Usage
editThis is a template created with the purpose of presenting the entire landscape of Christianity within the United States. For this template, we will use the word "Christian" in a broad sense, that is, anyone who claims to be Christian or have a Christian heritage. However, movements that are part of the New religious movement or are otherwise very loosely linked with Christianity will not be presented here.
The way it is structured
editCronological order
editWithin this template, traditions are ordered (top to bottom) based on the year/century they have their origin. This order is not tied with their origin in the US in particular, but as traditions in general. This, however, does not apply to individual denominations, as you could have a Pentecostal denomination which is older then a Lutheran denomination (as the year of foundation is concerned) and still be lower then that Lutheran denomination because the Lutheran tradition is older then the Pentecostal one.
Alphabetical order
editEvery denomination within a tradition or subset of a tradition is ordered in alphabetical order.
Highlights
editSignifican denominations that are the largest (as the number of members is concerned), or most prominent in their tradition will be highlighted like this in order for them to be more easily spotted.
Main articles
editWhen a tradition has a wikipedia article dedicated to its history or presence in the United States, a link to it is added under the tradition's link (exemple: a link to Eastern Orthodoxy in North America is made like this "(Main article)" under the Eastern Orthodox link).
Very significant subgroups
editSignificant subgroups of specific denominations are in parentheses after the main denomination from which they are part of (exemple: the Albanian, Bulgarian and Romanian Dioceses inside the Orthodox Church in America).
Notes
editWhen clarifications are needed, or when the placement of a denomination in a tradition is more controversial, use a note to address the issue (exemple: Old Catholic churches being placed inside the Catholic tradition with the note: "Not in communion with the rest of the Catholic Church").
When adding a new denomination
editTradition
editAnyone who wants to add a new denomination has to look up what tradition is that denomination part of and add it in its specific section (exemple: when adding Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod put it in the Lutheran tradition).
If the tradition is somehow uncertain, or the denomination could be said to belong to multiple traditions, then it goes into the section "Other".
Merger Churchers
editIf the denomination is a merger of other two or more denominations that are of different traditions then it goes into the "United" section (exemple: United Church of Christ). However, if the merger denomination is formed from two or more denominations of the same kind, then it goes into the same tradition from where the merger churches were part of (exemple: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).
Subsets of Traditions
edit- If a denomination is part of a specific subset (of a tradition) which is worth mentioning and has more then one denomination belonging to it, then a navigation box subgroup will be made for that subset (exemple: Confessional for Lutheran).
- If the subset doesn't have more then one denomination, but nevertheless the subset distinction is still very significant (as in: all other denominations that are part of the wider tradition cannot righfully be associated with the denomination that is added), a special subgroup will be made for the new denomination (exemple: Communion for Anglican).
- If the denomination is so distinc and unique from the other denominations of its tradition that it could not be contained in one of the existing subsets or be worth creating a new one, but nevertheless being rightfully classified inside that tradition, then an "Other" navigation box subgroup will be made inside the tradition to contain it and any other such unique denominations from that tradition that will come up in the future.
- If the subset distinction is unecessary for a denomination, or the denomination has a wider range of beliefs that cannot be contained in one subset, then the denomination will be placed inside the tradition, but outside any of the subsets (exemple: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America from Lutheran)
Liberal vs Conservative
editAlthough the distinction between liberal and conservative denominations is a very significant one, due to its controversial and subjective nature, this distinction will not be made in this template.
Evangelical vs Mainline (Protestants)
editThe distinction between evangelical and mainline protestant denominations will also not be made here. The reason is that this classification is somehow useless as the words changed their original meaning.
A false dichotomy
editThe two words are not mutually exclusive.
"Evangelical" used to refer to a movement caracterised by the belief in a necessary born again conversion experience.
"Mainline" used to have a historical meaning, that is, churches that were the original or the most significant denomination in their particular traditions.
Thus the Methodist Episcopal Church would have been classified as both.
Change of meaning
editWith the time, in the US, "Mainline" became synonymous with "Liberal" and "Evangelical" with "Conservative".
Denominations such as the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, which do not belive in a "born again" conversion experience, are labeled "evangelical" just because they are conservative.
Other denominations which are historical such as the conservative Southern Baptist Convention (founded in 1845 and the largest baptist denomination in the US) are not considered "mainline" while the Association of Religion Data Archives does classify the more liberal Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (founded in 1991 which represents a small minority of baptists in US) as "mainline".
Simple adding
editIf you don't have the time to search for the specifics of a denomination, just add it in the "Unclassified" section and some other editors will find the time to classify it.