antinomian.com

I read an essay by Momus a few years ago in which he referenced an Economist article about differing “values” in the US and Europe. While the US and Europe are pretty much in line with regards to their feelings on self-expression and individuality, it seems that on matters of religion, the US has more in common with your Latin American and Middle Eastern countries. I found this interesting because while I was not raised in a religious family, it was always a strong presence in my environment. Even without attending church or Sunday school regularly, it is hard to grow up in America without absorbing all variety of bible stories and christian messages. How strange then, to think that places like Britain, so similar in language and culture to America, could be so different in their attitudes to religion. While traditional (i.e. non-evangelical) churges in the US have seen a decline in attendance in recent years, it would seem that this is small change compared to the total collapse of Church of England attendance that has been going on for decades now. So pronounced is this phenomenon that England now finds itself with a church surplus. An article in this week’s Economist examines several approaches to finding new tenants for these architecturally intriguing properties (pubs, apartments, even wall-climbing and a health spa). Ironically enough however, even as these former CoE buildings are being occupied by your typical middle-class businesses, there exists a simultaneous church shortage among Britain’s immigrant population! And rather than simply pick up on the CoE’s bargain-bin real estate, these folks are in many cases taking over yet another form of disused architecture, the big-ass inner-city movie house! I don’t what kind of deeper meaning you can take away from all this church-swapping, but I’ll be damned if there isn’t something in there somewhere! =)