Liberal Syncretism is the transition of Orthodox Christianity into Liberal Christianity that preaches all roads lead to salvation. Becoming a "better person," through self-help style sermons, so that their members can leave a more impressive legacy after they die are the markings these churches' teachings. They draw members by helping them to feel better about themselves and producing church services that entertain and offer a friendly atmosphere to bolster their mood. In short, it is more about the individual than about God. God is the means that the individual can become a better, richer, smarter, happier person.
These churches all began as orthodox churches/denominations that began to transition right along with the evolution theory. The church leaders began to believe in evolution and that anthropology led them to transition their theology into a sinless theology that people were created with all of the "sin" that they now how: greed, sexual lust, manipulation, aggression, and all other sins. Since these things are simply part of the nature that God made us with, they cannot possibly be sin. This then led to the concept of all people from all religions are saved because it is not their fault that they did not know God but they are not engaged in sin any more than the Christian is. This shift was a gradual shift, so much so that the leadership adhered to it long before the laity. The laity, continued for some time to adhere to traditional orthodoxy even though their sermons would have been increasingly devoid of the salvation message, against sin, and more and more self-helping. Their salvation was a "horizontal salvation" that is determined by man, not God.
Once the laity began to adhere to the same theology as the leadership, they would need a different reason than sanctification to come to church, since they were already free from sin. Therefore, they all developed a "Social Gospel" that primarily dealt with "liberation" from something. They were liberated from outside oppression or internal guilt or inadequacy.
The Forms of Liberal Syncretism are:
1. Social Gospel: They feed the poor and do good works for the oppressed.
2. Liberation Gospel: They fight the injustice (the only sin) for the powerless (minority) instead of simply taking care of the powerless. The powerful/evil are decried with demonic imagery. The Feminist movements use “Sophia” to describe God since Sophia is a feminine word and therefore it is the word they call God by. Black Liberation Theology (Jeremiah Wright/Louis Farrakhan) cannot accept either a white God or even the same God that whites worship, therefore, whites cannot be saved (whites are the oppressors). The only sin is oppressing and the only way oppressing is a sin is if you are not black (blacks can oppress whites, that will be their salvation).
3. Gender Gospel: Fight the injustice of Patriarchal Society that oppresses the Female (Sophia).
4. Political Gospel: Fight for the freedom to fall against despots.
5. Sexual Gospel: (This is a type of liberation as well). Their key is NOT sexuality, but SEXUAL ORIENTATION. This is not the liberation of sexual lifestyle, but from the oppression due to being oriented (by God) toward homosexuality (or any manner of sexual orientation). The only sin is hatred or intolerance toward them and the only repentance is acceptance of them.
6. Environmental Gospel: Liberation against the oppressors (robber barons). Someone MUST be punished and the punished must pay for what they have done to the environment.
