By Daniel McCoy
And the first prize for most unifying religion goes to…
Easy answer, right? Obviously, the answer is supposed to be Christianity, isn’t it? And yet the church isn’t always very unified—at all. At last count, there are over 45,000 Christian denominations globally. Narrow it down to just one denomination, and chances are that even that one isn’t very unified. Narrow that denomination down to just one church in that one denomination, and even just one life group in that church, and if you’ve been part of a church longer than a month, you can guess it’ll have its share of disunity.
A big-C Church that isn’t very unified itself is probably not going to do a great job bringing unity to people outside the church.
So, how exactly do we get unity in a church? How can Christianity win first prize for most unifying religion?
How to Unite the Most People: 3 Ideas
How do you bring the most people together as one? I can think of three ways:
Lower the Bar.
The first way you can try to bring the most people together is by lowering the bar. You lower the bar, and it makes it easier for people to join in. Makes sense, right?
But if lowering the bar is a way to bring the most people together, I don’t think Christianity can win first prize at that. All you have to do is trace the church to around the year A.D. 300, and you’ll see a false version of Christianity that does a much better job of lowering the bar to make it easier for people to join in. When Emperor Constantine died and his son Constantius became emperor, Constantius saw in Arianism, a heretical version of Christianity, an even better way of unifying the empire. Because Arianism taught that Jesus wasn’t quite God, it was easier set of beliefs for pagans to accept than historic Christianity. Thus, Emperor Constantius tried (unsuccessfully, in the end) to force the bishops to accept Arianism.
When it comes to lowering the bar to unify people together, Arianism beats Christianity. Are there any other ways Christianity can take first prize in unifying people? Read More