Summary
Churches across the U.S. are grappling with dwindling attendance and financial instability, forcing many to close or sell properties.
The Diocese of Buffalo has shut down 100 parishes since the 2000s and plans to close 70 more. Nationwide, church membership has dropped from 80% in the 1940s to 45% today.
Some churches repurpose their land to survive, like Atlanta’s First United Methodist Church, which is building affordable housing.
Others, like Calcium Church in New York, make cutbacks to stay open. Leaders warn of the long-term risks of declining community and support for churches.
There are no communities on the internet, there are ephemeral places where people go to waste time. That’s it. That’s what the loneliness epidemic is. People are killing themselves because the internet is not community and it can never be one.
Have you ever wondered why people on the internet are so nasty? It’s because we can’t actually see each other as people here. Yes, you assume every commenter is a person, but your subconscious can’t see it. There’s no face, no voice, no body, no presence, and its even worse with pseudo-anonymity. This isn’t community. You don’t even know my fucking name.
I have an entire life, history, interpersonal connections, my own thoughts and feelings and none of that is on the internet. Here I am a floating text box for you to yell at and talk down to, and for all you know I am a bot. You will never care about me or anyone else on a forum the way you will a real person, no matter how much you insist otherwise. You can’t, because this isn’t a community. We are all perfect strangers that are here to beat each other up for fun.
We can’t help each other here. You have to log off.
You’re projecting.
I actually fell in love with someone after dating in virtual reality during COVID. After several months she moved to my state, and we’ve been together for four years now. Seems pretty fuckin real to me.
Why did she move? I thought the internet was good enough and you didn’t need physical connection!
We did in fact continue to hang out with our friend groups in the VR community even after the move. Because being in a relationship and being in a community are two different things.
If you had kids and needed someone to watch them, would any of them do it? If you both got sick and needed someone to bring you hot meals, would any of them do it? If your car broke down, would any of them drive you to work?
If your house got destroyed by a natural disaster, would you be able to stay with any of them?
Community isn’t just a friend group. Community is local. It has to be, or it’s just a group of people.
Some of them, yes. Absolutely.
I’m sorry, I don’t believe you. Your Internet friend would travel across the country to drive you to work? Come on.
There are just some functions of community that can never be fulfilled by the internet.
Even if you want to argue it is a community, you can’t tell me it is a full replacement for an in person communal space.
That’s a you problem. We are done here.
Sorry, but it’s hard to believe someone would drive cross country just to take you to work. That’s something neighbors do.