Palin Post-Denominational

The mad scramble for information on little known McCain VP pick Gov. Sarah Palin has included questions about what church she attends - specifically what denomination. Here is the answer as it appeared today in The Catholic Reporter:

Palin appears to be part of that rapidly expanding galaxy of 'post-denominational' Christianity, where elements of Evangelical and Pentecostal styles of faith and worship fuse into a myriad of unique local combinations, and where old denominational loyalties are essentially dead.

Though post-denominationalists are, by definition, difficult to catalog and index, they’re unquestionably numerous. A 2007 survey conducted by LifeWay found that fully one-third of American Protestants were contemplating attending a different church in the future, and of that group, only one in four said it would be important that their future church belong to the same denomination as the one they currently attend.

Globally, the World Christian Encyclopedia estimates that roughly 20 percent of the world’s 2.2 billion Christians today are part of what it calls “independent Christianity,” defined as forms of faith and worship “separated from, uninterested in, and independent of historic, denominationalist Christianity.” Typically, these folks eschew any label other than “Christian” for their religious identity.