The stark beauty of empty megachurches

The effect on the congregation is probably not much different in this day and age than a solemn pontifical mass with the rite of sprinkling was in an earlier time. Only the tools to gain the effects are different.

What is different is a Quaker service with long periods of silence, or a silent retreat over 8 days.

Just goes to "show" you what a "show" the church really is. These places are nothing more than hollywood stages paid for by zombied members desperate for answers. These obedient lemming will do anything to buy their way into heaven and there are plenty of hands out in the name of god willing to take their last dime.

Imagine if they took the money they put into these buildings, preachers and tv advertising and put it where it belongs - back in the pockets of those that really cannot afford to donate it in the first place OR, god forbid, to charities and the poor.

Hey, sillypeople, who do you think churches help? The rich? Get a clue, will ya?

maybe we should build places where we could worship Bernie Madoff, AIG and all the fine people. Greed is awesome!

Wow, some harsh comments to be sure. For the record, we're not all obedient lemmings who are willing to buy our way into heaven. It's not possible to do - Jesus' death on the cross paid for our ticket. It's not a debt that any amount of money donated to a church will pay. Neither are we desperate for answers - we already know where to find the answers: in the bible. Lastly, the majority of us aren't financially prosperous - we're normal middle class or, in many cases, lower class like everyone else.

Having faith doesn't make us any better or worse off than anyone else. Not in this life, anyway. :)

Imagine if the money used to build those things had been put to good use.

Thats exactly it--you are "hedging your bets" for the next round. I think its sad that the "godly" actions of Christians are really just self-interested and not at all to help another.

The best part is when they haul out a giant needle onto the main stage so you can come up and walk your camel through it.

Bunko shoots and scores!!

these comments are awesome, i love it. thanks for the laughs today.

you truly can't love someone until you don't have to.
that's the point, it's not necessary to hedge your bets. JC has
handled all the good works necessary and sufficient for
salvation... so we love just because ... because our neighbors
need it, nothing necessary in return.

try and lose the attitude, it's a crappy way to go through life.

all of this religious debate aside, i really don't see how this is art. this is a series of photos of empty buildings. modern art sickens me.

It looks like a **beautiful** show. I'm going to see it. In the meantime, I'm crushing on Michael for his intense and vibrant blog.

YOU LIBERALS ARE ALL JEALOUS BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO CHURCH AND NO MORALS AND NO CLUE

GOD BLESS YOU

Cathedrals to fulfill the giant egos of the empty-headed and drivelling idiots who pose as priests and potentates. Those who donated to the building of these idols should hang their heads in shame; the money would have been better used find cures for cancer, heart disease and aids than clothing the non-ministers and fake gods of these "churches" in $2000 suits. It proves to me that my choice to be agnostic is not a foolish one!

I say that these churches are, as St. Paul said, trying to "be all things to all people." That is, they are utilizing modern technologies and tastes to make their message relevant for today, though definitely not my style. If they did not, the same people would criticize them for being old-fashioned, boring, and out of touch. Michael Paulson uses the phrase "critique of the congregations," but does anyone on this thread actually think it is fair to judge the folks in the congregation, their thoughts, minds, souls, actions, by photoing a bunch of empty chairs? Would you want to be pre-judged on the basis of your empty seat somewhere?

sillypeople:
You should take a Dale Carnegie course, "how to win friends and influence people." Calling people "lemmings" and "zombied" shows your elitist, condescending bias.

I have said this before, but I think Michael Paulson should broker a meeting between religious believers and agnostic /atheists, to let each side talk, ands see that neither 'side' has horns on their head etc., similar to the ecumenical dialogues between various Christian denominations, and interreligious dialogues, so that we would at least tolerate each other better, if not actually
loving and enjoying one another.

I am sitting in Fort Wayne, IN wondering why I moved here from Boston. These people freak me out.

Thats exactly it--you are "hedging your bets" for the next round. I think its sad that the "godly" actions of Christians are really just self-interested and not at all to help another.

RR, thanks for lumping all Christians together in their beliefs and actions. You are as bigoted and close-minded as those that you hold in such contempt. You are just too blind to see it.

And I'm sure that you'll think to yourself "well, I didn't mean ALL Christians" and the truth is you did. Otherwise you wouldn't have phrased it the way you did.

England's mediaeval cathedrals made use of the technology of the times in stone, paint and stained glass to put on a show that must have been even more stunning to their congregations. Much more expensive too, in comparison to the everyday wealth of the times. The church has used showbiz to wow the faithful for centuries

Chris G -

How do you know it's me that's hedging my bets. I don't believe in
karma - I believe in grace.

Good luck to you

Hmmm... I find this whole article and discussion a little interesting, considering I'm the music pastor at one of the churches photographed. In fact, I even met the photographer, and he didn't ask me anything about myself or the church the whole time he was there. I would love to sit down with him sometime and talk about what we try to accomplish from week to week and why we have technology to do it. It would make for a more informed debate.

I find this discussion very interesting. I attend the church in "Temperance" Michigan, actually Ottawa Lake, MI, and the body of believers and the ministry there has really enhanced my spiritual life over the last 5 years. Maybe it's the fact that I was publicly involved in ministry for 20 years of my life that I needed a place where I could just go and worship. The message is real, the worship is inspiring, and I have grown in areas that really needed to be challenged.

The judgmental spirit and intolerance of those that despise church and Christianity is evident in these posts. Sad to see. One humorous note that comes up in all of these discussions. The lament of the church and money. Yet, it is a call for a mere 10% of one's income and how much does the U.S. government require of you? How mega-churchy was Obama's campaign? How much did he spend? Perhaps that money would be better spent where it belongs? And, what does he want to do now? Take more money from people. Yet, rarely are his followers called lemmings, despite their blind obedience to every word that procedes out of his mouth. For many, he is their god.

The best research that tries to be objective about how megachurches (churches with 2000+ attendance) differ from other churches is being done by Hartford Religious Research--headed by Scott Thumma.
http://hirr.hartsem.edu/megachurch/megachurches_research.html
There were 1,250 megachurches in the US in 2007. (They keep a constantly updated list at http://hirr.hartsem.edu/megachurch/database.html

Duke sociologist Mark Chaves writes, "In every denomination on which we have data, people are increasingly concentrated in the very largest churches, and this is true for small and large denominations, for conservative and liberal denominations, for growing and declining denominations. This trend began rather abruptly in the 1970s, with no sign of tapering off."