Church attendance is down?

[JitterbugPerfume]

I recently got an e mail from an old friend (OK ! so we are still friends. crucify me!)and she said attendance is way down in her fundy church especially among the young.

Morale among the faithful is waning since the youth pastor had an affair with a teen age girl and there is a serious division among members.

She continues to pray for the redemption of my athiest soul.

[Jamastiene]

1. Any more, I see any time the fundies spend praying for my soul

as less time they spend in my face about it. :evilgrin:

I can kind of see why attendance is down at that particular church, lol.

[JitterbugPerfume]

6. thank goodness we are seperated my MILES

I have known this particular woman for sixty plus years. the problem with fundy people is that the do not grow and learn. They have no curiosity about the world we exist in , only the so called after life.

[Wapsie B]

2. There have been stories for several years about mega churches losing members

and fears among the fundamentalist community about empty pews and young people turning off to the restrictive repressive nature of their church.

[Warpy]

3. Two things got the butts in the pews: showbiz and prosperity theology

The showbiz is wearing thin and the prosperity theology has been exposed as a vicious lie for everybody but the high living preachers, especially among the young. The young have been hit the hardest by the Republican recession.

I'm not surprised they're moving away from the churches. I sincerely doubt that many of them will join the ranks of us bitter old atheists, but I do see abandoning the church and the pernicious theology as a good sign.

Let your friend to continue to pray for your atheist soul. It occupies her time and keeps her out of bars.

[eleny]

7. Last time hubby and I were on a major trip through the south...

He asked if I remembered all those tiny wooden Baptist churches that used to be all over those states. It was back when we passed through Vicksburg in 2006. The last time we were there before that was around 1981. It went from an interesting historical town to a haven for mega casinos and mega churches. It's history was completely lost in the showbiz you talk about.

[JDPriestly]

13. "Mega casinos and mega churches." Isn't it odd how fundamentalism

and gambling became popular at the same time?

[Jamastiene]

32. I have a little trivia for you.

Next time you make a trip through the South, if you'll pay attention to how much the churches and the banks look alike, you'll notice that the architecture is almost identical. You can barely tell them apart.

Many of us here in the South have noticed this. We have also noticed that these types of banks that look like churches and churches that look like banks appear in areas where elaborate mega churches have been built. It's like getting tons of new banks goes hand in hand with these mega churches. It's a strange phenomenon that a lot of us have actually talked about a lot here in my hometown.

[JitterbugPerfume]

9. Hi Warpy!

the very idea of this particular woman in a bar makes my head explode :rofl:

[SidDithers]

23. I stumbled across Creflo Dollar on TV while in New York last week...

and it sure didn't look like attendance was down. I was both dumbfounded and frightened by the swaying hordes on display in his "church".

Sid

[liberal_at_heart]

4. my dad is foaming at the mouth

One of my brothers who has not gone to church in a long time is finally ready to go back to church. Now he has two children back in Christian church and one Buddhist child(that's me) who he believes won't have eternal life. I love how he has switched his rhetoric. He knows I don't respond well to the whole you're going to hell speech so he has nuanced it into Buddha doesn't offer eternal life, Jesus does. He is saying the same thing. He is still bascially saying I'm going to hell. He's just trying to be more diplomatic about it.

[Arugula Latte]

17. Hee hee, dontcha love that reasoning?

Jesus offers you a better deal! Act now, and we'll throw in this lovely, not tacky in any way, Thomas Kinkade cross to hang proudly on your wall!

[liberal_at_heart]

21. lol

[TrogL]

28. For being a "realistic" painter, Kinkade sure screws things up

That church is gonna have a flooded basement for sure or just plain fall in the river.

The only thing that should be built that close to a river is either a dock or a water wheel.

[Arugula Latte]

30. Tsk, tsk, Gawd and Jebus will not let that happen, oh ye of little faith!

[eleny]

5. Prays for your atheist soul? She might try trading that arrogance for some humility

That always stopped my xtian pals at work in their tracks who said that to me. :evilgrin:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. My favorite solution:

http://bible.cc/matthew/6-6.htm

Stops the noxious and noisy buggers in their tracks. Even shut up Steve Winter. That was never easy.

[eleny]

11. Oh yeah

There's another I've been working on. I get tired of the hypocrisy. So I'm ready to ask them how hard they work on their "pious face" in church hoping gawd won't notice how they've been acting outside church the rest of the week.

It's not perfected yet. :hi:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

14. It's like learning a Karate kata...

Just keep plugging away. You'll get it eventually. ;-)

[TrogL]

29. How come that link doesn't quote the New Revised Standard?

[JitterbugPerfume]

12. actually I don't discuss my athiesm with her

but she is pretty arrogant with her certainty about just about everything! She adores Sara Palin .

My circle of friends has some pretty bizarre people in it!

[upi402]

10. Jesus, save me... from your followers!

I hope this trend continues as folks learn that they have been duped in a wickedly insidious manner.

[JitterbugPerfume]

15. the older ones will never change.

The hope lies with the young people , and they are leaving in droves!

I left many years ago as a young person as the lies and hypocricy became obvious. She stayed, and closed her eyes to it.

[Ian David]

16. When someone says, "I'll pray for you," I answer with, "I'll think of you when I masturbate."

Both statements are equally presumptuous and invasive.

[Arugula Latte]

19. ...

:spray:

[Jamastiene]

34. ...

:spray:

[TornadoTN]

18. I keep hoping the youth of this country will start to wise up

At least to turn the tide against the hatred and divisiveness of the Christian church. I don't care what people worship, but when it basically turns them into hate-filled, fear mongering assholes - I have a problem with that.

I'm a proud atheist.

[Initech]

20. You know the economy sucks when even god himself has a hard time staying in business.

[Ilsa]

33. There you go. That's the deal. No one wants to be bugged about donating $$$. nt

[cbdo2007]

22. New episodes of Tool Academy on VH1 ran Sunday Mornings

But now that the season ended on Sunday maybe people will start going back to church more.

[YOY]

24. I'm shedding tears...really I am.

If they actually made people better instead of taking their hard earned money and preaching prosperity out of the other side of their mouth...

[JitterbugPerfume]

27. if they truly followed the teachings of Jesus

they would be a force for good . People like MLK made the world a better place.

[YOY]

31. Real Christians don't fucking talk about it 24/7. They shut up and do good.

They are known by their actions and not their words.

Too many here let the RW Evangelicals steal the definition of the word.

[kelly1mm]

25. That's because they are all members of congress now silly! nt

[krabigirl]

26. Yay! i mean really, what did they think would happen with all of the hypocrisy?

I hope good churches though like the Unitarians gain more members.