Quote:
Originally posted by duckznutz
LeBell,
as far as you know, are all faiths based on a pyramid heirarchy power structure (eg Pope, Bishops, Cardinals, Preists all the way down to the 'congregation' at the bottom) with instructions and proclamations flowing downstream only.
Or do any of these denominations which Antagony lists have a truly democratic 'everyone has an equal voice' power structure? I always see Amish depicted on the television and in films all working as one, building the young couple a house. Is Amish a denomination?
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No, not all denominations exhibit such a strict top down power structure that is seen in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.
There are varying degrees of control that different congregations/denominations exhibit, but a thumbnail sketch of a mainline protestant church might include a church council of people elected by the body, which then has direct power to hire and fire the minister. Variations on this can include bodies of selected/elected lay people within a given denomination that share authority with the clergy for actual church doctrine. Of course, you can still have cult like denominations which are defacto single rule groups.
Likewise, there are some denominations that have fewer or greater levels of clergy "rank" with the most well known belonging to the Catholic church.
And the Mennonites are indeed their own recognized denomination.