Read excerpts from Kim Lawton's interview with Robert Franklin:

On the essence of Protestantism:
Martin Luther has given an enormous gift to western Christendom. He isolated the notion of faith as a force for change, as a force for revising inherited tradition. That's at the core of the Protestant spirit -- to embrace tradition, to respect and love tradition, but also to be willing to revise and challenge traditions, to adapt them to contemporary circumstances. Protestantism and the spirit of the Protestant ethic, if you will, is precisely to bring tradition into the modern world and be willing to risk letting go of those practices and doctrines that are not liberating.

On why Protestantism flourished in America:
Certainly the emphasis upon individualism -- individual commitment to God; individual conscience and accountability for one's action[s] and behavior; the essential notion that salvation happens person by person, one soul at a time, the individual as she or he stands before God -- is the consummate American cultural tradition or ethos of radical individualism, freedom of will, the notion of unlimited boundaries for individuals who have a vision and the energy to act on those visions.

On the interaction between Protestantism and American culture:
Certainly Protestantism had a significant impact upon the shaping of American culture. When you consider the number of U.S. presidents [and] elected officials who were products of Protestant traditions, who articulated America's story, who exemplified in their own leadership styles the American way of being in the world -- so much of that [is] a function of individualism, activism, optimism, unlimited idealism. All of those features that find residue in dominant American culture were very much a part of Protestant doctrine, Protestant ideology that was being nurtured over the decades. While both [American culture and Protestantism] were influencing religion and culture... ultimately Protestantism had a greater impact on shaping the surrounding secular culture.

On what Protestant churches are facing:
There is a sense in which we are living, as many observers have argued, in a postdenominational era. The doctrine and practices that marked various Protestant traditions as distinctive are, in many respects, wearing thin. There is some erosion of denominational loyalty among American contemporary churchgoers. We are becoming a consumer church culture. People search for, in a congregation, an ensemble of ingredients or features that are user-friendly. So being Lutheran or Baptist or Episcopalian may be less important to that church consumer than having a terrific youth program or a great preacher or good music. I find this rampant consumerism is a significant trend that really challenges theologians and church leaders today. How do we reemphasize and retrieve the importance of tradition and loyalty to the tradition, while at the same time not losing our population?

On Protestant denominationalism:
On the whole, I'd say that there have been many negatives. Anytime a religion creates barriers over which people are likely to argue and fight, that is, for the most part, not good. If we can get to the core message of the radical love ethic of Jesus, it enables us, empowers us to set aside some of the more divisive denominational and human-manufactured practices in these religious traditions. I'm certainly one who believes in the spirit of innovation, of moving forward, of leaving behind those elements of tradition that incline people to argue and fight. We've just left behind a bloody century in which religious wars and denominational bickering have really distorted the true essence of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and other great faiths.

On future challenges:
The challenge for the future is to adapt the truths that have been handed down to us to an ever-changing, dynamic reality -- increased diversity in our population, certainly in our very pluralistic America; living with technology in a responsible way; trying to negotiate differences across the generations. All of these are going to continue to challenge the best leadership and thinking in our churches.

On other current trends:
One of the trends, and it is going to be an interesting one to follow, is a gender differentiation in religious devotion and religiosity. After the 1960s and '70s, you began to see more dramatically what I've often referred to as a Òmale exodusÓ from the churches -- men who felt that church was a space where women could have their identities affirmed and needs met. But men sought alternative spaces -- fraternities and lodges and sports bars and other places where fellowship and affirmation of identity and collegiality could be experienced. And yet we now see, with Promise Keepers and these mass-movement efforts to attract men back to organized religion, that may be changing. We may be witnessing a reversal of the male exodus. On the other hand, related to this gender dynamics within contemporary American religion, is the phenomenon of women in leadership -- women sharing power in religious congregations and communities, and in many traditions the tensions that new phenomenon introduces. A lot of men are not ready to share power. We all know quite a number of churches that do not wish to ordain woman or welcome women in positions of authority and leadership. That's going to be a continuing fault line in our religious space.

On race and religion:
On one hand, one sees increased nationalism at work in many faith traditions -- Latinos and Hispanics who want to preserve Spanish-language services and do not wish to have bilingual services; some African Americans who give even greater emphasis to separation and distinctiveness; heavy emphasis upon reviving [the] black nationalism of earlier years. We certainly see this in many immigrant[s] ... who come to this country, who feel less pressure to assimilate [and] become a part of the American mainstream, if you will. On the other hand, you have a very exciting effort to address the historic problem of race, what W.E.B. DuBois called the problem of the 20th century, the color line -- churches being honest about a history of racism and their complicity in supporting the race line. To have denominations like Southern Baptists and Methodists apologizing for their support of slavery [and] explicit efforts to reconcile racial and ethnic groups all motivated by the sense of oneness in Christ and devotion to a single God is very important and [a] very hopeful development. We see a tension at work with respect to the racial-ethnic divides -- a reemphasis [on] and retrieval of ethnic loyalties, of nationalism and separatism by race supported by religion, and a greater emphasis on overcoming racial difference, of striving for racial reconciliation and finding common ground among various ethnic and racial groups based upon devotion to a single religious faith.