Diary, Megachurches
Today I did a memorial service for the parents of two friends and parishioners at their summer house in Franklin, NY. They were atheists, fun-loving, British. And I have a lot of fun with the family.
As I was leaving, the brother of one of the deceased said, "I want you to know that I'm an atheist, but I appreciated what you said. I think he would have as well. But both of us, you know, we got the stick, and religion never held. We both got the stick. Perhaps if we hadn't gotten it... both of us got the stick a lot... but we both didn't find religion." He shook my hand.
Earlier, after I'd given the blessing, he had given a salty prayer in Welsh.
Today, the Lede (a great blog) referred me to an article on megachurches. i think we can learn from their organizational structure, personally, and from how they use technology. I do think they develop leadership and train much more effectively than mainline churches. And they have more [ahem] accessible music. But the author of the article might be right that we should not give up our righteousness, our power to speak the truth.
That said, only 3% of children born today are going to be identified as Christians.