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Churches don’t just do nothing of value to help financially insecure people. Churches also act as the propaganda wing for the interests of capital. Every week, in churches across America, pastors are telling their congregations what they should believe politically, who they should support, and who they should vote for.
Most churches in America spent decades telling their followers to oppose the civil rights movement. Most churches in America spent decades telling their followers to oppose same-sex marriage. Most churches in America right now tell their followers to oppose rights for transgender people. Right now, most churches in America are telling their congregations to support Zionism because they believe that the state of Israel will bring the rapture and all the good Christians will be teleported to heaven.
Can we just fast forward through the new atheism phase cause this shit reminds me of 2005. Congratulations you have realized most churches or organized religion sucks. Can we go back to critiquing white supremacist, patriarchal, imperialist capitalism?
churches fed my family when we couldn’t buy groceries and paid our rent when we were about to be kicked out. church i’m a part of now is one of a few in the area that actively feed and house people and have been involved in getting tenant unions set up.
never once did a megachurch do shit for me but take my parents money. in material terms, these are small churches that acted like community hubs where folks could do direct action and were our only options in the face of 0 safety nets.
If it wasn’t for our local food bank (which is a Catholic church) I would have went hungry ages ago, they seem like decent people. People are welcome in their building at any time to take shelter, they hand out school supplies in the summer before the next school year starts, they hand out coats and gloves in the winter, they work with some local organizing groups, and plenty of other stuff. They have my critical support. And yes, I’m aware charity doesn’t solve the root of the problem, capitalism, but it’s still a decent resource for people in need since the state isn’t going to do anything to help.
I think it depends on the church those American abominations where they have thousands of people there and it’s more like a concert are fucked up
megachurches are obscene but it’s worth noting that they are not how the median churchgoing american christian worships, at least in the parts of the country i’ve lived. the more usual kind of church has its own problems of course, but the thing where you’re essentially watching a sporting event or a stadium rock concert is the exception.
yeah the local mainline protestant churches are actually not only helpful to the poor but allies with local organizing. under the dicprole it’d probably be more productive to expropriate evangelical churches and give them to mainline protestants than it would be to outright ban protestantism.
