Sad commentary, if true

Get ready, America, for a tidal wave of church closings

…Church doors are indeed being locked in more places than we like to think, as Christians are being told forcefully that they may not openly practice their faith.

But in our own setting these days, I think we Americans should worry a good bit more about another trend that I doubt we're prepared for. That movement is the locking of thousands of church doors from the inside, just because there are so few folks in there to keep things going…
Read the whole thing, by Joel Belz in World Magazine, here.

This is a truly sad commentary on what amounts to the Europeanization of the USA, fueled largely (IMHO) by both the lay indifference and the clergy scandals generated from decades of “liberal” theology.

I’m not sure where in the country Mr. Belz is writing from, though. It really doesn’t parallel what I see here in Austin – which is hardly a “bible belt” sort of city. New churches are forming and blossoming all the time. The mainline denominations may just be holding their own, but evangelical and conservative mainline offshoots (like Missouri Synod Lutherans) flourish. A local Orthodox church has set up two missionary branches in the exurbs.

At Beloved-but-Expensive daughter’s college, there is a very active Christian presence on campus. It is driven from the bottom up, by the students, rather than from the top down like in the old days (“religious affiliation” having become pretty passé), but that only makes it more vibrant.
It could be a red state blue state thing. Doom and gloom may be a matter of geographical perspective.