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PaperclipPerfector  2yr ago (text post)   32812 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 24, 2023

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Beauty in the built environment is a symbolic way of saying that this culture and this place is worth making beautiful. I think you can see this with religion the most clearly. In the early days of religion, you had big, bold beautiful cathedrals, chalices and bowls made of precious metals and jewels, ornate vestments, and so on. And it was a reflection of the way (at the time Catholic) Christianity saw itself and the world. God was worthy of the absolute best. In modern times, Christian churches are often placed in strip malls or reclaimed businesses, built to be functional but not much else. And I think it’s leading to at least some of the decline in religious interest. God has been reduced to something unworthy, something that only deserves the cheapest of materials, the most banal of music and to be squeezed in next to the Orange Julius and Xist Fitness and a cheap cafeteria.

One would assume there is a correlation between cathedrals and church growth while strip mall churches meet with failure, when the correlation is very much negative. The denominations that hold and maintain the tall steeple churches tend to be the ones living off of trust funds rather than congregants while the "is the new building a cannabis farm or a church?" Denominations are the ones in a consistent growth cycle (before imploding due to governance issues so mine picks up the pieces.)

If you want to you can compare the American methodists with the non-denominational Baptists and see that story play out. I'm certain that the lack of beauty does have some play in it, but it is far below a lot of other driving forces.

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