4 ms·

Have there ever been democratic or republic churches?

by ip26 7y ago

Apocryphon 7y ago
Most Protestant churches are run democratically with voting on elders and so forth
- jacquesm 7y ago
  That's a good point. When it comes to 'how to run a church' it is a pretty good basis, unfortunately protestantism is very fragmented, but then again, if it wasn't then it would be more like the structure it broke away from so maybe that is actually a good thing.
- lukev 7y ago
  It isn't clear that this leads to "better" outcomes, though. The larger denominations are pretty standardized, the smaller churches with more independence are where you find more sectarianism, extremism, and even cult-like behavior.
QuercusMax 7y ago
The Society of Friends (AKA Quakers) doesn't have professional clergy, and decisions are made democratically. They don't even have pastors; my parents were married in a Quaker meeting house, and their marriage license was signed by the secretary of the congregation. Here's an article about their decision-making process: http://quaker.org/legacy/tqe/2005/TQE118-EN-Democracy.html http://quaker.org/legacy/tqe/2005/TQE118-EN-Democracy.html
larkeith 7y ago
I can't speak to democratic/republic, but a number of syncretic religions and alternative spiritualities are either decentralized or so fragmented as to be functionally so. In my experience, such provide several of the social benefits of religion - i.e. gatherings of like-minded people with shared theologies - with reduced potential for abuse of power. Of course, the scalability of these systems are unknown.
CharlesColeman 7y ago
> Have there ever been democratic or republic churches? Yes, to the point where there's vocabulary to describe those types of organization, e.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyterian_polity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyterian_polity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregationalist_polity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregationalist_polity

Have there ever been democratic or republic churches?

by ip26 7y ago

Have there ever been democratic or republic churches?

Apocryphon 7y ago

Most Protestant churches are run democratically with voting on elders and so forth

jacquesm 7y ago
That's a good point. When it comes to 'how to run a church' it is a pretty good basis, unfortunately protestantism is very fragmented, but then again, if it wasn't then it would be more like the structure it broke away from so maybe that is actually a good thing.
lukev 7y ago
It isn't clear that this leads to "better" outcomes, though. The larger denominations are pretty standardized, the smaller churches with more independence are where you find more sectarianism, extremism, and even cult-like behavior.

QuercusMax 7y ago

The Society of Friends (AKA Quakers) doesn't have professional clergy, and decisions are made democratically. They don't even have pastors; my parents were married in a Quaker meeting house, and their marriage license was signed by the secretary of the congregation. Here's an article about their decision-making process: http://quaker.org/legacy/tqe/2005/TQE118-EN-Democracy.html http://quaker.org/legacy/tqe/2005/TQE118-EN-Democracy.html

larkeith 7y ago

I can't speak to democratic/republic, but a number of syncretic religions and alternative spiritualities are either decentralized or so fragmented as to be functionally so. In my experience, such provide several of the social benefits of religion - i.e. gatherings of like-minded people with shared theologies - with reduced potential for abuse of power. Of course, the scalability of these systems are unknown.

CharlesColeman 7y ago

> Have there ever been democratic or republic churches? Yes, to the point where there's vocabulary to describe those types of organization, e.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyterian_polity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyterian_polity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregationalist_polity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregationalist_polity