Most main line denominations are losing membership, and there are a lot of

[arely staircase]

12. as a rational person i do not take literally the virgin birth or hell as a place of eternal torment

but I do in my own way believe these things, as I interpret them through my God-given reason. If they meant nothing to me I would not say them every Sunday during (Anglican) Mass. The fact is, the author of the earliest Gospel (Mark) never mentions a virgin birth. St. Paul, whose epistles are even older than the Gospels never mentions it either. But I do believe God was uniquely in Jesus, and it makes no difference how he got there. So I recite the Nicene Creed, with its born of a virgin part because it is important theologically and spiritually, not literally and historically as a testimony to Our Lord's uniqueness.

Hell: I don't know what happens when we die. But I believe God is with me now and will be wherever I go when I die - even if that is to decompose into the fertilizer that perpetuates his creation.