Retiring of Religious Spaces
Religion is declining in Western Europe and Northern America. In the U.S., any metric we have—weekly attendance, self-identification, rankings of importance, in-church weddings, baptisms, church openings & closures, religiosity, church registrations, religious school enrollment, prayer frequency—indicates steady and steep declines over the past twenty years (NCEA Data Brief 3; Earls 2-3; Mack 1-2; Future of Religion in America 3-5; Wingfield 1). But the topline statistic is this: in 2007, 78 percent of Americans identified as Christian; today, it’s only 63 percent, with the change being nearly universally attributable to growth in religious “none’s”—people who describe themselves as “nothing in particular” (Religious Landscape Study 2). As Americans have become less religious, and as mega-churches and converted space churches have proliferated, local church communities—particularly from the historic ‘mainline’ denominations—have had to deal with dwindling numbers, dropping financial status, aging buildings, and pressures from renewed urbanization. Even when these churches are not forced to close, they are often left to conclude that they can no longer maintain ownership of their buildings, and have to abandon these old ornate spaces. So, what, then, should be done in retiring these spaces? What should we do with our church buildings when they must close down?
In some cases, secular and religious authorities have decided that churches are of such importance to culture, art, or history that they are worthy of being preserved; many states now own historical Congregationalist halls, or early one-room Baptist meetinghouses, and keep them on display as open-air museums. The American National Parks Service protects and finances a number of still-active churches, including Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta or Philadelphia’s Gloria Dei, the oldest continuous congregation in the nation. Western states have under their care a number of early Catholic missions that are central to their states’ histories. While some evoke separation of church and state principles in this last case, giving support to active churches helps to straddle the line between desiring to preserve historical landmarks while recognizing the difficult realities of upkeep for historic buildings, which are issues continually facing those with conservatorship over these sites. It also seems to be a much better use of the space than purely educational ones. There, the aesthetics present in these sites were created to give glory to God, but when separated from their proper function, what are they really saying? What justifies their continued existence?
Historically, churches have passed between the hands of denominations; as one group is unable to maintain a congregation, a new one moves in. In my last piece, I focused on the way this has happened in Mediterranean Europe, but it’s also quite present closer to home here in the U.S. Take St. Stephen’s in Boston, Massachusetts; it was built as the New North Meeting House, a Congregationalist church, in 1804, became Unitarian in 1813, and was sold to the Catholic Diocese of Massachusetts in 1862, where it remains today. Many churches can trace their ownership through similar paths, despite hostile attitudes that have long marked relationships between various denominations. But when three churches close for every two that open, as they did in 2019, this does not remain a particularly viable option. Instead, many churches have taken the route of selling to either non-Christian or secular buyers. Examples include St. John’s Episcopal in Brooklyn, which was bought and turned into an Islamic center in 2020 (Writing Their Own Histories 2), churches in Delaware and Virginia which are being converted into Hindu temples (Yagnik 1; Church Converted 1), or Philadelphia's Emmanuel Lutheran Church, which became a Buddhist temple (before being sold again to developers in 2019) (Murphy 1). A Catholic Church in Deer Park, Washington was sold to Freemasons in 2011, leading to some amount of outcry from Catholic canon lawyers, pointing out that while the Church generally permits deconsecration and sale of property for “profane use,” that is, secular purposes, it explicitly forbids “sordid use” that which is sacrilegious, immoral, or scandalous (Flynn and Condon 1-4). It’s clear that this sort of intra-religious sale is proliferating as non-Christian religions rise in the US.
In keeping with my last piece, I see most of these as a generally better use of the space. Even if we have strong theological oppositions to the tenants of the new inhabitants, it seems that if we are to accept that the purposes of religious architecture are orienting one towards God, pointing one there by the towering steeples, soaring ceilings, and streaming light, then these sales seem to preserve such meaning and continue using the sacred architecture to evoke these same effects. I may not recognize the Buddhist, or Hindu, or Muslim, conception of God or the universe, but the shared notion of searching for this transcendence seems to be worthy of using this sacred architecture that has been developed throughout the western tradition for centuries. Though the direction they point may be different—literally so, in the case of the Islamic centers—they are still using this language in the same way. Satanists or Masons, which are more intentionally antagonistic, oppositional, and directly affronting are a different matter, but generally the re-use of these structures make sense and represent a long, ongoing tradition of recycling religious spaces.
As secularization has proliferated, though, the most prominent act of repurposing has been the conversion of these churches for purely worldly uses. Americans are desperate to return to urban centers these days, and housing is being built far slower than can accommodate all those who wish to move; this has brought some builders to seek out old churches that can be converted into housing, shops, or other purposes. Because of the historic nature of many of these sites, local governments have enacted ordinances requiring their preservation and the retention of key features like their outward appearance, which these builders would have to retain. Philadelphia’s 150-year-old Immaculate Conception church is a prime example, as builders are currently working to comply with local laws to turn this into a housing complex within a religious facade (Blumgart 1). London’s St. Marks has been turned into the Mercato Mayfair food hall, a “temple to food,” as one reporter exclaims (Barker 1). Even more so than museums, which try to preserve the trappings without the soul, these repurposings of churches are a contortion that simply tries to fit into the shell of that which was; the sacred is not only missing, but it has been hollowed out so that the profane can take it over fully. Churches are not made to be housing; I would go so far as to argue that their floor plans and high ceilings are quite antithetical to that purpose. To make a church into a house or a shopping center requires such contortions that it is hardly the structure it began as.
