http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/>

 Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - 12:00 AM

 ...

 Megachurches cancel services on Christmas

By Rachel Zoll
The Associated Press

 This Christmas, no prayers will be said in several megachurches
 around the country.

 Even though the holiday falls this year on a Sunday, when the
 churches normally host thousands for worship, pastors are
 canceling services, anticipating low attendance on what they
 call a family day.

 Critics within the evangelical community, more accustomed to
 doing battle with department stores and public schools over
 keeping religion in Christmas, are stunned by the shutdowns.

 It is almost unheard of for a Christian church to cancel
 services on a Sunday, and opponents of the closures are accusing
 these congregations of bowing to secular culture.

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 However, Saturnalia services will proceed as usual.

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 "This is a consumer mentality at work: 'Let's not impose the
 church on people. Let's not make church in any way
 inconvenient,' " said David Wells, professor of history and
 systematic theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in
 Hamilton, Mass. "I think what this does is feed into the
 individualism that is found throughout American culture, where
 everyone does their own thing."

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 Damn that ACLU... Oh... yeah... This is "Big Religion" in
 action.

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 The churches closing on Christmas plan multiple services in the
 days leading up to the holiday, including on Christmas Eve.
 Most normally do not hold Christmas Day services. However,
 Sunday worship has been a Christian practice since ancient
 times.

 Cally Parkinson, a spokeswoman for Willow Creek Community
 Church in South Barrington, Ill., said church leaders decided
 that organizing services on a Christmas Sunday would not be the
 most effective use of staff and volunteer resources. The last
 time Christmas fell on a Sunday was 1994, and only a few people
 showed up, she said.

 "If our target and our mission is to reach the unchurched,
 basically the people who don't go to church, how likely is it
 that they'll be going to church on Christmas morning?" she said.

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 People who do go to church really don't matter, though.

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 ...

 The closures stand in stark contrast to Roman Catholic
 parishes, which will see some of their largest crowds of the
 year on Christmas, and mainline Protestant congregations such as
 the Episcopal, Methodist and Lutheran churches, where Sunday
 services are rarely, if ever, canceled.

 ...

 "If we weren't having services at all, I would probably tend to
 feel that we were too accommodating to the secular viewpoint,
 but we're having multiple services on Saturday and an additional
 service Friday night," Willison said. "We believe that you
 worship every day of the week, not just on a weekend, and you
 don't have to be in a church building to worship."

 Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company
 

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 Funny, lots of alternative lifestyle advocates say much the same
 thing.



BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... Don't need a new religion, haven't used up the old one.
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