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Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

Who’s Filling America’s Church Pews

Author:     G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Source:     The Christian Science Monitor
Publication Date:     23-Dec-12
 Link: Who’s Filling America’s Church Pews
Stephan:   Here is more on the shift in trends in religion in the U.S.: Churches and faiths are fading; Evangelical, Fundamentalist sects in the Blue value states are peopled by immigrants and are growing; and, people in Blue value states are tiring of hyper-politicized religious groups. In the Red states' though rigid highly politicized fundamentalism is a powerful force. And then note the quickest growing demographic is: Spiritual but not religious. All of this is adding fuel to the Great Schism Trend.

LEWISTON, MAINE — On a snowy 20-degree day in December, the visitors shiver as they move among vestiges of a long-closed Pizza Hut on this city’s struggling main street. A salad bar teeters off kilter. Dust collects on the dismantled facade of a soda dispenser. A few bolted-down tables and chairs remain – usable, but only after a good cleaning.

Yet none of this bothers the three leaders from the Auburn Seventh-day Adventist Church, who seem warmed by holy fire to carry out their task: Help transform the pizza joint into something with a bit more piety. Their church has reached capacity, having doubled attendance in the past year. So they’ve crossed the Androscoggin River to plant a second church, the Ark, in the heart of one of the nation’s least religious states.

This won’t be worship as usual. Starting early in the new year, a smorgasbord of community services will be served where deep-dish pepperoni used to be the lure. Vegetarian cooking classes and health seminars, hydrotherapy treatments and massage instruction, marriage classes and smoking-cessation clinics – all will be free of charge and led by volunteers. A vegan restaurant will open to bring in revenue. Worship services will begin next […]

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