Between 6,000 and 10,000 Churches Will Die in 2019




This year will will be no different than previous years. Between 100 and 200 churches in the U.S. will close each week.

Why is this happening? Of course, some of this is demographics and some economics. The demographics is rural to urban migration. The norm in rural areas is more religious than in urban areas. Either the most secular in rural areas move to cities or they become secular after they move. Successful urban churches do not offset the general trend of fewer believers.

Then, there is the economics of a church. Many religions including Christianity have in their rituals a concept of something called a "sacred space." We call it a church and mostly it is used only for religion. This means most of it is only used a few hours a week. A commercial business building needs to generate income in a space many hours everyday. The parts of a church building used only a few hours a week, like a sanctuary, should be called "financial dead weight."

We have to remember creations of the mind built all churches. The beliefs of people there is a literal god outside of  their minds and an actual heaven and hell caused them to give money to build every church. These thoughts need to remain in the minds of people to keep the church open. Mostly, such thoughts remain in the heads of older people but not in younger people. When older people die these thoughts go to the grave with them.

Where is this headed? We can never be certain of the future but history might give us a peek. A religion that predates Judaism/Christianity is Paganism. It is not a religion in the way we westerners think of religions. Instead it a "system" of many gods that met the needs of local individuals and communities. Any "god" carried in the minds of people will be different depending of culture, age and experience.

When I hear the popular expression, "I'm spiritual but not religious," I think of Paganism. It is a  spiritual idea or god tailor made for every person.

Maybe forcing one god into the minds of vast numbers of people was doomed from the start and the more natural inclination of the human mind is many gods.

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