Religion Question: Why Christianity Split Into Many Religions? (Essay Sample)

Why Christianity Split into Many Religions Name of Author Institutional Affiliation Why Christianity Split into Many Religions At the onset of Christianity, Jesus established one church and expressed the wish that Christians should remain united in serving God. However, this never came to be. For the first four thousand years, Christians remained unified with no significant diversion. Around 1054, the first significant Christian division came and resulted in the Western Church (Catholic) and the Eastern Church (Orthodox Church). Later in 1517, the publication of 95 Theses against Catholic practices by Martin Luther resulted in the formation of the Lutheran Church and the wave of Protestantism. Today, the major denominations in Christianity include Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism. Major divisions of the latter include Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Pentecostals. The main reasons for these divisions include human nature, disagreements on beliefs and practices, and the role of tradition. As expressed by Haidt (2013), all human beings have independent minds and personalities. They characteristically choose what they want and react to situations distinctly as dictated by the theory of individual differences. Their processes of making choices are characterized by vibrancy and criticality. Because of this, even Christians struggle with pride, selfishness, and stubbornness. While a number of them can serve under the existing church structures, some develop a sense of self-righteousness and the desire to create their own churches. Other than rebellion, the processes of resolving relational conflict in churches also bring about various challenges at times. As a result, many Christians who feel offended or demeaned by others find the need to break away and find peace. Perhaps, the leading cause of divisions among Christian religions disagreements over various Christian practices and beliefs. A review by Corvino, Anderson, and Girgis (2017) listed some of the leading issues of controversy in modern Christian faith to include baptism, alcohol, spiritual gifts, and female pastors, and image representation of Jesus and God. In some churches, the presence of the statue of Jesus is common, and people kneel before such statues to worship. Other churches express the belief that God, Jesus, or other spiritual establishments cannot be represented by images of carvings. To them, such acts are satanic and must be avoided. The major areas of controversy on baptism concern the baptism of infants. Divergent interpretations by different churches either criticize or justify the act in different ways. Some churches opine that infants are too young to make a choice between wrong and right. As such, they may not be baptized. This position is contravened by others who baptize children. Alcoholism and spiritual gifts also attract controversies that have led to church divisions and the formation of new sects. Conformity to traditional ways of worship and the advancement of modern ones has also played a role these divisions. The Roman Catholic Church leads in adhering to traditional ways while many protestant churches differ on these issues. Among the most sensitive areas in these traditions a...