American megachurches are thriving by poaching flocks • Hacker News Board

Re: American megachurches are thriving by poaching flocks

#91

Post by boomboomsubban » Mon, Aug 28, 2023, 4:45 PM UTC

wl wrote: post #87

boomboomsubban wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Masons require a belief in a supreme being and scripture, and various things online say they've explicitly forbidden atheists before. I take everything I read about Freemasonry with a grain of salt, but it still seems fairly hostile to atheists.

You're correct that Anglo-American Freemasonry requires a belief in a Supreme Being. However, the issue of scripture is a bit more nuanced. There's no requirement to believe in the veracity or to honor any scripture in particular. There is a Holy Bible on an altar in a lodge room but it's used as a symbol. During an initiation, a candidate usually has the option to use the holy book of his choice. If one is opposed t…

They seem to be somewhat welcoming towards most major religions, but atheists still seem frowned upon. One could argue that the universe itself is a supreme being, but any scripture put forth would likely raise some questions.

I'm sure an atheist could successfully become a member, but I doubt many are trying to as the original post joked.

Re: American megachurches are thriving by poaching flocks

#92

Post by mcurial » Mon, Aug 28, 2023, 5:45 PM UTC

azinman2 wrote: post #5

Curious if members of HN attend any of these megachurches. If so, what is the draw?

Can’t speak for the American megachurch since I didn’t attend one but I spent a good 10 years in one in Singapore (grew up there) whose membership peaked at >20k at one point.

I would say the main allure of megachurches is the gap between being a consumer and a contributor of that “local church”. Bridging that gap is always challenging for any normal person, and that is true for all sorts of communities. Couple that with an easy-listening “TED-talk”, it is not too difficult to see why one rather just consumes from the pews every Sunday from a larger church.

If you’d use coffee as an simplified analogy for Christianity, the worship service at a megachurch is like a Frappuccino - the easiest drink to get started, appeals to the masses, sweet, lots of other stuff and not too much coffee, which is bitter. Smaller churches feel a bit more like getting coffee at a hipster cafe, costs a lot more (you have to get involved in church, oh my), doesn’t necessarily suit everyone’s taste, a lot more coffee than additives, and only starts tasting great if you’ve learned a bit more about coffee.

(Well, that’s as far as coffee goes to explain a very complicated and nuanced subject matter, but hey, it was worth it.)

Re: American megachurches are thriving by poaching flocks

#93

Post by MilStdJunkie » Mon, Aug 28, 2023, 10:56 PM UTC

azinman2 wrote: post #78

MilStdJunkie wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up Catholic, but had some Charismatics as friends from the 80s to the late aughts. In Florida, their mega-faith-church-complex was a combination movie theatre, shopping mall, food court (with one fancy restaurant), and modest arcade . . surrounding and attached to the vast "church" area proper, which was more like a stadium. All, of course, were religious organizations . . I often wondered to myself: how much…

You’re saying watching movies and eating food were considered non-profit donations?! I don’t think the IRS would agree.

I wasn't in the church, so the details I am a little short of, but they had something like a tiered system where everyone had cards like on a cruise ship. So you could get some things here, but not things from there, with a limit. It seems not unlikely that they had to separate the donation from the transaction, but there was still a "transaction-like" activity there. I'm honestly not sure if that church is still around, but it was enormous.