This post has me giggling over the idea of an atheist festival that's so fun, religious people are trying to sneak in.
"Yeah, they don't ask questions down at the 4th Street ACLU, and they have a wicked bash on Bertrand Russell's birthday!"
That's the problem with you atheists -- not enough crowd-pleasing hokum! ;)
Hmm. You know, it strikes me that the demolition of American neighborhoods and communities has probably greatly enhanced the growth of churches, particularly churches that include "tight" social networks (I might say, more "cult-like" churches). But I digress.
I beg to differ. Church membership, especially among mainstream Protestants, has declined precipitously. Even the Catholic Church, which has strong roots in this area and a constant flow of mostly Catholic immigrants, is a shadow of its former self. A lot of local Catholic churches have folded, not to mention their schools and related social services. I have to hear it all the time about once-mighty, urban congregations, who are trying to support their huge empty buildings on a skeletal budget.
I may agree with you about the "cult-like" churches, I'm not so sure. I have a co-worker who is a Charismatic/evangelical Christian -- basically think of every Crazy Christian stereotype you've ever heard -- and she belongs to this church in Providence, I keep forgetting the name, with six hundred members. X___X Only(!) about four hundred make it to service on a regular basis, she says, but that's about 340 more people than those who regularly show up at Pawtucket UCC.
It makes me so jealous to hear about the things her church is able to afford, and all the stupid overpaid staff they have. But are they "cult-like"? I sure as heck would not want to join that church, but they're mostly harmless people who tend to interpret the Bible literally (young Earth and all that), and they like their screamin' and yellin' about Jesus. And part of the reason they have so many nice things is because they're very overtly concerned about financial matters.
Like so many other things, it's like Christianity is being polarized into opposite camps, and the bad guys are winning, or at least making the most noise. But EVEN the Southern Baptists, not exactly a liberal group, have seen a membership loss. There was some item about that in the paper just recently, although I can't find a link online. Some Baptist theologian was actually pondering if his church may have taken some wrong turns!
"Yeah, they don't ask questions down at the 4th Street ACLU, and they have a wicked bash on Bertrand Russell's birthday!"
That's the problem with you atheists -- not enough crowd-pleasing hokum! ;)
Hmm. You know, it strikes me that the demolition of American neighborhoods and communities has probably greatly enhanced the growth of churches, particularly churches that include "tight" social networks (I might say, more "cult-like" churches). But I digress.
I beg to differ. Church membership, especially among mainstream Protestants, has declined precipitously. Even the Catholic Church, which has strong roots in this area and a constant flow of mostly Catholic immigrants, is a shadow of its former self. A lot of local Catholic churches have folded, not to mention their schools and related social services. I have to hear it all the time about once-mighty, urban congregations, who are trying to support their huge empty buildings on a skeletal budget.
I may agree with you about the "cult-like" churches, I'm not so sure. I have a co-worker who is a Charismatic/evangelical Christian -- basically think of every Crazy Christian stereotype you've ever heard -- and she belongs to this church in Providence, I keep forgetting the name, with six hundred members. X___X Only(!) about four hundred make it to service on a regular basis, she says, but that's about 340 more people than those who regularly show up at Pawtucket UCC.
It makes me so jealous to hear about the things her church is able to afford, and all the stupid overpaid staff they have. But are they "cult-like"? I sure as heck would not want to join that church, but they're mostly harmless people who tend to interpret the Bible literally (young Earth and all that), and they like their screamin' and yellin' about Jesus. And part of the reason they have so many nice things is because they're very overtly concerned about financial matters.
Like so many other things, it's like Christianity is being polarized into opposite camps, and the bad guys are winning, or at least making the most noise. But EVEN the Southern Baptists, not exactly a liberal group, have seen a membership loss. There was some item about that in the paper just recently, although I can't find a link online. Some Baptist theologian was actually pondering if his church may have taken some wrong turns!
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