But even worse are the absolute inversions of the churches into the exact opposite of their purposes. The most heinous example of this is, in my mind, Boone Mill, Virginia, where the 300-person town’s main church was bought by a local and currently serves as “Trump Town USA,” a temple to the 45th President, overflowing with images, flags, and merchandise (Allen 1-3). Similarly situated in Atlanta is “Church,” which describes itself as “a church-themed bar,” filled with all the aesthetics thereof—an organ that they sing karaoke to while wearing choir robes, faux-religious art, spoof quotes, and a confessional in the corner. In both cases, the sound, imagery, aesthetics, and architecture of religion are repurposed and inverted, directed towards human institutions and vices rather than the omnipotent, becoming profanely scandalous.
So what is one to do, when faced with the options? I feel myself increasingly drawn towards perhaps the most radical option: let it be razed. Holy Spirit Catholic Church in New Jersey was recently sold to developers after it had to close, and rather than attempting to preserve a shadow of the former beauty, or contort themselves into the shape of the old space, these builders have decided to tear it brick from brick and start from the ground (“Holy Spirit Church Will Be Destroyed” 1). As with all other options within this debate, this has provoked controversy, but as I see it this is the optimal option. I see in our world a far too strong preservationist impulse, where we believe nothing can or should ever be destroyed: that it is never ok for something to be lost. But this opposition to ephemerality feels dangerous and unhelpful; all is ephemeral, and without Christ all is eventually lost to entropy. Christians will quote Ecclesiastes’ proclamation that “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!” but will rarely accept the fact that this means all that we create in this world will eventually crumble to dust. “Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,” St. James proclaims; “Your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire.” Until the return of Christ, all will rot and collapse. Fighting against this decay by Faustian bargain, letting them be hollowed out or perverted simply for a stay of execution and a lengthening of life, is not the way we should approach the situation. Preserve and use them while we can; evangelize constantly; fight the secularization that has made this necessary. But do not accept consumerist vampirism as a solution for the sake of preservation.
“50-Year-Old Church Converted into Temple in US.” Outlook India, 26 Dec. 2017, www.outlookindia.com/website/story/50-year-old-church-converted-into-temple-in-us/305994/.
Allen, Mike. “Trump Store Founder Is Fine with Controversy Because He’s No Stranger to It.” The Franklin News Post, 4 Aug. 2021, thefranklinnewspost.com/news/local/trump-store-founder-is-fine-with-controversy-because-hes-no-stranger-to-it/article_87824f8e-f3f0-11eb-9a69-7399431c30f0.html.
Barker, Sam. “There’s a Heavenly Food Hall to Be Found inside This Restored Mayfair Church.” Secret London, 6 June 2023, secretldn.com/mercato-mayfair-italian-food-hall/.
Blumgart, Jake. “A Former Catholic Church in Northern Liberties Is Slated for Apartments.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 21 Nov. 2022, www.inquirer.com/real-estate/northern-liberties-historic-preservation-ori-feibush-multifamily-20221121.html.
Data Brief: 2022-2023 Catholic School Enrollment, National Catholic Educational Association, 2023, nceatalk.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/23_NCEA_Data_Brief_FINAL_2022-2023_Catholic_School_Enrollment_v9.pdf.
Earls, Aaron. “Why No One May Be Getting Married at Your Church This Summer.” Lifeway Research, 31 May 2018, research.lifeway.com/2018/05/31/why-no-one-may-be-getting-married-at-your-church-this-summer/#:~:text=Religious%20institutions%20like%20churches%20hosted,barns%2C%20farms%2C%20or%20ranches.
Flynn, JD, and Ed Condon. “Masonic Lodges, Ashrams, XXX Clubs: What’s a ‘sordid’ Use for a Former Church?” Https://Www.Pillarcatholic.Com/, The Pillar, 25 Mar. 2022, www.pillarcatholic.com/p/masonic-lodges-ashrams-xxx-clubs.
“Holy Spirit Church Asbury Park Will Be Destroyed, Replaced with Homes.” Asbury Park Press, 10 Nov. 2023, www.app.com/story/news/local/redevelopment/2023/11/10/asbury-park-holy-spirit-church-destroyed-replaced-with-homes/71515230007/.
Mack, Julie. “Catholic Baptisms, Weddings down by Half since 2000; a Look by Michigan Diocese.” Mlive, 30 Apr. 2019, www.mlive.com/news/g66l-2019/04/1e5c5d6e253217/catholic-baptisms-weddings-down-by-half-since-2000-a-look-by-michigan-diocese.html.
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Murphy, Darryl C. “Buddhist Monks Cash out with ‘secret’ Sale of Historic South Philly Church.” WHYY, 13 Feb. 2019, whyy.org/articles/buddhist-monks-cash-out-with-secret-sale-of-historic-south-philly-church/.
“Religious Landscape Study.” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, Pew Research Center, 12 May 2015, www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/.
Wingfield, Mark. “In SBC Annual Statistics, Even the Good News Isn’t That Good.” Baptist News Global, 11 May 2023, baptistnews.com/article/in-sbc-annual-statistics-even-the-good-news-isnt-that-good/.
“‘Writing Their Own History’: Brooklyn’s Muslims Convert Abandoned Church into Community Centre.” Middle East Eye, www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-new-york-abandoned-church-turned-muslim-community-centre. Accessed 26 Dec. 2023.
Yagnik, Bharat. Swaminarayan Temple: 30-Year-Old US Church to Be Converted into Temple, The Times of India, 24 Dec. 2018, timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/30-yr-old-us-church-to-be-converted-into-temple/articleshow/67222108.cms.