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.”
To quote Frank Zappa: “Tax the churches. Tax the businesses owned by the churches.”
And then, for the ones that do actual charity work, have them run the charity separately from the church, under the same rules as secular charities, with regards to taxes and reporting.
Absolutely. There is no reason for these predators to be tax exempt.
I am more than okay with churches being tax-exempt provided they stay strictly away from politics. But they don’t, so tax away!
What? No, they should pay taxes regardless of anyrhing. There’s no good reason they should be exempt at all.
Good, the majority of churches have changed from social gatherings to political rallies, especially in smaller communities. Rural America is going to die out with the baby boomers and they have no one to blame but themselves for constantly electing these old assholes.
As a Christian…yeah. Yeah this!
The Church is supposed to be neighbors looking out for each other and studying in each others’ homes, and gathering as a community, not superstar collisseums of tens of thousands (those won’t be closing huh lol) or concert venues or monolithic “Everybody listen to this one guy who read the same book we can read but we should do everything he says.” hierarchy clubs.
They opened their hearts to the rich, the far-reicht grifters, the hatemongers, and pushed Jesus right out in the process. Driven by greed and pushing a worldview of greed, is there any wonder why people are tightening their purses as they get robbed left and right by the false idols they elect?
Finally, some good news in the US.
It won’t be the churches that most need to close. The quiet little church that feeds the local homeless people will close while the Trumpist evangelical megachurches with the hate-spreading, abusive, grifter pastors will be fine.
The mega churches are pretty famous for “stealing sheep.” They’re a bit like country clubs were but for poorer folks. They’ve got facilities and sports clubs and daycare, but offer a degree of
segregationseparation from the general population.Yep. The Wal-Mart of religion
Take over small town drive out locals then raise prices
They are running them like businesses, treating beliefs like marketing, and wondering why nobody is interested.
Boomerslop
They’re also famously not feeding the local hungry or taking in the needy, like when they lock the doors during hurricanes and other acts of God. If they do go on missions, it’s both just a fund raiser and a chance to convert foreigners to wash their other evil acts in public view. They’ll make pamphlets and videos and awards for themselves for their good deeds, which Jesus expressly said not to do.
CIA supported movement to counter act Liberation Theology of the last century is how this became what it is today
Be that as it may, I absolutely do not view religion (Christianity or any other faith, abrahamic or otherwise) as a positive influence on this country or the world in general.
If we’re just talking about the US and Christianity (such as it is) here: the fact that so many people have been so easily and readily swept into the ideological sphere of evangelicalism and Christian Dominionism is one of the primary cancers that is destroying the social and political fabric of this place. I’m talking about not just about mega churches, but small town evangelical preachers who’ve gone round the bend and are now full theoated Nationalist Christians, with all that that entails these days (my uncle turned into one of those a while back - we are not on speaking terms). The fact that “normal” Christians appear to be perfectly content to cede ideological control and leadership to a dizzying combination of white nationalists, end-times enthusiasts, tech-magnate neo-feudalists, and profit-gospel MLM scam artists is just… well, there’s a whole fucking section in the Bible about how all of that is a bad idea, but nobody in the cult is reading that, and no “normal” Christians seem to have made much headway at all in getting those people to understand what the religion is supposedly intended to be about.
The fact that “normal” Christians appear to be perfectly content to cede ideological control and leadership to a dizzying combination of white nationalists, end-times enthusiasts, tech-magnate neo-feudalists, and profit-gospel MLM scam artists is just…
What makes you feel they’re happy?
Repeal churches tax exempt status and most of those megachurches will implode practically overnight. Remove their ability to effectively grift and most of them will move on to a more profitable scam and the ones that are left will be far less dangerous with less money to throw around for bribes.
Reading between the lines in the article, it’s the more agreeable ones that are closing. Methodists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, to some extent Catholics. The ones that are thriving are your batshit insane Baptist, Evangelical, Pentecostal types. So don’t get too excited from the headline, the worst of Christianity will always survive.
They’ll become less and less mainstream hopefully. Get the assholes out of schools.
I wish there were something like community centers to replace the void they’ll leave behind. As a kid we had rec centers with game rooms and courts and stuff. I remember getting a computer lab and thinking it was the coolest thing.
Obviously not the exact same anymore but something similar. I do believe people are becoming lonelier and isolated because of the pandemic and the rise of social media.
Good
This is a “tsunami” in the same way that the eradication of polio was.
Hell yeah
I want to buy up a megachurch and turn it into a to something that serves everything the Victorian bullshitters despised.
Over here, an abortion clinic. And here we have the needle exchange. On the east end there’s a gay bar and sex dungeon in the basement. (We didn’t really have to make a lot of changes to the basement.) second floor is a children’s library (it was important we placed that one as far away from the basement as possible since….well, trauma from the previous tenants). Psychotherapy is offered on the weekends. In the annex we have a furry menagerie and then the grey room.
In the field out back we have a solar array and charging stations in the parking lot. We also added a bus stop here so those without cars can still come in for low-income food assistance on sundays.
What’s the grey room? Oh it the most sinister room of all. All the complaints we receive from Christians are fed into a paper shredder. Their phone calls also just go to a speakerphone in that room. Nobody mans the grey room. It’s where Christians BS gets ignored entirely.
…ok
Jesus never went to church.
uplifting news!
In Amsterdam, there’s a very nice old church that has been converted to a leather club.
Near my house in England, there’s a big church hall that was sold off by the church and is now still a community center, but with a couple professional offices in part of the building. The building now seems far less derelict (the church hadn’t been giving it the level of maintenance it needed) and it’s being used much more as a result.
The problem is america doesn’t have nice churches
Sure we do, they’re mega churches that are tax exemption scams and don’t do anything to help people but help take away their money.
I mean the nice Gothic buildings
crossroads is also where they make deals with a demon.
