Summary
Churches across the U.S. are grappling with dwindling attendance and financial instability, forcing many to close or sell properties.
The Diocese of Buffalo has shut down 100 parishes since the 2000s and plans to close 70 more. Nationwide, church membership has dropped from 80% in the 1940s to 45% today.
Some churches repurpose their land to survive, like Atlanta’s First United Methodist Church, which is building affordable housing.
Others, like Calcium Church in New York, make cutbacks to stay open. Leaders warn of the long-term risks of declining community and support for churches.
Why not both?
We need a new religion that worships reality with clerics who are trained in humanities, epistemology, and combatting disinformation.
EDIT: Apparently reality isn’t as popular as I’d hoped.
Do you mean science?
Not exactly. Science is a particular discipline/methodology for discovering reality. In theory it could apply to everything, but it’s not the most practical tool for a lot of things.
History in particular is something that politicians (especially Republicans) lie about constantly, but we don’t generally include history as one of the sciences. I’m not saying that science doesn’t contribute to our knowledge of history, but the scientific method doesn’t typically come into conversations about whether slavery actually happened.
Whether slavery happened has nothing to do with religion. History is studied. It is a branch of science. Idk what you’re going on about.
Going on about? You asked a question and I answered it. Why be dickish about it?
Your answer doesn’t make sense.
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Secular_religions
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Humanism
We aren’t doing both. That was my point?
If you’re not sure whether that’s your point, we’re not gonna be much help.
We need communal spaces that aren’t churches. That’s my point. I think I was pretty clear about that too.
They basically just repeated what I said, and so I was confused about what they think my point actually was.