|
Attack of the Megachurches
by David Eller
| Several recent news items have once again highlighted the scourge of uncontrolled and unwanted church construction in Colorado. In Westminster, in Castle Rock, and in the Stapleton development area, congregations are attempting to build huge structures, on 20 to 53 acres each, designed to hold 1200-1500 people. Neighbors and city planners don't want this construction, and it is hard to see why it is necessary, but these denominations continue to shove their faith-and their buildings-down other people's throats. |
The sheer selfishness of the scale of these structures and the demands they make on their communities are scandalous. In Castle Rock, where the Church of the Rock wants the city to annex land for church use, the municipality would end up providing police, fire, sewer, and water service to an institution that contributes nothing in taxes for its own upkeep. At Stapleton, various sects want to build churches where zoning does not allow and to impinge on streets and other public facilities. And in Westminster, where an unfinished church has stood for months, the complaints of neighbors have gone unheeded, with some calling it "ugly," bemoaning the loss of open space, or joking that the church "is better than a slaughterhouse." |
Beyond the simple invasiveness of these structures, two deeper issues are raised by the whole effort to expand church presence in our communities. One is the thinly-veiled (if veiled at all) intents of these groups. The Church of the Rock, for instance, originally planned to include a school, a day-care center, and an assisted-living center. They have expressed their willingness to eliminate the last of these, however-an interesting choice, since the only constituency that really needs their services is probably the elderly and infirm. Instead, the Church shows that it is really not concerned with helping those in need as much as grabbing and indoctrinating children into their sectarian beliefs. If this is what passes for "faith-based services," we are better off without them. |
The second issue speaks to the incessant complaining by religious groups that they no longer have a voice in the "public square," that religion has been dispatched from public dialog. Do they live in the same world I do? There is a church on every other street corner, there is religious television and radio, there is now a religious administration in the White House, and these organizations are ignoring law and neighborliness to build ever-bigger churches in our midst. In what way are they possibly excluded from participation in our society? |
If their complaint is that they cannot dictate public morality and public education-as in compelling prayer in schools or erecting displays of sectarian belief on government property-then they bring attention not to a bad thing but to a good one. The founders of this country knew that supporting or inhibiting any religion with public resources was an unwise and dangerous notion, and they sagely gave us the tools to maintain this "separation of church and state." So if religious groups want to advance their own agendas in American society, they will have to do it inside their 150,000 square foot monstrosities-unfortunately, built against the objections of residents and subsidized with taxpayer money. |
Send us an Email
Or write to us at:
Freethinkers of Colorado Springs
P.O. Box 62946
Colorado Springs, CO 80962-2946
Phone: 719-594-4506