And Today the SEC is Up 25 Points

Is the US taking a secular shift? Is religion on a downfall? According to Boston's MetroNews many churches in the Northeastern United States are for sale because congregations no longer "need as much space as they once did." This news unto itself does not indicate a secular shift, as that conclusion is based on causal relations that are not necessarily correlated. It could simply be a signal that churches no longer serve their purpose as a public institution (many churches have become privatized, such as Evangelical and Scientology churches). It could also be a sign of churches failing to deliver their message to the congregation in a changing Zeitgeist. Many people today still hold their religious beliefs and rarely go to church, save maybe on Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday.

A sign of a secular shift is in the statistics. According to the Metro 26% of Millennials (born after 1981) claim themselves to be religiously unaffiliated, as opposed to the Baby Boomers being roughly 10% unaffiliated. Now, the Metro calls them "religiously unaffiliated", which is a nice way of saying "atheist", simply because "atheist" is a controversial word, for whatever reasons I cannot understand. But, 26%! That's not even a minority! That out ranks (in the United States) Muslims, Jews, homosexuals, and the Tea Party!

So what happens to these churches? Many of the churches in the Northeast are being demolished, and very little effort has gone on to call some of these structures "historic" in order to prevent demolition. Before I left Savannah, Georgia a church a couple of blocks up the street from where I was living was being converted into condos (with one of the bathrooms in the bell tower!).

The big question right now is should we conserve these "cultures" or "religions"? The question I feel that is more important is : should we conserve and save a system that fails to serve society? This is a heavy question considering that most congregation are privatized and serve only themselves. This question goes beyond religious beliefs and faith, but is concerned with society at large. If it is a private institution and no longer serves its civic duty, then as a private institution it must save itself. Churches already get tax exemption, why should they get tax dollars to save themselves?

This does seem like a very hostile question, but instead of "churches" and "congregations" let us say "government" : if a privatized government no longer serves its civic duty to society should we preserve it? Most people would advocate it to be abolished. Considering this country is constantly try to meld church and state (something that is supposed to remain separate), the question of saving congregations is a heavy question indeed.