An Old Protestant on Americanist Christianity
D.G. Hart
January 1, 1995
Evangelicals and Catholics Together" (ect) has been hailed by some as a vehicle for promoting greater unity between Protestants and Catholics. Although this reading has some plausibility (and may in fact reflect the motives of its authors), I believe the declaration makes most sense as an index to the growing political/cultural alliance between conservative and post-liberal Catholics and Protestants, an alliance that minimizes the serious theological and ecclesial matters that divide Western Christianity.
I take this view not to impugn the motives of the document's authors or signers but in the interests of achieving genuine unity of the body of Christ. Serious doctrinal matters still divide Protestants and Catholics, and the only way of achieving a real consensus is to take account of such difficulties rather than ignoring them. Moreover, I am troubled by ect's apparent conflation of the political and religious spheres, a tendency that has characterized the religious right as much as the Christian left. And while all aspects of life may be political, as the feminists have instructed us, it is still valuable to keep religion and politics as separate as possible.
Modernism and ect
Because of ect's political overtones, it is essentially a modernist document. To be sure, its modernism is not that of the old social gospel variety. After all, how could it be when many of the declaration's signers have been outspokenly critical of the politics championed by liberals within the Protestant establishment and the American Catholic hierarchy? Still, many of the individuals who have endorsed ect (especially the evangelicals) have distinguished themselves not as theologians or church leaders but as respected generals in the contemporary ...
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