What has happened to my hometown? (San Antonio)

[AspenRose]

I've been gone from S.A. for six years (except for the visits to see family, of course).

I'm currently here for the Thanksgiving break, and I couldn't believe the "Fundy" influence I saw literally EVERYWHERE. Churches on every corner, Fundy billboards on 35 and 410....

I was used to Hagee, Max Lucado and Buckner Fanning but now it seems the "Fundy" influence has just exploded in town (especially in the northern part).

The very blue, very Catholic, very blue collar San Antonio I grew up in is now purple, trending red, is hyper-white collar, and is FUNDY to the core.

What in the world has happened in the six years since I've been away????? Someone fill me in please (while I down a plate of Blanco Cafe cheese enchiladas and a praline)!

(The development at 281 and 1604 is out of control, by the way, but that's for another post at another time!)

[Gman]

1. That's why I live on the southside

and will never live north of I10. From the construction on I10 before Crossroads inside the loop to the gridlock on 1604 north to the nightmare that is I35, it's beyond me why anyone would want to live there. Then I go to Houston and drive Katy Freeway (currently constructing 24 lanes on I10) and think, hmmm, it's not that bad here.

San Antonio's biggest problem is that there are so damn many people moving here from out of state and joining that fundie shit. They always say, "oh, the people in San Antonio are so nice." Well, it's time to quit being nice because those people are staying here.

Personally, I don't even consider anything north of 410 part of the San Antonio culture. It's some kind of bland hybrid yuppie crap where people think Lone Star Cafe is great Mexican food.

San Antonio has always been a blend of Mexican, German, Polish, Belgium, Italian and several others and everyone had their own church to go to. These people moving here don't have a clue what nationality(ies) they are and are oblivious to real culture.

I don't need it, don't want it. I prefer the proletariat.

[carpetbagger]

2. Here's a bit of what happened (gimme that ol' big box religion)

In the 70s and 80s, the people most tuned in to conservative religion read the books, watched the tv preachers, and became the movement. The post-war suburban churches of the mainline denominations did nothing to counter the religious content of this trash. When they did, they became dismissive, but trying to please everyone, didn't preach the compelling social Gospel that made them what they had become by the early 1960's.

Since the emphasis of the megachurches is on becoming big, they entertained, they grew, and natural selection chose the most successful, which by the late 1990s were able to purchase the prime spots along 1604. After about 20 years of sloth by the mainline denominations, there's no longer the commitment by young people to remain, so they go to the entertainment complexes known as megachurches. I've experienced this first-hand in an attempt to find a church. The older churches in NW have absolutely nothing to offer families with children. so religiously, what's left are God's Big Box Retailers, and a few active urban churches which mostly cater to gays and professionals.

South side is still pretty OSA-like. Like in all of Latin America, evangelical protestants make gains every year, and locally the new archbishop lacks Flores' charisma, but the place is still pretty blue collar.

[tavalon]

3. Texas is infected with that all over, even a little here in Austin

When I moved away (6 years ago too), Buckner Fanning and Hagee were all the rage but nowadays it's exactly as you say.

[flamin lib]

4. It's part of the world wide move to fundamentalism and fanaticism.

Islam doesn't have a lock on radicalism. I've noticed the move to the extreme in Christianity for a decade or more. First it's church attendance, then it's the literal interpretation, next it's creationism in science class and eventually somebody blows up a clinic or bombs the Olympics and the FBI building in OK City.

Subtle, slow, incremental and deadly.

[Maestro]

5. San Antonio was and suppose still is my second home

I used to love the area. My wife used to live off 1604 and Bandera Highway before we met. My aunt and uncle live in Helotes. My mother and her family lived in Eagle Pass and came to the "big" city quite often. I was even married there in an historic home. However, many carpet baggers have moved into the area over the past 15 years and for some reason a lot of tele-evangelists. Hagee is the effin worst but he has been there for quite some time anyhow. The city planners just kept building these huge communties and attracting more and more business. In some aspects this is what they are supposed to do, but the growth is like a cancer now. SA is not what it used to be. I used to say I wanted to live there, but not anymore.

The Northside area is very radical rethug and prime breeding ground for non-thinking fundies. I don't understand it really, but I think the climate, proximity to the Hill Country and the inexpensive living has attracted a lot of people, mainly radical social conservatives who are ignoring the rich, cultural (mainly Hispanic) heritage of SA and creating their own fundie-style. It disgusts me.

[carpetbagger]

6. What's this about carpetbaggers?

I brought no televangelists with me when I moved here. They're locally grown.

In defense of the carpetbaggers, however, if you go to democratic meetings on the northside, there's a surprising number of expatriate yankees there.

And the best pizza in town is from a guy from Nyack NY.

You got somethin' ta say ta me? </Lon Gisland Accent>

[Maestro]

7. Of course I didn't mean you carpetbagger!

I'm sure there are some enlightened carpetbaggers like yourself, but I was referring to those that have made SA some sort of revival town to which the OP referred. No offense truly. If you can make SA more democratic like it used to be, do it!

[AspenRose]

8. I agree, it's disgusting and heartbreaking at the same time

My family moved there in 1974. Oh, the changes....(!) RONALD REAGAN high school? Are you kidding me?!? *sigh*

My folks live near "Mammary mall" (Rolling Oaks) so to get to their house you have to take 1604 around the way. I could not BELIEVE what I saw. I lost count of the megachurches. (I'm a Christian, BTW.) "Fort God" (Hagee's church) has been there for a while but I couldn't believe the OTHER churches that have sprung up around him. Leaving town I saw a billboard for a church that was advertising an EXTREME SPORTS PARK on its site, for Pete's sake!

And you're right; the social conservatives are commuting into town from Fair Oaks Ranch and Dominion, if not Boerne. Almost like they don't want to 'get their hands dirty' or something.

It's a shame. Henry B. is probably rolling in his grave.

[AspenRose]

9. I just had a thought....how has all this affected FIESTA????

EOM

[carpetbagger]

10. I don't think it's affected it by much.

Realize I've only been living in SA since 2000, and only lived in TX (Houston) for a few years in the early 1980s before that.

My impression is that Fiesta is largely an inside-410 and southside thing. Most of the people living in Republican Oaks (or is it The Oaks of Mammon?) might go to a parade, but that's about it.

Southside hasn't changed much since 2000. Frankly, the bigger changes there are yet to come with the Toyota plant.

[pmbryant]

11. Lived here 7 years and haven't noticed any big changes of that sort

There are a lot of churches here, but there were a whole lot back in 1998 when I first moved here as well. I haven't seen any 'fundy billboards', but I don't drive I-35 or 410 much. I would view those are more indicative of the politics of the Bushie years than anything fundamental about San Antonio as a whole.

Do you have any other specific examples of the 'fundy' influence being so much more prevalent than a few years ago?

Peter