Re-inventing "Church"

David Trammel's picture

One of the thing Greer has mentioned will be a factor in the End of Empire, we are about to go through is a new religionousness. People who have grown tired of the way established Religions during the Age of Empire have gone from places of spirituality to supporters of the Status Quo, bent on collecting money and power while ignoring their original purpose. People are abandoning organized religion and their churches to seek space that address their concerns and don't just mouth platitudes to support the 1%.

That's why this article is encouraging.

---

What Draws Atheists, Jews and Catholics to a Presbyterian Church? At Rutgers Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, social justice and environmental issues unite the congregation. There’s Bible stuff, too.

"Observant Presbyterians are always part of gatherings at Rutgers. Presbyterian Church. But much of the time, so are Roman Catholics and Jews, as well as a smattering of people who consider themselves vaguely spiritual. Valerie Oltarsh-McCarthy, who sat among the congregation listening to a Sunday sermon on the perils of genetically modified vegetables, is, in fact, an atheist.

“It’s something I never thought would happen,” she said of the bond she has forged with the church’s community, if not the tenets of its faith. She was drawn to the church, she said, by “something in the spirit of Rutgers and something in the spirit of the outside world.”

Katharine Butler, an artist, was lured into Rutgers when she walked by a sandwich board on the street advertising its environmental activism. Soon, she was involved in more traditional aspects of the church, too.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this, singing away and all the Jesus-y stuff,” she said. “It was wonderful to find a place larger than me, that’s involved in that and in the community and being of service. It’s nice to find a real community like that.”