On March 29, 2008 I read this news report on Dallas Morning News about the impending closure of Trinity Presbytarian Church sited in the Oak Cliff city in south Dallas area. The report started off with a bold statement: “About the only thing Trinity Presbyterian Church has had to stock up on lately is Kleenex. Tissues will be needed Sunday when the north Oak Cliff church, known for community service, closes after 118 years.” I am pretty sure it would have been a sorrowful occasion for the members of this church to see an institution die and they can’t do anything about it.
Coming from India I find several things about Christianity as it is practiced in the US very surprising. For starters in India it would be almost impossible to close down any religious space. Yes there are ruined temples, neglected churches and mosques where no worship takes place. But nobody would dare to say that the space is closed down and sell it or rent it to someone else. Once a place becomes perceived as sacred, irrespective of its religious affiliation, it can’t be touched. I myself am witness to the civic authories diverting the construction of a main road in Mysore to ensure that a religious space would not have to be demolished.
But here in America though the government proclaims “In God we trust”, religion and religious spaces are very practically perceived. If one church starts getting very crowded and the congregation strength increases, they establish another church closeby so the crowd can get distributed. There is no belief/ perception that one church has greater powers to fulfill wishes or desires than another. There is no problem in selling a churches land and moving the religious to another location. There is no problem in building a huge worship hall and renting it out for prayer and religious services. There is absolutely no problem in advertising to entice and attract new members to the congregation.
It is so different, even Hindu temples have taken up one or two of these aspects. For example the Ganesha Temple in Plano is located in a rented premises in a shopping mall. Once they have their own premises, it will move, can you believe a temple being moved. In India it would probably happen only when a temple gets submerged due to dam construction or some other natural calamity, but never for commercial considerations.
Cultural diversity of this world is truly fascinating.
Wow! I find this intriguing.