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'Go in peace': US church founded in 1800 holds last service
A central Pennsylvania church with a 221-year history held its final service and is scheduled to close at the end of the year due to declining membership and attendance

[abcnews.go.com]

xenoview 8 Dec 26
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16 comments

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0

It is tempting to take the news of this church closure as a sign of progress. Unfortunately, however, while moderate Protestant church attendance is waning, Evangelical membership is waxing. This is real cause for concern. To the extent that Evangelical Christian dogmas conflicts with science, the future of human civilization, and possibly even our species' continued survival, is placed in grave peril. While China's greenhouse gas emissions have recently exceeded America's, the USA still holds first place as the world's greatest polluter. And we are quickly running out of time to address the climate change crisis. Feedback loops in the climate system are already kicking in, and the signs of impending catastrophe are everywhere: drought and megafires in the West, tornadoes and Hurricanes in the East, and crop-withering heat waves in the Midwest. The kind of science illiteracy we see in Evangelical Christian congregations has greatly enabled the fossil fuel industry to continue its rape of the natural world. Witness the high rate (85%) at which Evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump, an unabashed climate science denier and toady to corporate interests. And before Trump, we were saddled with oil man George W. Bush, who billed himself "born again" and whose disastrous presidency would not have been possible without the Evangelical Christian vote. So no, I am not celebrating. This is no county fair midway ride, but it is white knuckles all the way.

0

Could be that mainline Protestant churches are also seeing declining membership due to the skyrocketing popularity of megachurches. Old churches don't resemble television.

0

So ... a happy ending?

4

The community should take it over, and turn it into a homeless shelter.

0

Hallelujah….

3

One more down; too many others to go.

2

One domino falls……..hopefully one day there will be many more in rapid succession

6

WWWWHHHHAAATTTTTT??????
And their all powerful Sky Daddy is NOT going to save them with a last minute miracle, or a resurrected Michael Landon?

Just
So Long and thanks for all the Tithing?

You mean, there is no refund policy

3

Probably just become another church.

9

Thoughts and prayers.

Time to turn it into something useful.
A Homeless shelter pet rescue with no god involved.

Positive use of the resources.

3

I note an interesting assumption that the decline in attendance means rejection of belief. I'm unsure it means that at all. While the nons have become significant the percentage of Atheists are still at a low 8%, or so. That suggests they still hold levels of belief but are rejecting the hypocritical dogmatic club membership. They see it for the financial scam that it is and turned away but more agnostic and not old enough to really bother with such questions. That may change coming out of this pandemic and ignite the spiritual new age ideas (like mine). Just a thought.

@rainmanjr

Your statement: "I note an interesting assumption that the decline in attendance means rejection of belief."

I read: "also believes that fewer parents have insisted that their children attend services"..
which is a good way forward in my opinion.

There could also be a rise of more closeted Atheists🤔 ...like there are here in South Africa. ....and those who "don't attend" or "not interested" and we often hear, now more than ever, those who prefer to use the term, "spiritual" instead.

In times past, a plague meant the religitards, falling to their knees and beseeching forgiveness for their angry deity.
Today it tends to show up that both god and religion are the same big pile of dog shit and even the people who do believe in him/her/it thinks god is a tyrannical prick who they don't want to worship any more anyway

@LenHazell53 Doesn’t it amaze you how believers claim to ‘love’ the god they ‘fear’ so much?

@CuddyCruiser Yes. Fear is hardly a reason for worship but it seems to work.

@rainmanjr Big time. But just like with any bad habit, it can be extremely hard to break away from. Takes willpower.

@CuddyCruiser yes I totally agree, how can you love that which you fear….

@Delbertj The same way, a victim stays with an abusive spouse, convincing themselves that the abuse is a sign of love.

1

Hallelujah, praise the lord!!!! Thank you baby Jesus!!!!🤠

4

Remake that turkey as a secular meeting place.

How about a shelter for the homeless? They have pews, bathrooms, kitchen....hey, it could work!

3

This does my heart good to see. The less the belief in the ridiculous religion, the better!

4

Maybe they will use the building for something really useful, like a bar.

Bars serve, for drinkers and alcoholics, many of the same functions as churches. A place to spend their money, commune with like-minded souls and find community and a social network, etc. For many the rituals of drinking and getting drunk are as sacred, to them, as anything that happens in a church is to its members.

@TomMcGiverin Talk about like minded....for sure Tom. A place that harms my spirits and wounds my thoughts....still, I just gotta go sometimes.

@TomMcGiverin l have found more honesty and a lot less hypocrisy in bars than in churches.

@Sticks48 And I would say it’s safe to assume many of them were inebriated to some extent!! And yet have more credibility than the house of brainwashing!!

@Sticks48 So true.

10

It's a decline in ignorance and superstition.

mischl Level 8 Dec 26, 2021
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