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submitted 1 week ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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.

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[-] FirstCircle@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 week ago

Congrats to Buffalo, it sounds like things are looking up there.

In my area (WA state) there was a small-ish Xian church (the one-storey building was probably <2000 sq ft and cheaply built - the steeple-ish thing (w/o a bell of course) blew off in a windstorm once)) that shut down a year or two ago and was boarded-up. It's been repurposed as a homeless shelter that specifically serves people with serious medical problems. The change has greatly improved the 'hood.

People here are arguing for the (gate-kept) community that Xian churches once offered in the US. By "gate-kept" I'm referring to the fact that Xian churches were, and are, open to only the "right kind" of people. I'm sympathetic to the need for community, and have even looked around locally for what's on offer from Xian or Xian-aligned/compatible organizations, but haven't found any that promote an ideology that isn't based on superstition and that don't demand that I defer in all things moral/ontological to a human power hierarchy within the church. One whose authority, such as it is, is based on "it's in the Book".

Hard pass on that. I'll find my community through volunteering and possibly, one day, through fraternal orgs, though I've found the ones around here (Masons, Rotary, &etc) are still hardcore on gatekeeping themselves, despite being on the wane just as much as Xian churches are. If you think you'd be most comfortable in a Xian-churchy sort of context, but are politically and socially "liberal", the UCC seems pretty inoffensive, though they still (at least locally here) carry on about "worshipping" invisible deities all the time. The Unitarian Universalists (uua.org) seem the least offensive of any old-timey church that I've encountered and it has a certain appeal to me for its association with New England and with 19th-century intellectuals like Emerson and Thoreau. The local UUs have had a local schism in the past five years, with the historical church taking a politically rightward lurch and another UU church spinning-off it but seemingly being more preoccupied with how their church is controlled (no more all-powerful pastor-types, only collective decision-making allowed) and less with charity and community. Finally we have Unity here (unity.org) which has potential for community, but where weekly service addendees seem to be almost exclusively elderly, so I wonder how much longer it will be a going concern?

I'm hoping that someday we get a Satanic Temple that meets in-person here. I could definitely see myself joining that. The Church of the Subgenius (https://www.subgenius.com/), praise "Bob", would suit me well too, and I already own a copy of the Sacred Text, but they don't meet in person AFAIK.

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[-] OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

Psh. Until trump’s project’25 handlers make church attendance mandatory for citizenship.

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[-] eran_morad@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

fucking good.

[-] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

At least there's some good news!!!

[-] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 week ago

while former houses of worship are being converted into bars, clubs

i want to see the pastors faces when their church gets turned into a full nude titty bar

[-] metaStatic@kbin.earth 9 points 1 week ago

depending on the church that could be a very interesting idea.

literally just walk into a full on church with the pews and altar and stained glass and strippers and communion shots

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[-] expatriado@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

quite region dependent, in the rural south they're still pretty strong, in the rest of the country and in large cities, not so much

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[-] TexMexBazooka@lemm.ee 13 points 1 week ago
[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

Next up: Republicans trying to make church attendance mandatory.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

They're already turning schools into churches, so they're probably not too upset over this.

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[-] pigup@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago
[-] shittydwarf@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 week ago

Safer for the kids

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

And some are forced to sell off the massive amount of prime real estate they were totally going to build churches on and not pay any taxes on the profits....

[-] Blackout@fedia.io 10 points 1 week ago

Kids can sleep easy tonight. The cult is dying.

[-] 800XL@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

Now the religious companies that remain are all merging together or being bought out by larger religious companies. They change their names to some douchey name that sounds like a shitty christian rock band and franchise. Somehow they're still allowed to be non-profits despite being so much for-profit.

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[-] MyOpinion@lemm.ee 10 points 1 week ago

The church is nothing but a tool of opposition. Glad to see it have less influence.

[-] itsgroundhogdayagain@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 week ago

Best news I've heard all day

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this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2024
696 points (98.7% liked)

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