MetaFilter: The Logia Fulcrum. ⇒
4 August 2005, early evening
America's MegaChurch obsession is creepy.
This is a post from my link log: If you click the title of this post you will be taken the web page I am discussing.
4 August 2005, early evening
America's MegaChurch obsession is creepy.
This is a post from my link log: If you click the title of this post you will be taken the web page I am discussing.
We are seeing a bit of this in Australia as well but mostly in Sydney or Melbourne. Where I live in Adelaide, there is a mega-church (by Adelaide standards that is ) and its freaking huge.
by Sunny on August 5 2005, 12:16 am #
I don’t normally challenge your America bashing, Ram, because I am rather fond of the old bashing myself. And certainly the Christian tendencies of this country get to me… but this time I don’t think you are being fair. I mean, big churches being an American thing? Have you heard of the Vatican? Or Italy as a whole? Or Turkey? Or Russia? Hell, one of the largest places of worship I have ever been in was a mosque in Senegal. The truth is that man has traditionally built most of his greatest works of art as monuments to god – and I mean greatest in the sense of largest. In truth, the Christian right in America is largely composed of various Protestant sects, most of whom eschew the grandiose works that the Catholics, et alia, prefer.
Humans like them so big houses of worship. I personally think they are beautiful – go figure, me being the atheist.
by Ben on August 5 2005, 12:54 am #
I don’t find the physical churches objectionable, I find that glitzy super-sized version of Christianity creepy. This article on Harper is actually a really interesting look at the phenomenon: Soldiers of Christ.
by ramanan on August 5 2005, 3:12 am #
Oh that part. Yeah I understand that part. Whenever I think of those places I feel like it’s just a combination of Jesus, a laser light show, and a shopping mall.
No you are right, that stuff just freaks me the hell out. I’ve had more firsthand experience of the sort of New Christianity (evangelical) than I’d like – last summer I saw a born again Christian girl for a while. What struck me most was the utter ignorance of the girl and those of her brethren that I encountered. I don’t mean ignorance in the malicious sense in whcih many mean it, but in a pure sense: she just didn’t know very much about the world or especially about other faiths. She was a very likely candidate for a brainwashing, and her time with me kind of ruined her. I exposed her to other traditions, discussed the logical fallacies and historical misrepresentations of some of what she had been taught, and eventually she saw that things weren’t as clear cut as her “teachers” had led her to believe. I am thinking of writing a piece soon about the Kid Rockification of America (my term, hereby trademarked, heh), this idea that “it is my right as an American to be ignorant”.
by Ben on August 5 2005, 11:46 am #
Ben,
Your Pygmalion quest of helping that girl is very interesting. Personally, I think Church has very little to do with their ignorance. There are other factors for that. Just like hanging out in a library or squatting in a coffee shop doesn’t make somebody enlightened or an intellectual.
by Sunny on August 6 2005, 3:53 am #
I don’t think Ben was suggesting Christianity makes you dumb, but that these sorts of churches attract a particular kind of person: Americans. zing. Seriously though, the way the churches are run it sounds like Christianity for lazy people who don’t want to take the time to understand their faith.
by ramanan on August 6 2005, 3:47 pm #