I was at first tempted to use a more forthright term to describe what's happening to American Christianity: instead of balkanization, I almost used breakdown.

Things surely aren't what they used to be, and whatever "good old days" you might be pining for a return, they disappeared not so  long ago, and it's safe to presume they won't be back again, for a long time, if ever.

There are a lot of reasons for the decline of the so-called "mainline" Protestant denominations.  An over-emphasis on social justice issues, the environment, nuclear disarmament, not to mention the influence of the women's a and homosexual rights movements.  The Episcopal Church (ECUSA) has been reeling from the long-running battles between liberals and conservatives over women's ordination and homosexual clergy. The consecration of Canon V. Gene Robinson as New Hampshire's bishop was in many respects, the final straw for conservative Episcopalians. Many conservatives, (calling themselves "reasserters") want to reassert the meaning of Scripture as it has been interpreted for the last 2,000 years. Liberal "revisionists" are said to favor revising Scripture to "be more relevant.

As of this writing, many conservatives, now calling themselves by the more ancient and catholic term of Anglicans, have chosen to leave the ECUSA and place their parishes under the supervision of the more conservative/orthodox bishops in Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda. This is just for starters. Last December, 11 Virginia parishes, including the two biggest in the commonwealth/diocese located in Falls Church and Truro, decided to secede from the American branch of the world-wide Anglican Communion.  Secessionism, apparently, hastn't lost its appeal in Virginia.  This "secesh"  movement isn't just limited to the Old Confederacy. It's also happening in California.

While I'm not comfortable with the Robinson consecration, I'm even less comfortable with a manufactured schism and further balkanization of Christianity in America -- or anywhere.  What's worse is that this schismatic behavior of the Anglican reasserters has been engineered in large part by a conservative religious think tank, the Institute for Religion & Democracy.  (IRD) According to the ECUSAs Jim Naughton, in his two part article "Follow the Money," IRD has received a lot of money from Howard F. Ahmanson, Jr., a former follower of the late Roussas Rushdooney, who founded the bizarre Reconstructionist sect.  After Rushdooney died in 2001, Ahmanson started attending a conservative Episcopalian/Anglican parish in Southern California -- and donating lots of money to a drive of divide and conquer which the IRD hopes will kill off the more liberal mainline denominations once and for all. 

I don't mind the IRD pushing for greater rights for Christians throughout the globe, and in some isolated cases in our nation, but to be funding the schismatic actions of secessionist parishes that want to line themselves up with Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola -- we'll that's just pushing things way over the edge.

The very idea of a bishop in another branch of the Anglican Communion making his good offices available to accomodate secessionist parishes -- well it's not only unheard of, but completely antithetical to the idea of any global Chrisitian hierarchical Communion and tradition. Akinola and his fellow African primates and bishops are allied together under the auspices of the Global South movement.

Look, I think it's great for the African bishops to form an organization that's meant to spread the Gospel throughout Africa, but to jump into what's basically an American argument, it simply makes no sense. And, as a conservative, I believe it's better to honor the episcopal comity and use the existing structures so a settlement can be worked out.  Anglicans are said to be very good at this.  But it's not "conservative'" behavior to break up an ecclessial Communion. 

Now, why also would a socially conservative Christian take umbrage with the secessionist movement?  Could it have been the ill-treatment the secessionists have shown towards former Senator John Danforth (R-MO), who is also an Episcopal priest.  Fr. Danforth called for the church to find a common ground, rise above the  differences and lower the voices last year during the General Convention.  For this he's been trashed by the supposedly conservative wing of the Episcopal Church.  While it must've saddened him, I bet Danforth wasn't surprised at the vehemence directed at him.  Conservatives have never considered him one of theirs.  To them ideology trumps decency every time. Small wonder there's been so much acrimony in Washington, DC these past ten years or more.  Oh, yes, I haven't forgotten the treatment given to former Senator Mark Hatfield (R-OR).. 

It remains to be seen how this whole donnybrook will turn out, but it wouldn't hurt if we, as conservatives, could at least  tone down our criticisms of clergy we disagree with.  After all, Fr. Danforth is a member of the clergy. How can we, as conservative adults, expect our kids to behave better and show the proper respect our clerical and political leaders deserve if we don't show it ourselves?  How can we expect others to respect our philosophical leanings towards respecting the established order.  After all, didn't that also come from Scripture?

If the more radical religious conservatives ever hope to see a truly "Christian America," perhaps their aspirations ought to flow first from the better examples of what a truly more Christian society in America would look like.  We can't say we're "God's Country" if we can't even begin to restart behaving the way God wants us to.  Lincoln said it's less important to claim God on our side if we're not on His side to begin with.

We have enough balkanization of churches, disrespect for leaders and institutions without adding to the mix by using conservative political institutions to manufacture schisms in religious denominations. Thanks to the blood-sport of ideological politics these days, this disrespect is endemic throughout the political realm.

The secessionists claim the ECUSA has blown it on scriptural matters, and that homosexuality isn't the major cause. Maybe so, but even their break over the ECUSA's decision to drop the insistence that one can only be saved through Jesus Christ is faulty as well.  Even the Catholics aren't as rigid.  Yes, in the end, at the final judgment Christ will have the final say, but are American conservative Christians right to condemn billions of people who haven't heard of Jesus to hell?  

Even though I'm not a homosexual,  I have a hard time understanding how excluding them from the very thing that could bring them closer to Christ so that they may learn His truth(s), is going to help anybody.  Christianity ought not to be turned into a social club with black-balling.  Jesus established His Church to be a hospital for sinners, not a gentleman's and ladies country club for the so-called "elect."

When will conservatives start acting like conservatives when it really comes to respecting individuals? Perhaps some of our more ideological "leaders" have forgotten this.