It's an interesting thought but we can only speculate on the state of American Christianity and Roman Catholicism in general for now. I just can't get my mind off Vatican's complicity in CIA's killing of revolutionary priests subscribing to liberation theology in Latin America.
It's one thing to be opportunistically populist rather than be truly in the cause of the poor and the oppressed. I don't see a reconciliation. After all, there seems to be a misunderstanding of Trinitarianism here as simply a more progressive version of Catholicism when the situation runs deeper than that and the American Trinitarianism also incorporated Episcopalianism and Methodism. Trinitarianism may go near-Universalist and Baha'i-like for all we know.
The differences run deeper than theological but also geopolitical and economic.
I understand religion's adaptive capabilities but I don't see a reconciliation as a possibility.
Author's Comments:
I grew up in West Texas as a Methodist like my mom's family. My dad was Church of Christ but had not been to church in twenty something years due to hypocrisy that people were more interested in the power/positions but not helping people. I did not go every Sunday but enough to cover the basics. I have gone to Baptist and Charismatic services during this time searching for a new home. After several years of not going to church due to work and university I became a Unitarian in 2004 after hearing about them on the local NPR station in my hometown (they were one of the sponsors). I remain a Unitarian to this day and have taken my wife, who is Hindu, to services and to provide her some community/friends.
Regarding the UASR and the universe: Several years ago I read a book called the Left Hand of God, The: Healing America’s Political and Spiritual Crisis by Michael Lerner asking why people voted against their best interests. Basically that when people moved across the state or country the first place they try to find is a local church or center for their faith in order to provide community support from education to jobs to what stores to shop. While racial or ethnic lines have blurred somewhat the religious lines are still visible, especially in the southern United States. People vote based on how their community votes most of the time (this is my opinion). So let us consider this world where both sides had hardened themselves before the Revolution. After the Civil War and the massive disruptions people of faith would try to seek some sort of community to begin rebuilding the country and providing help. While the power of the traditional church was broken by the war and its association with the old government the UASR did not try to remove all forms of religion like the French and Russian revolutions. Instead of a top-down approach to church leadership it would be a bottom up approach similar to today's Unitarian Universalism. Trinitarianism would focus on the good things of religion working for women's suffrage, anti-slavery, better working conditions and so on.
So now let us talk about the post-war world. We now have people that have seen the worst the world has thrown at them with the Civil War and the Second World War. Some will return to civilian life and hang up the uniforms and citations on the wall like our grandparents did. Others however will not be satisfied on returning and will seek a greater purpose in life. The
Trinitarians will see many people return to further their education and seek to volunteer overseas. They will be used to hard living in a quasi military setting and willing to defend themselves if attacked. They will become the basis of what I called the Spartans.