Who has the right to establish and enforce religious disciplines of doctrine, ritual and moral law?
This is really a three part question. The area of doctrine is the principles, the framework if you will, of the faith. Moral laws are the interpretation of how we should live out those doctrines. Finally, ritual is the form of worship in which you practice the observance of your faith. These descend in importance from Doctrine, to application of Moral Law, and finally to the observance of Ritual, and accordingly the authority and scope of the bodies to whom it is given to establish these forms descend in importance and increase in specificity. For example, the question of the deity of Christ is an important issue of doctrine. Whether it is moral to partake of alcohol in moderation is a question of moral law. Whether one should sing only Psalms or include religious hymns from outside Scripture, or use a guitar and drums is a question of ritual. There are groups which have historically been the arbiters of each of these spheres of Christian life, and we will examine them in turn.
