Sixteen thousand folding seats, digital surround sound, and screens to rival an IMAX theatre all call to mind images of stadiums teeming with the heathen chant of sports fans, or commercial concert centers smothered with bright sponsor logos. For those of you, like me, who have found yourselves (whether inadvertently or not) watching Saturday 4 o’clock mass with your Nana on the Christian Channel, these descriptions might conjure another picture: a “megachurch.” Perhaps it is my own tendency to lean towards skepticism with all things related to religion. However, the idea of churches such as the Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, which spans across 155 acres and is complete with a gymnasium, food court, bookstore, and cappuccino bar, reminds me more of a day at the mall than community worship. And this, as anyone who’s PAnet has inexplicably deemed MSN as their homepage knows, is not an isolated phenomenon. The architectural revolution of the pious is sweeping the nation, making hack job renovations and modifications and leaving poorly disguised former sports arenas in its wake. Churchgoing is not the only religious practice getting a makeover. God-Blogging has become all the rage, spreading faith and asking the eternally penetrating question: “What would Jesus blog?” Forget fiery sermons and threats of damnation: spreading the faith through online communication is apparently far more effective. While the Christian “blogospheres” claim to have made concentrated efforts to remove the ever present condemnations of gay marriage and abortion from their rhetoric, as well as to limit evangelical images of the Christian Channel, it seems a stretch to compare these posts to Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, as the author of evangelicaloutpost.com Joe Carter does. Telling myself that I could at least attempt to keep an open mind, but not really believing it at the same time, I was relieved to find upon further perusal of the website that it did in fact live up to most of my preconceived notions of the evangelical blogging sect. While many have argued that these sites in fact make use of their profile to disseminate information efforts on global issues, such as poverty and AIDS, this information was dwarfed by a headline on Harriet Miers and her stance on Roe v. Wade, and advertising for “No More Christian Nice Guy,” a book for Christian men “who want to be good, not nice.” Reading down the list of topics, I found some quite intriguing titles concerning Picasso and sexual disgust, Thomas Kinkade, and how evangelicals can transform culture. With reports of God-Blogging conventions and the establishment of churches that can rival the size of the country’s monstrous entertainment venues, it seems obvious that the inevitable culture collision is on a fast track, as we go from stained glass to stadium seating. What else do you expect when the Compaq Center in Houston is re-landscaped with a few fountains and the sign is changed to Lakewood Church? Perhaps the massive congregation does not strike many as impersonal, but then what is there to say about the cappuccino bars, gymnasiums, and food courts? These are community centers in a sense, but they are highly reminiscent of big businesses capitalizing under the guise of faith-based initiatives. The former aesthetics of the church have been replaced with the non-descript lines and hues of massive office buildings and the grandiose testaments to modern-themed architecture. Ultimately, it is inevitable that in today’s world, you can wake up Sunday morning, go to church and sing along with 20,999 of your fellow worshippers, and then retire to the Sabbath afternoon at the computer catching up on “Dung Eaters and the Golden Rule: A Brief Examination of Naturalistic Ethics.”
