Older, more establishment Protestant denominations
Not to be confused with Mainstream Christianity.
Eucharist observed by a congregation of the United Methodist Church, a typical mainline Protestant denomination and one of the "Seven Sisters of American Protestantism".
The mainline Protestant churches (sometimes also known as oldline Protestants)[1][2][3] are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States and in some cases in Canada largely of the theologically liberal or theologically progressive persuasion that contrast in history and practice with the largely theologically conservative Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Charismatic, Confessional, Confessing Movement, historically Black church, and Global South Protestant denominations and congregations.[4][5][6][7][8] Some make a distinction between "mainline" and "oldline", with the former referring only to denominational ties and the latter referring to church lineage, prestige and influence.[9] However, this distinction has largely been lost to history and the terms are now nearly synonymous.
Mainline Protestant churches have stressed social justice and personal salvation, and both politically and theologically, tend to be more liberal than non-mainline Protestant churches. Mainline Protestant churches share a common approach that often leads to collaboration in organizations such as the National Council of Churches, and because of their involvement with the ecumenical movement, they are sometimes given the alternative label of "ecumenical Protestantism" (especially outside the United States). While in 1970 the mainline Protestant churches claimed most Protestants and more than 30 percent of the American population as members, as of 2009[update] they are a minority among American Protestants, claiming approximately 15 percent of American adults. Some have criticized the term mainline for its alleged White Anglo-Saxon Protestant ethnocentric and elitist assumptions, and its erroneous association with the term "mainstream", since the term mainline almost exclusively described White, non-fundamentalist and non-evangelical Protestant Americans from its origin to the late twentieth century.[7][8][4]
^Hadaway & Marler 2006, pp. 3–4; Roozen 2004.
^Barrick, Audrey (March 12, 2010). "Survey Tracks Trends in Evangelical, Oldline Congregations". The Christian Post. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
^McKinney, William (November 8, 1989). "Revisioning the Future of Oldline Protestantism". The Christian Century. Vol. 106, no. 33. pp. 1014–1016. Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
^ abCite error: The named reference Jnanada Prakashan-2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference Seitz-2001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Burton, Tara Isabella (2018-11-05). "Why this shrinking religious group might be among America's last "swing voters"". Vox. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
^ abMarty 1980, pp. 8: "the term 'Mainline' may be as unfortunate as the pejorative-sounding WASP, but it is no more likely to fall into disuse and may as well be … Mainline religion had meant simply white Protestant until well into the twentieth century."
^ abCoalter, Mulder & Weeks 1990: "Some would say the term 'mainstream' or 'mainline' is itself suspect and embodies ethnocentric and elitist assumptions. ... be dropped in favor of talking about 'liberal' Protestantism, but such a change presents additional problems".
^Bradshaw, William B. (October 11, 2013). "Mainline Churches: Past, Present, Future". The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
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