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The Future of Religion in America?

profxm, August 8, 2010July 20, 2010

I was riding my bike through myneighborhoodwith my son the other day when I noticed a “For Sale” sign in an odd place – in front of a local church:

Yep, the local church is for sale. I couldn’t help but think that this is reflective of the growing number of “nones” in the U.S. At some level I’m hoping I see more of this.

Thoughts?

secularization

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Comments (11)

  1. Andrew H says:
    August 8, 2010 at 9:21 am

    I kind of feel that hope along with you. Though I attend a church, I have been beginning to believe that there are more productive places to find community. My family became involved with a local theater company 2 years ago. It is a wonderful community of friends and in many ways better than church. We are not antagonistic of other theater companies, rather we support them. No one is going to burn forever if they don’t come to our group. 🙂 My children get a message of love, creativity, and inclusion that is sometimes sorely lacking in church.

  2. profxm says:
    August 8, 2010 at 9:48 am

    Good point, Andrew. Community does not equal church or vice versa. In fact, my brother-in-law, an active Mormon, just moved out of a ward in SLC because, after 10 years, no one in the ward knew who he was or talked to him, despite him attending regularly.

  3. ff42 says:
    August 8, 2010 at 10:04 am

    Anyone have solid numbers of LDS buildings? I think it will be quite a long time before these buildings are sold because (at least along the corridor) the wards are packed three to a building.

  4. Jen says:
    August 8, 2010 at 11:15 am

    Here in Dallas there’s a former Lutheran church for sale not too far from us. There seems to be an exodus to the megachurches, but that may be just this area.

  5. Daniel says:
    August 9, 2010 at 1:30 am

    There’s a Baptist church in my area. It’s being demolished. I think of this as a small victory for reason.

    Ideally, the nice old churches could be converted into libraries, restaurants, or apartments. Something that would contribute. But this building was dingy and old. I don’t think it could have been made into anything nice.

  6. Chino Blanco says:
    August 9, 2010 at 10:03 am

    A couple of commenters on this PostMo thread are reporting an LDS building spree.

  7. Wayne says:
    August 9, 2010 at 11:18 am

    I have read articles in the New Yorker and magazines about the Megachurch trend. All over the country younger people are going to the megachurches (evangelical) and leaving the old congragations. Don’t get your hopes up about religion folding.

  8. Chino Blanco says:
    August 9, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    Since the megachurch route is probably not a realistic option for the LDS, I wonder if Daymon Smith could be right about Mormonism eventually pioneering the first serious 100% online major world religion?

  9. Chino Blanco says:
    August 10, 2010 at 3:35 am

    You thought I was kidding about Mormons shifting online? Here’s the official blueprint:

  10. kuri says:
    August 10, 2010 at 2:08 pm

    An LA Times writer blames it on “another, more unsettling conclusion: that many people who call themselves Christian don’t really believe, deep down, in the tenets of their faith.”

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