Eastern Orthodox church politics are by definition Byzantine, but the defenestration of Metropolitan Jonah by the synod of the Orthodox Church in America over the weekend carries with it some larger significance for American religion as well. The OCA started out as Orthodoxy for the Russians in America, but it has become home to an influx of converts--come-outers from one or another of the Western denominations who see in the tradition's hoary liturgical practices and lineal identification with the most ancient sites of Christianity what they consider an über-authentic form of the faith.

In the process--and to the consternation of many ethnic old-timers--the converts tend to believe themselves called to gird their new faith for culture war against...