Читать книгу Field Guide to the Wild World of Religion: 2011 Edition - Pamela J.D. Dewey - Страница 3

Drive through the side streets near the downtown section of any small American town or mid-sized city near noon on any Sunday morning, and you’ll notice a recurring phenomenon. Some of the intersections will boast two, three, or even four different large church buildings, one on each corner. One may be an imposing Roman Catholic Church with high, arched stained glass windows and a big statue of its “patron saint” out front. The other three will be different flavors of what are often referred to as “mainline Protestant” denominations: possibly Methodist, Lutheran, Christian Reformed, Baptist, Congregational, Episcopal, or Presbyterian. All will look like they could hold several hundred people in their sanctuaries for the worship service.

But when the bells on the City Hall clock tower toll the noon hour, the group of people pouring out of the doors of each of these churches may well not be the crashing wave one might expect at all, but a mere trickle.

What is going on here? Is the population of the U.S. becoming mostly disinterested in religion? Wasn’t it different back when these church buildings were much newer?