Religious Groups Investigation

A systematic diagnostic framework measuring departure from Jesus' gospel of the kingdom

"Jesus becomes the mascot of a system that no longer obeys him."

Kingdom Distortion — Internal Religious Error

JESUS: THE REFERENCE STANDARD

The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, believe, and be born again.

God is Father · We are His children · Love God and neighbor · Forgive as you are forgiven
Mercy over sacrifice · Love enemies · Serve, don't dominate · Inner purity
Do the Father's will · Judge by fruit · No tribal superiority · Trust, not fear

Legend

● Strongly incorporated / structurally present

◑ Partially present / recurring tendency

○ Generally resisted, but can appear culturally

— Not characteristic

○◑ Mixed / transitional (KD 1.25)

Negative Elements (contrary to Jesus)

This chart evaluates structural tendencies and teachings of the traditions, not the hearts of individual believers. Use as a diagnostic tool: Does this tradition help people live as children of the Father in the Kingdom?

Ideological Capture — External Secular Error

IDEOLOGICAL CAPTURE

External secular ideologies adopted into the church as governing lenses

The error is not that a concern is raised.
The error is when the concern becomes a ruling interpretive system that replaces the kingdom of God.

Both left-coded and right-coded capture replace Jesus —
one with order, nation, and power; the other with progress, affirmation, and social revolution.

Legend

● Governing / defining — ruling interpretive lens

◑ Incorporated — present in doctrine or practice

◑ Mixed / transitional tendency

○ Background risk — present but resisted

— Not characteristic

Core test: Does the church use Jesus to judge the ideology, or does the ideology use Jesus to justify itself?

Capture Categories

Secular ideological capture is not exclusively liberal or conservative — both wings replace Jesus. Scores represent central tendency. Intra-tradition variance is significant.

Composite Error Formula

Composite % = (KD% × 0.60) + (IC% × 0.40)

Kingdom Distortion

60% — internal gospel fidelity (the deeper issue)

Ideological Capture

40% — external ideology governing the church

KD max 33 pts (11 categories × 3); IC max 30 pts (10 categories × 3). % = total ÷ max × 100. Gospel Drift (GD%) is a standalone metric — see Denominations tab.

Status Bands

0–19%Low distortion

20–39%Watchful

40–54%Moderate error

55–69%Serious mixed error

70–84%Default risk

85–100%Severe default

Two-Axis Diagnostic Map

X: Kingdom Distortion % · Y: Ideological Capture % · Color: composite status · Hover for details

Full Rankings — click headers to sort

Tradition / Movement	KD %	IC %	Composite %	Status

Quadrant Pattern Analysis

↖ Low KD · High IC — Ideological Church

Traditional religious error forms are rejected, but external secular ideology has become the governing lens.

Mainline Protestant progressive · Methodist / Wesleyan

↗ High KD · High IC — Double Capture

Both internal religious distortion and external ideology are elevated.

Christian nationalism · Anglican / Episcopal · Southern Baptist

↙ Low KD · Low IC — Closest to the Kingdom

Both distortion axes are low. Teaching most directly reflects Jesus' gospel.

Urantia Book / Urantia Fellowship

↘ High KD · Low IC — Sealed Sectarian

High internal distortion — institutional gatekeeping, ritual substitution — but sealed from external ideology.

Jehovah's Witnesses · LDS · Roman Catholic · SDA

Methodological Limitations

Scope Limitations

Intra-tradition variance — Scores represent central tendency. Some traditions span 30%+ internally.
Subjectivity — Scores require documented per-category evidence to move from impressionistic to rigorous.
Temporal drift — Traditions change. Scores should be dated and revisited annually.
Regional variation — Anglican, Lutheran, and Baptist traditions vary significantly by country.

Special Notes

Urantia Book score — Represents textual teaching. Reader community may score higher on D and C.
Mainline Protestant — Low KD because traditional error forms are rejected. IC is high from secular-progressive capture.
Jehovah's Witnesses — Very low IC despite very high KD. Internally totalist but sealed from outside secular ideology.

Sort:

Doctrines are the specific theological commitments each denomination formally holds. Each entry below defines the doctrine and shows which evaluated denominations subscribe to it. Click a denomination pill to view its full profile, or click a doctrine name in a denomination's detail view to return here.

Gospel Drift Taxonomy

What is announced as the good news

Five diagnostic questions

Kingdom gospel vs. this substitute

Scores last updated: 2026-06-27 · Source: Synoptic Gospels (primary) · Gospel of John (supplementary) · Urantia Book Part IV (extended reference)