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Churches close their doors as fewer Americans attend
(abcnews.go.com)
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this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2024
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Yeah but those ladies feel better about themselves, which is what religion is about not helping people.
Those ladies justifiably feel good for sharing their time and resources to help others. Fuck anyone who thinks kindness isn't laudable.
The tragedy of it is that their kindness on its own isn't enough because of greater societal issues that shouldn't have to be addressed by private charities, including the church. The church shouldn't have to be a food bank and disaster relief organization. It shouldn't have to weigh the value of gifts based on how they'll address the basic human needs of the community.
But in so much of the country, the church makes up the entirety of local social services. In small towns, you have a police department to handle crime and the church to handle everything else.
And the other side of that token is that people shouldn't have to rely on churches for survival. I'm sure you do good work, and I generally have no grief with (f/ex) the unitarians who also do good community work, but churches (and secular aid orgs, etc.) do not make society on their own and should not take the fall or bear responsibility for the failings of capitalism.
That's the exact point I'm trying to make.
Our government fails to take care of its citizens, so private institutions, including religious organizations, food banks, and more are relied upon to provide those services.
So when that kind church lady spends $200 and 40 hours making a custom quilt for a poor person, it's viewed as a waste of resources when so many more important needs for that person aren't being addressed.
Instead, the government should be providing those services, the kind old lady can just be kind with her gifts Instead of wasteful, and the churches can responsibly spend money inwardly to sustain themselves without doing a disservice to society.