Latitudinarian

Latitudinarian was initially a pejorative term applied to a group of 17th-century English theologians who believed in conforming to official Church of England practices but who felt that matters of doctrine, liturgical practice, and ecclesiastical organization were of relatively little importance. Good examples of the latitudinarian philosophy were found among the Cambridge Platonists and Sir Thomas Browne in his Religio Medici. Additionally, the term has been applied to ministers of the Scottish Episcopal Church in Scotland who were educated at the Episcopal sympathizing universities at Aberdeen and St Andrews and that broadly subscribed to their moderate Anglican English counterparts.

Today, latitudinarianism should not be confused with ecumenical movements, which seek to draw all Christian churches together, rather than to de-emphasize practical doctrine. The term has taken on a more general meaning, indicating a personal philosophy which includes tolerance of other views, particularly (but not necessarily) on religious matters.

In the Roman Catholic Church, latitudinarianism was condemned in the 19th century document Quanta cura; Pope Pius IX felt that, with its emphasis on religious liberty and freedom to discard traditional Christian doctrines and dogmas, this attitude threatened to undermine the church. Latitudinarianism is still criticized within the Catholic Church under the epithet of Cafeteria Catholic. It has been perceived as a disingenuous claim to be Roman Catholic while ignoring, being indifferent towards, or denying Catholic dogma and praxis.

The latitudinarian Anglicans of the seventeenth century built on Richard Hooker's position, in Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, that God cares about the moral state of the individual soul and that such things as church leadership are "things indifferent". However, they took a position far beyond Hooker's own and extended it to doctrinal matters.

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