mainline Protestantism
What is mainline Protestantism?
What are the “Seven Sisters” of mainline Protestantism?
mainline Protestantism, in American Protestantism, a group of historically prominent churches and denominations that are theologically, and often politically, liberal and pluralistic. The term is generally used to distinguish these traditions from evangelical Protestants and predominantly Black denominations. Mainline churches have long been associated with America’s white elite culture, particularly in the northeastern states, though both their numbers and influence have seen significant declines in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study found that 11 percent of Americans identified as mainline Protestants in 2024.
The Seven Sisters of Mainline ProtestantismHistory and beliefs
Most or all of the mainline denominations can trace their roots in the United States to the colonial era. Unlike the Roman Catholic colonial endeavors of Spain, Portugal, and France, British colonialism brought Anglicanism and foreign Protestants to North America. Many of these early established churches in the United States received a boon from later waves of Protestant European immigrants. Mainline denominations share a strong tradition of the sacraments (baptism and communion) and profess the ecumenical creeds—namely the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and sometimes the Athanasian Creed—as key expressions of faith. The majority of American Protestants were part of what is now considered the mainline tradition until the late 19th century, when the churches began to lose ground to rising Christian fundamentalism and the often splintering growth of new denominations and sects.
The term mainline Protestant was first used during the modernist-versus-fundamentalist debates of the 1920s. It referred broadly to the camp that did not see a contradiction between theology and modern science and that used modern scholarship, including social science and literary criticism, to help shape its theology and biblical interpretation. This liberal and pluralistic theology naturally aligned with mainline churches’ long history of political liberalism and social activism, though mainline congregations and leaders were deeply divided—often along regional lines—over whether slavery was a moral evil or a biblically defensible institution. (Northern and Southern Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians all experienced schism over the issue of slavery, and only some reunified after the Civil War. Congregationalists were strongly abolitionist.)
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, mainline churches championed the Social Gospel, a movement that held social injustices such as economic inequality and child labor to be sinful. They were heavily involved in the movements for temperance, women’s equality, and the rights of African Americans. Later in the 20th century many of their leaders and members participated in the civil rights movement.
Several contemporary mainline denominations ordain women and LGBTQ people and perform same-sex weddings, though these remain contentious across many churches and congregations. In fact, these and other issues have caused schism within many mainline churches, with more conservative members splitting off to form their own groups. For example, theological and social conflicts in the Presbyterian tradition led to the formation of several conservative bodies, including the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (1939), the Presbyterian Church in America (1973), and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (1981). Within the United Methodist Church, debates over same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy have likewise created deep divisions. In 2020 denominational leaders proposed a plan to allow the church to separate into distinct bodies representing traditionalist and progressive positions on these issues, and the conservative Global Methodist Church was founded in 2022. Similar developments have occurred among American Lutherans. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America allowed LGBTQ people in same-sex monogamous relationships to serve as clergy in 2009, resulting in the splintering off of the North American Lutheran Church in 2010.
Demographics and decline
The term WASP—an acronym for white Anglo-Saxon Protestant—refers to the historically dominant social group in the United States whose cultural values and institutions were largely shaped by mainline Protestant traditions. These denominations provided much of the moral framework, social respectability, and leadership that defined the American elite from the colonial period through much of the 20th century. The term is sometimes used disparagingly.
The term mainline has long had sociological connotations. According to a popular account, the name was inspired by the Pennsylvania main line, a cluster of affluent towns along the Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line, which ran from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. These towns were home to some of America’s wealthiest families and were associated with the elite white Anglo-Saxon establishment. Many of these towns had a tall-steeple church that served as a key landmark. According to historian James Hudnut-Beumler in The Future of Mainline Protestantism in America (2018; edited by Hudnut-Beumler and Mark Silk),
The term “mainline,” then, was first used to indicate both the historic genealogy and the cultural prominence of the religious forms of East Coast social elites, distinguished from the more evangelical and sectarian piety of the lower classes. It was extended by analogy from Philadelphia’s elite to the national stage, effectively designating the religion of America’s Establishment class.
Indeed, most U.S. presidents have come from mainline traditions, and members of these denominations have played an outsized role in shaping the institutions of education, government, and mass media in the United States. In the 21st century members of mainline denominations are generally more affluent and tend to have higher education levels than most other Christian groups. Typically, they are older and whiter than the average population and tend to live in slower-growing parts of the country. Politically, some congregations have a slim Democrat majority, but many are moderate Republicans.
- Also called:
- mainline churches
In recent decades both the membership and influence of mainline denominations have fallen precipitously. In 1958, 52 of every 100 Americans were part of a mainline denomination. By 2024 that figure had fallen to 11 of every 100. Christianity in general has been in decline in the United States: The Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study found that the percentage of Americans who identify as Christian dropped from 78 percent in 2007 to 62 percent in 2024. Many have blamed the striking decline in mainline Protestantism on a funding crisis, with budget cuts reducing staff and programs, though others have argued that the loss of donations and tithes is indicative of more serious problems. Aging church populations, a loss of confidence in denominational vision and leadership, and blurred lines between denominations because of ecumenism have all been posited as playing a role. In addition, some have wondered if the fact that ministers of mainline churches have often been more socially and theologically liberal than their congregations has contributed to the declines. Still, scholars argue that mainline churches are far from extinct and are likely to persist in some form.