A looming ‘tsunami’ of church closings is poised to remake America | CNN
www.cnn.com
Experts project an estimated 100,000 churches in the US will close or be repurposed over the next decade. This dire forecast is outlined in a new PBS documentary series, “Christianity at a Crossroads.”

Experts project an estimated 100,000 churches in the US will close or be repurposed over the next decade.

Many churches will be unable to escape this “tsunami” of closings — a grim trajectory one pastor described as, “Every year the pews are getting emptier and the collection plates getting lighter.”

  • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
    17·
    15 hours ago

    Agreed, except this is mostly going to be small community churches and not the predatory megachurches that are much more problematic.

    • fodor@lemmy.zip
      7·
      13 hours ago

      Yes and no. Small churches still produce large numbers of folks who disbelieve in science and medicine.

      As more people abandon organized religion, perhaps more of them will decide science is peachy. Maybe. Possibly.

      • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
        4·
        6 hours ago

        perhaps more of them will decide science is peachy. Maybe. Possibly.

        I wish I could share your optimism, but I’ve seen the closing of smaller and generally more liberal churches in my area lead to a percentage of their congregation migrating to a much less accepting megachurch.

        It’s frustrating.

      • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
        1·
        9 hours ago

        perhaps more of them will decide science is peachy

        And they’ll get their “science” from quacks like RFK Jr’s cronies. If they could be conned by fundies, they’re going to be marks for any other snake-oil salesmen they come into contact with, though there might be a vanishingly small percentage of them who learn from their experience and stop being such flagrant suckers.