Mr. Caraher's rather ungenerous attack upon Diana Butler Bass' argument about growing vitality among liberal congregations is both inaccurate and lazy. Using the label "myopic" to dismiss Bass' research into growing progressive congregations is churlish in fact. The Hartford Seminary Foundation, in recent research,  concludes that liberal congregations are often more spiritually vital than conservative ones.  Add to that the reality that there's decline even in the vaunted Southern Baptist Convention.  Mr. Caraher, how do you know that denominational churches are "always growing"?  There is no research to support that contention.

Hart Edmonds