Texas religious leaders to stand in front of their houses of worship with their own sacred texts and to highlight the passages they want others to read. These leaders are occasional contributors to our ongoing opinion commentary on faith, called Living Our Faith.“

“Pastor George Mason at Wilshire Baptist Church on Wednesday, June 3, 2020 in Dallas. Romans 13 -10: Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. (Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)”

“The Rev. Maggie Proshek (left) Rev. Blair Thompson-White, and Rev. Cathy Sweeney at Arapaho United Methodist Church on Wednesday, June 3, 2020 in Richardson, Texas. 1 John 4:18-21: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.(Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)”

[Karadeniz]

20. Thanks for sharing...interesting.

[Loki Liesmith]

4. Mike Huckabee is not a mainline Protestant minister

He attended divinity school at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
The only Baptist denomination associated with mainline Protestantism is American Baptist Churches, USA. It is more socially liberal than the Southern Baptist Convention.

[Atticus]

7. It seems that there are so many different "true faiths" which call themselves "Baptists"

that at some point one has to wonder if any of them stand for anything. As to which is "mainline" and which is "evangelical", I'll just quote Donald's third wife: "I don't care, do you?"

[safeinOhio]

11. Only problem with SBC is that

they didn't hold them under water long enough.

[dalton99a]

17. +1

[TryLogic]

19. Ha. Good one. Although that would include a bunch of my relatives, my parents, etc.

Several years ago I read a book that classified various denominations as fundamentalist, conservative, ... liberal-ish, liberal - not sure what the less conservative categories were because I was in shock to find out that my religious heritage (southern baptist) was more extreme than "conservative". It took awhile, but I eventually escaped most of that mental programming. But, it did do some damage, especially in the area of decision making.

Religious persons are dangerous because if they decide their dear leader is a man of God, that person can do no wrong. Or, if a certain despicable, immoral, criminal became president, it must have been God's plan. So, he gets their full support (not likely to be a she, of course).

In addition to certain industry groups, people like Karl Rove figured it out and made effective use of it. Republicans have been doing ever since.

It is not the United States of America that needs to fade into a has-been, it is religious nonsense that needs to fade to a status similar to Greek Mythology.

My apologies to those who are still believers. As people sometimes say, this is not personal.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

12. There's a big problem with all religions.

[Warpy]

13. Part of it is demographics, the young just aren't buying it

and part of it is the continuing decrease in Millennial Fever. Oh, some of it will be back around the 2090s, some people get squirrely when the calendar changes, especially if they're religious, but it won't be nearly as severe as the religious lunacy of Falwell, Roberts, Robertson, Swaggart, Bakker, and the rest of the bad lot.

Not only is it a mean spirited turnoff to the young, they've noticed that the only people prosperity theology ever really worked for were the preachers, they got prosperous at every body else's expense.

[PurgedVoter]

15. The Southern Baptist Convention was created to support Slavery

I was baptized in a Southern Baptist church. It had a large active youth community, great potlucks and lots to do. As I got older I was invited into hear the talk behind closed doors. People would look around to see who might overhear and then the conversations and jokes would begin.
While trying to conceal their origin and gloss over their historic support for treason and hate, they spent more time spreading their racist propaganda than preaching the word. Hiding the misbehavior of choir directors and youth ministers was done quietly and easily. Spreading nonsense and hatred however took time.

I apparently look like the worst sort of racist. Southern men will give me the look and then look around look that I have learned is a preface for the introductory check to see if they can share hatred with me.