NY Times Magazine: The Soul of the New Exurb

[brooklynite]

In the rapidly growing community of Surprise, Ariz., Radiant megachurch offers financial planning, athletic facilities, child care, marriage counseling and Krispy Kremes with every sermon. Welcome to the expanding conservative frontier.

...snip...

And so a year later, when Radiant moved into what would be its first permanent quarters, weekend attendance was approaching 800. Two years later it hit 2,000, the generally agreed-upon threshold for megachurch status, and McFarland started planning to build a new worship center. Weekend attendance is now about 5,000. To accommodate them all, McFarland leads several services, beginning on Saturday afternoon and continuing through Sunday morning. For Easter, the busiest day of the year, Radiant is expecting 15,000.

...snip...

In sprawling, decentralized exurbs like Surprise, where housing developments rarely include porches, parks, stoops or any of the other features that have historically brought neighbors together, megachurches provide a locus for community. In many places, they operate almost like surrogate governments, offering residents day care, athletic facilities, counseling, even schools



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/27/magazine/327MEGACHURCH.html
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I don't begrudge anyone their choice of religion, or any organization its successful endeavors, but I must admit I'm troubled at the idea of any church effectively replacing the civic community.

[Wright Patman]

1. This was a very disturbing article

on a number of levels. It made me think of Don Henley's song on The Eagles' Hotel California release called "The Last Resort."

Some rich men came and raped the land,
Nobody caught ’em
Put up a bunch of ugly boxes, and jesus,
People bought ’em
And they called it paradise
The place to be
They watched the hazy sun, sinking in the sea

The only difference is that you can't "rape" a desert and you can't see the sea from Surprise, Ariz.

I've been commenting on this article here:

http://longleaf.blogspot.com/2005/03/soul-of-new-exurb.html