Wow, I'm glad my family switched from Methodism to a non-denominational evangelical church when I was a kid. I remember the Methodist church we went to never actually seemed to getting around to preaching the fundamentals of salvation through Christ, but apparently they have time to draft web pages full of leftist social stances. No wonder our society is heading in the direction it is.
In the 1970s and 1980s a lot of local Methodists, Presbyterian and other old line churches noticed that their national leadership was taking a decided Socialist stance on a lot of political issues and, at the same time, denigrating the accounts in the Bible of miracles and of the resurrection of Jesus. The out shoot of this is the "Historical Jesus" movement which, while giving lip service to "Faith", re-interprets scripture to emphasize socials themes and presents "evidence" from like-minded educators to suggest that Jesus is at best a myth and at worst a lie.
The local leaders and membership rebelled. Many groups lost possession of the church building they had used for decades but a large percentage broke their ties to the national leadership, kept their building and changed the name on its marque to "Community ...something...". The members of these community churches are usually the targets of the Left, calling them "religious nuts", etc... Obama carried their water bucket when referring to working-class voters in old industrial towns decimated by job losses, he said: "They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." The Left's echo chamber took up this mime and repeats it endlessly.
In many cases the UMC, United Church of CHrist, for example, were left with people who are most Socialist and less Christian, having the form of Christianity but denying its power, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They became so bold that in 1993 many old line denominations sent representatives to a World Conference of Churches "Re-imagination" conference in Minneapolis. Examples of its high point included chanting to "Sophia", misapplying scripture to justify singing chants in praise to their version of "Sophia", a Goddess of Wisdom. The Nov. 3, 1993, Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that "throughout the conference worship experiences will celebrate Sophia, the biblical goddess of creation." Sue Seid-Martin of the University of St. Thomas School of Divinity in St. Paul, Minn., claimed that this Sophia is "the suppressed part of the biblical tradition, and clearly the female face of the human psyche." Seid-Martin believes Sophia is found in Proverbs 1-9, Matt. 11; Lk. 3:35; 11:49; and 1 Cor. 1-2, and she identifies Jesus Christ with this Sophia. A painting displayed at the Re-imagining conference supposedly depicted this Sophia. The painting contained the picture of a bald, frowning woman with large naked breasts. The middle of her forehead is adorned with a mark that appears to be a Hindu "tika" or tilaka, the same mark women in Nepal and India receive from their priests when they do "puja" (worship) at pagan shrines. On Sunday morning the conferees joined together in repeating a prayer to Sophia, including these words:
"Our maker Sophia, we are women in your image. ... Sophia, creator God ... shower us with your love. ... we invite a lover, we birth a child; with our warm body fluids we remind the world of its pleasures and sensations. ... Our guide, Sophia, we are women in your image. ... With the honey of wisdom in our mouths, we prophesy a full humanity to all the peoples."
It must be a special translation by the World Council of Churches. I don't read about her version of Sophia in the KJV or the NIV.
BTW, photos of the 19 posters, including the one of a naked "Sophia" are missing from accounts of the 1993 conference and from the web. A YouTube video of Nancy Chinn replays still photos taken from a distance but the Sophia painting is not shown.
The World Council of Churches website lists the appx 340 religious groups affiliated with them.
