I worked for an agency helping close a midwestern diocese. They branded it a positive thing but I was in the meetings with priests hearing the low down and how closings will go. It’s sad. Half the priests are old and just trying to get through. The other half want to help but are being told the cost of their renovations is more important. Let it crumble.

!upliftingnews@lemmy.world

Boardroom meme:

Boss: Church attendance is down. What can we do to turn this around?

Person 1: discreetly move pedophile pastors around to hide their proclivities?

Person 2: assure the congregation that we still hate gay people

Person 3: follow the teachings of Christ and show love and charity to our neighbors regardless of who they are

Person 3 is thrown out the stained glass window.

Good riddance.

Good.

I pray to God everyday that i can live long enough to witness the day humanity completely abandons religion. Inshallah🙏

Oh no! So, anyway...

From what it seems to me, the megachurches are doing okay. It's the more traditional denominations that are suffering. Overall religion might be on a decline, but certain sects are flourishing. One silver lining about some of the megachurches is that they're led by a strong personality and once they're gone, the whole organization putters out. They're more organized around an individual than a theology.

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.

No, don't close your damn doors, open them up to the homeless. Make these useless buildings good for something!

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

That's something more churches should do. They always preach about "helping the poor" but most don't give a fuck.

Great news! Maybe we can finally tax these cults as well.

The internet is killing God but giving birth to a new age of conspiracy theorists.

So, not much has changed.

Interesting that they can't stay afloat financially, because they don't pay taxes.

And yet, somehow, they still make all the policy in this country.

As churches decline we're losing what is, essentially, a free communal space. Church was a place where people built community.

We need to replace it with something, not just cheer because a shitty religion is dying.

churches are closing

Good

Leaders warn of the risks

The risks of what? The risk of not returning to the dark ages where we damn near all believed the imaginary writings of goat herders and killed for that?

Thanks, no thanks, I love that risk.

Pit of vipers closes due to insufficient snakebite volunteers.

Good.

Good! Fuck 'em!

45% is considerably higher than I expected. I thought it would be closer to 10-15%.

Hallelujah!

The small churches that are more likely to actually be charitable and are more likely to be inclusive will shut down. The bigot-run megachurches will be just fine.

fucking good.

Good

Government grifters and charlatan faith leaders have completely debased the idea of 'Christianity' over the past few decades to the point where most people associate Christianity as some joke religion that no one really takes seriously.

Personally, I see anyone who proclaims themselves as Christian as a liar, bigot, narcissist and someone lacking in empathy for others. Sure you can tell me about Jesus Christ but I associate anyone who claims him are just paying lip service to the religion and that they are just psychotic sociopaths who are only interested in power and money.

I don't mind Churches dying out because they've basically destroyed their own religion themselves.

Unfortunately, humans are a dumb species that rely heavily on wanting to believe in something so once this religion dies out another one will take its place and repeat the process. It's been happening for thousands of years so I don't think we'll stop that tradition any time soon.

Crazy that it takes the church shitting down for them to actually follow gods message of giving to the poor.