Churches fight to stay open as attendance dwindles
abcnews.go.com
Churches faced with empty pews are fighting to keep their doors open, while former houses of worship are being converted into bars, clubs and luxury condos.

Summary

Churches across the U.S. are grappling with dwindling attendance and financial instability, forcing many to close or sell properties.

The Diocese of Buffalo has shut down 100 parishes since the 2000s and plans to close 70 more. Nationwide, church membership has dropped from 80% in the 1940s to 45% today.

Some churches repurpose their land to survive, like Atlanta’s First United Methodist Church, which is building affordable housing.

Others, like Calcium Church in New York, make cutbacks to stay open. Leaders warn of the long-term risks of declining community and support for churches.

  • Flying Squid
    5•6 days ago

    Like I said, Christianity or science. It can’t be both. If it’s a mistranslation, a misunderstanding or a lie, it doesn’t matter. The Bible as written and believed as the fundamental doctrine of Christianity says it’s true.

    And if there is no magic, Jesus loses a great deal of his importance. He’s certainly not worthy of worship if he had no magic powers. Veneration, maybe, but hell defies any sort of scientific scrutiny. A fiery furnace for an etherial soul, as it is described, makes no sense in a rational world.

    • @[email protected]
      4•6 days ago

      My head canon is that Jesus was kind of a flamboyant street magician (if not a con artist) whose tricks were exaggerated by storytellers of the time.

      Optimistically, things in the Bible weren’t meant to be taken literally, but got corrupted over the centuries. And it also explicitly became a tool to control people.

      I think that people who take the Bible literally are probably going against the idea that the authors and Jesus (separately) had about what they’d said/written.

      But I’m an Atheist, not a theologist or anything, lol

      • Flying Squid
        2•6 days ago

        Optimistically, things in the Bible weren’t meant to be taken literally,

        Optimistic and not reflective of the beliefs at the time. Jesus himself is pretty explicit about following the Old Testament laws, so I’m guessing he thought the rest of it was true or he wouldn’t say to follow them considering there are 613 of them. And the Jesus story fulfils a bunch of Old Testament prophecy, which means that seeing into the future is possible and cause-and-effect are reversible.