Saint Mungo's Church in the Townhead area of Glasgow. It was built in 1841 in an Italianate Gothic style from a design by George Goldie.

#glasgow #architecture #glasgowarchitecture #glasgowbuildings #church #churches #scottishchurches #glasgowchurches #townhead #stmungo

To celebrate 50th ann. of death of master stained glassmaker & painter #GuidoNincheri, #Montreal’s #ChâteauDufresne has created new exhibit, «Nincheri: From the Secular to the Sacred», that brings together 40 original works by the #Florentine artist. Works include #drawings, #watercolors, studies & sketches that showcase #Nincheri’s first designs for the stained glass windows, frescoes & mounted canvases he created 4 countless #churches in #Quebec, #Canada & #NewEngland.

https://italocanadese.org/2023/09/10/chateau-dufresne-celebrates-guido-nincheri-with-new-exhibit/

Rise in Attacks on Christians in India, Up Four Times in 11 Years (2012-2022)

There have been 525 attacks against Christians in India just in the first eight months of 2023. This year will likely cross the violent record set in 2022, and in 2021 before that. The data does not include incidents from Manipur.

https://thewire.in/communalism/data-rise-in-attacks-on-christians-in-india-up-four-times-in-11-years-2012-2022

#christians #HinduMobs #CommunalViolence #conversion #ReligiousFreedom #FalseCases #minorities #ChurchVandalism #churches #ManipurViolence #manipur #HinduVigilantism #BJP #hindutva #UCF #india

"Centuries of complicity in violence and oppression, followed by denial and repression, have taken their toll. Across the board, attendance is dramatically declining, seminaries are closing or merging, Christian colleges are struggling, and churches are facing widespread sexual abuse scandals."

#WhiteSupremacy #WhiteChristianNationalism #churches #Christians #racism
/2

“More people have left the church in the last twenty-five years than all the new people who became Christians from the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, and Billy Graham crusades combined."

~ Jim Davis and Michael Graham, The Great Dechurching

Hmm: I wonder precisely what might be spurring that exodus, which has grown even larger after 80% of white evangelicals and 60% of white Catholics and Mormons elected Trump in 2016?

#churches #dechurching

https://religionnews.com/2023/09/07/the-great-dechurching-explores-americas-religious-exodus/

Giving is up at #churches and people are back, but #clergy are still thinking about quitting
https://religionnews.com/2023/09/05/giving-is-up-at-churches-and-people-are-back-but-clergy-are-thinking-about-quitting/

As Ryan Burge states, polling data seem to indicate that, while regular church attendance used to foster an attitude of trust in others, this is now no longer the case. To the contrary, regular churchgoers, who are very disproportationately, report diminished trust in anyone other than members of their tight circle.

Church as toxin and infection of democracy….

#democracy #churches #Republicans

https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/church-attendance-used-to-drive-up

Discover more about St Denys Church during Heritage Open Days
https://bitternepark.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12700:discover-more-about-st-denys-church-during-heritage-open-days&catid=166&Itemid=92
#Southampton #bitternepark #localnews #stdenys #history #heritage #church #churches

Discover more about St Denys Church during Heritage Open Days
https://bitternepark.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12700:discover-more-about-st-denys-church-during-heritage-open-days&catid=166&Itemid=92
#Southampton #bitternepark #localnews #stdenys #history #heritage #church #churches

Discover more about St Denys Church during Heritage Open Days
https://bitternepark.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12700:discover-more-about-st-denys-church-during-heritage-open-days&catid=166&Itemid=92
#Southampton #bitternepark #localnews #stdenys #history #heritage #church #churches

Discover more about St Denys Church during Heritage Open Days
https://bitternepark.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12700:discover-more-about-st-denys-church-during-heritage-open-days&catid=166&Itemid=92
#Southampton #bitternepark #localnews #stdenys #history #heritage #church #churches

Discover more about St Denys Church during Heritage Open Days
https://bitternepark.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12700:discover-more-about-st-denys-church-during-heritage-open-days&catid=166&Itemid=92
#Southampton #bitternepark #localnews #stdenys #history #heritage #church #churches

Sculpted plant capital on a column by the door of Queen's Park Govanhill Parish Church in Glasgow. I love how, in places, you can see through the surface discolouration to the natural redness of sandstone underneath.

#glasgow #sculpture #stonecarving #architecture #glasgowbuildings #churches

Diana Butler Bass comments on Timothy Egan's book A Fever in the the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them. One thing stood out as she read it:

"It reveals how easily white pastors and churches were enlisted by the Klan, and that 'goo'” Protestant church people knowingly — and willingly — chose to hate their Black, Jewish, and Catholic neighbors."

#KKK #Klan #bigotry #churches #Christianity

https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/what-i-read-on-summer-vacation

A view down a back lane in Glasgow today towards Lansdowne Church on Great Western Road.

#glasgow #architecture #glasgowbuildings #glasgowchurches #churches #glasgowtoday #greatwesternroad #lansdownechurch

Chris Suellentrop reports on the exodus of millions of Americans, especially younger ones, from churches. These “nones” are reshaping US political life—and in many cases are reacting to the appalling spectacle of seeing huge numbers of US Christians and their churches idolize Donald Trump.

#Trump #WhiteChristians #churches #nones #idolatry #WhiteSupremacy #WhiteChristianNationalism

https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=596bc4339bbc0f403f964601&s=64eb2cf493d388708a631b6c&linknum=5&linktot=81&linknum=5&linktot=81

Then Kristin du Mez publishes a lengthy thread of commentary by a pastor named Sean Muldowney who wonders how "good and kind people ... fell into a trap, put their whole identity into advocating for a criminal, and called it Christianity."

Muldowney says that he and other pastors have encountered any number of such Christians in during the Trump era, and it's a huge challenge to know how to pastor them — when they're so certain and so hostile.

#Trump #churches #religion #morality
/4

"Say from the pulpit that character matters. Preach the Beatitudes. Recommend a book. Things start becoming visible. You are warned. You persist. And then everything you thought you knew starts to change—long-standing relationships, spiritual friendships, trust. Maybe also your employment status."

#Trump #churches #religion #morality
/3

"I am glad he will be held to some account but I lament that we are in a place where criminal proceedings against a former president are necessary. Mostly, I found myself fighting back a feeling of dread when I heard the news."

Then she recounts what she hears from many pastors about pastoring in the Trump era:

"Even the smallest nudge is enough to set things in motion. Move the flags from the front of the sanctuary."

#Trump #churches #religion #morality
/2

In a posting today, religious studies professor Kristin du Mez focuses on pastoring in the Trump era:

"I didn’t post anything on the indictment of former President Trump, mostly because I wasn’t sure what there was to say, really. I think it’s important that the rule of law be upheld. I fear that reactions to this will probably further erode commitment to the rule of law among a frighteningly large swath of Americans."

#Trump #churches #religion #morality
/1

https://kristindumez.substack.com/p/pastoring-in-the-trump-era