Churches have no authority because they have become like the rest of society, jostling for relevance. When Christianity becomes just like everything else, there is no point in it.

Sorry Peter, hard to lose something you never ever had! Morality is something between a man and his maker, not some self appointed third intermediary. What is truly in your heart, is all that truly matters!

Certainly not something conferred by a armoured sword wielding Pope at the head of an army of sword wielding butchers!

Nor conferred by the Godless pagan Constantine, self appointed head of the then alleged Christian church, only receiving baptism on his deathbed!

Nor from the bishops he allegedly installed as the Bishop of Rome or Constantinople! Nor any of the alleged priests those Bishops anointed!

Nor any anointed from that perversion of the master's authority!

Given medical science has now established that there is a gay gene, and not just one but several, and therefore the handiwork of the Creator, hard for ordinary men purporting to speak For God to forbid it!

Nor do they have the moral authority to compel a woman or a man to remain trapped in a loveless marriage or become virtual broodmares, compelled to give issue to many more mouths than they can feed! Nor be sustained by a vrtually crippled planet!

No family trapped in that circumstance is not harmed by the inevitable conflict and emotional tension. And only assisted/normalized, when love and happiness are the glue that naturally binds the family!

When God gave man dominion over the planet, it didn't come with a licence to virtually destroy it, nor rape, pillage and plunder it for irreplaceable resources!

For what? So a few very fat overfed men could consume more than an entire family could genuinely need in several lifetimes!

Moral authority, was never ever the property of a few self appointed appointees! Never! Nor those who over the centuries have murdered and brought war and destruction in God's name, ever!
Alan B.

Irish monks saved western civ from the roaming barbarians hordes, and funny enough it looks like the Benedictines will have to do it again by providing cool jobs and places where Christians can raise their families and also grown nice grapes to make lovely wines and whatever.

>So, what is the future of the Church? It will obviously get much smaller and its influence will continue to decline because it will take more time for the husks to be separated from the wheat and thrown in the fire. But wheat will remain, perhaps as an underground movement and will germinate when the time is right.

Wishful thinking. I can imagine the Aztec priests said much the same as their former flock abandoned the worship of Quetzalcoatl.

They still have far too much influence.
Especially with politicians.

The church lost its elite status at the reformation, it just didn't recognise the change of rules. It then might have asked how we could all play together to achieve God's kingdom. Instead from Constantine (or perhaps Paul) onwards the church went over to satan and it has been pursuing earthly rewards, and we will all pay the consequences in some form.