• fubo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s not only hierarchical church groups that can be repressive.

    The witch-hanging Puritans of New England were Congregationalists, who recognize no church authority higher than the congregation itself – but who compelled everyone in their colonies to pay church taxes and attend services. Likewise, the Southern Baptists – a denomination literally created to defend the sanctity of slavery – don’t have bishops or a church hierarchy.

    Meanwhile the Episcopalians do have a church hierarchy (originally rooted in the Church of England, founded by Henry VIII), but are generally considered the most liberal of the “mainstream Protestant” churches.