Ed Kilgore has a thought-provoking post arguing that the central split within modern Christianity is not whether you accept the basic creeds but whether you view the Bible as inerrant. And the divide over this leads to fundamental culture war splits over issues llke abortion and gay marriage.

“It’s a wonderful thing that Christians are no longer killing or repressing each other over different opinions about the precise nature of the Godhead or the presence of the Lord at His table. But our communion is broken in ways that cannot help but spill into politics and culture wars. “Liberals” and “conservatives” across all the old confessional lines are in irrepressible conflict. And perhaps God alone can heal the breach. ”

I tend to agree. When we did our big post-election survey, a central difference between McCain and Obama voters was how they interpreted the Bible.