Experts project an estimated 100,000 churches in the US will close or be repurposed over the next decade.
Many churches will be unable to escape this “tsunami” of closings — a grim trajectory one pastor described as, “Every year the pews are getting emptier and the collection plates getting lighter.”
I would say “good”, but I’m sure this will somehow not affect megachurches
Yea this was my first thought.
Anecdotally, in my area (rural, 25ish miles from a mid city) many of the old-school but liberal-ish protestant denominations seem to be withering… Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist etc.
The storefront Baptists are doing just okay, and the metal-shed-building mega or wannabe mega are booming. New Life etc
This is not a particularly great trend imo.
The ongoing schism in the Episcopal church, also not great.
They didn’t follow their own texts (apparently this Jesús guy is too liberal). Were too selfish and cowardice to call out their own for literal monstrous acts. Judged and played god for political gains. Protected the powerful at the expense of the weak. All while crying victimhood and intentionally trying to bring about armageddon.
Action meet consequence. No one wants to be in a canabalistic death cult except fascists and they aren’t going to give you money. They are going to rob you.
I keep thinking about all that property and buildings already there and people being hungry for third spaces and how I could start some kind of movement that was like open source for software but something for third spaces and done as non-profit.
Something that could host things like makerspaces, quilting groups, book exchanges, swap meets, reading clubs, game day/nights, still rent out for meetups and even weddings/wakes, things like that.
Seems to me that people are dying for third spaces that don’t involve having to cough up money just to be somewhere that is not home, school, or work.
And many people don’t want to be involved in a church per se.
Churches should pay taxes like the rest of us.
Let’s start with billionaires. Then work our way down.
Churches are literally billionaires hiding behind Jesus
Por qué no los dos?
Because as it is we can’t even do one.
I figure let’s tackle billionaires to gain some momentum.
No kidding. Where I live in the Midwest that isn’t particularly religious, most churches have like an insane amount of labs they’re not using. Tax them to the ground.
Good point. The maker’s spaces that take these places over should join some tax advantaged organization before going in and fixing them up.
I drive by three empty old churches every day and about ten fully functioning ones complete with a huge tax funded metal sided auditorium/gym. They don’t pay taxes but they sure do spend them.
There is a difference between tax funded and tax exempt. I say this because we should be specifically asking that the tax exempt status for religions be removed from the tax code.
If you don’t understand then let me explain. The church is tax exempt and the facilities they have built are tax funded. Hope this clears that up.
Thats not how tax funded works. Tax funded is when the gov uses tax money to pay for something. What you are describing is paying for something using tax savings from tax exempt status. If you supported a bill banning tax funded religous buildings, I don’t think it would stop anything currently happening right now.
I’m sure you wont understand it but here it is.
I don’t need your flawed opinion. At the time when it first got started in 2005 I was working part time for a company and we went in and wired several of the metal barn style buildings with ethernet and wlreless. Everyone involved knew where the money came from. It came from the government in the form of a grant or as I like to call it welfare. Every President since then has supported it and trump has made it all about christian white haters.
You are making a good point, and providing at least somewhat of a source for your assertion is great.
But your delivery sucks. You would be more persuasive with less abrasive.
I understand his anger in general. They just doesn’t differentiate freind or foe when they vent their anger. That said, I explained in a direct response to them how it’s still not technically tax funded. They actually alude to that when they say “everyone involved knew where the money came from”. The organizations used loopholes to indirectly pay for those building. Those loop holes would ensure they are not technically tax funded. So a ban on tax funding religious buildings wouldn’t apply.
I’m not trying to convert anyone. I just put the information out there as it is.
Edit: If it abrades then it its hitting the mark.
In other words, your opinions and your words are useless
So if I assume those building you speak of were paid for by the grants the link mentioned. What are theynused for. Cause the grants are to pay an organization to provide social services.
If you pay an organization with tax money to provide a service, assumably with some profit built in. And they use the profit to build a building… you are stretching to call is tax funded. And my point holds up to this. A ban on tax funded religious building would not legally ban this.
Your pretty antagonistic to someone who litterally wants the same thing as you. I just want to be sure people are rallying around something that will actually achieve the goal. I want religious organization to recieve no special treatment compare to any other. Removing their tax exempt status is the goal with the biggest impact. Entirely getting rid of the office of faith based … is also a great goal. And I support doing that too. Banning tax funded structure for religious organizations wouldn’t do anything.
Think about it. They could sell the land and buildings to a charity they control that rents the church back to them. Then get the grants to build the gyms and such. Their core finances are still under a religious organization, but the buildings are technically owned by a non-religious organization.
lol. I’m not reading that. There is no amount of discourse that will get you to quit being so obtuse and out right confrontational. You have to be either a troll or some god botherer who doesn’t like that they are getting welfare.
Good to know your true colors.
Some churches teach positive things and perform useful services for the community. Most don’t, and many are actively harmful. Really they’re all harmful as they teach people to believe in absurd things with no evidence and that the harder you believe in their inane supernatural views, the better of a person you are. Also, to blindly trust authority, the pastor. If we could get rid of the churches that teach people about “demons” and indoctrinate them into conservative politics, that would be great.
The churches that do the most good are the ones that primarily serve and strengthen their surrounding community.
The church putting its weight behind Trump has turbocharged its own demise. Good fucking riddance.
Trump is only about as unpopular as Bush was in the last couple of years of his presidency. The church also put their weight behind Bush and they seem to have survived.
My wife’s is one that is. They’ve got no new blood coming in and a pastor that was intentionally sabotaging them, driving their most dedicated and supportive members out. No attempts at community outreach or retention. Also our state conference literally cares about money more than the god they supposedly serve.
They just got told that they can either sell the church and parsonage, keep some of the money from its sale to bring to the church they’ll merge with, or the conference will shut them down, sieze the property, sell it, and force them to merge with the other church anyway, but without the money.
It’s no wonder people have been bailing for decades. Totally sounds like something worth being a part of and associated with, right?
Turn them into homeless shelters or community centers so they can actually help the people!!!
Hell yeah
All that’s happening is, plain old Christianity is being superseded by tongue talkin’ pew walkin’ gun totin’ MAGA evangelicalism. Hateful, violent megachurches are doing just dandy.
is this still true of the mega churches?
Repurpose them as community centers
And Christians only have themselves to blame. Who wants to join this crazy fucking cult with all these people who are constant victims of everything and who don’t even follow the tenants of their religion or the man that the religion is actually fucking named after?
None of this is surprising.
I grew up Catholic but no longer practice and I don’t really miss church services. However, I attended a fairly charismatic church with a very involved congregation and that sense of community is very difficult to find outside of a church.
This is one of those things that churches have figured out. You need to have in real life community. For churches it’s part of their culture. A lot of secular groups haven’t put this together yet. Humanists are one group that have.
This why some people have trouble leaving religion. There’s no meatspace community for them. This is why we need people in these secular groups to start building community centers. It means starting out small, but there is a human need for meatspace interaction and social support.
Start a group that’s not a church!
Ya know, a group of actual good and nice people
