Reply #15: The NYT article mentions it...

[Rose Siding]

It isn't extremely unusual for protestant churches to split. -I know of a Baptist church that broke apart over whether to rip out the pews and switch to folding chairs or not -at least that was the biggest beef outside of personalities and power/loyalty struggles.


snip>
Apart from the questions about abortion and other issues Ms. Miers will face in confirmation hearings, the strong tie she and Justice Hecht have to their church is undergoing a test. The congregation at Valley View is in the middle of a schism, and Mr. Hecht said he and Ms. Miers are siding with the splinter groups that are forming a new church under Valley View's longtime pastor, Ron Key.

Church members said in interviews that Mr. Key was fired several weeks ago by the Valley View board of elders after he refused to take a less prominent role in the church's leadership. The members said that the pastor and the board members disagreed on several matters, including the appointments of new ministers and whether the church should adopt more contemporary forms of worship services to try to attract newer and younger members.

Dr. Barry McCarty, the Valley View pastor, said Ms. Miers has often asked the congregation to pray for her and the president, and he added that even if she is joining the roughly 150 members that have left to start a new church, he believes that the Valley View members will continue those prayers. "Our particular congregation is committed to starting new churches," Dr. McCarty said. "It's something they do with our blessing."

http://nytimes.com/2005/10/05/politics/politicsspecial1/05miers.html?ei=5094&en=7e04971063f63746&hp=&ex=1128571200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

And in the Post piece, "Key" splinter is said to be more interested in mission work than the parent church...

snip>
Those beliefs were forged at Valley View, but Miers is breaking away from the church where she embraced Jesus. In recent years, church elders have moved to cut back on missionary work, sparking a split this summer among the parishioners. Key is forming a church that plans to donate half its revenues to mission work, and Miers plans to join him.

"These days so many of the churches have become Christian country clubs," Key said. "They are more about making you feel good about yourself than making you grow. Some of us, including Harriet, were uncomfortable with all this."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/04/AR2005100401765_pf.html