Money Over Religion
Mount Tabor Baptist Church was founded in 1968 by 18 Deacons and 5 Trustee’s including Reverend Lamar Kelly. It is located at the corner of E. Henry Street and E. Broad Street.
The small building opens up to a large interior with typical religious iconography placed through out. If you travel to the back there is a social hall where bible studies and recreational activities are held.
The current congregation is made up of only a handful of families. Most of which are young children and their grandparents. The children would be loud and unattentive like we are in class. The elders would discipline them and tell them to be quiet. The church crowd, just like most churches in America, are becoming fewer and fewer in numbers.
We first went to Mt Tabor on October 21, 2014. We knocked on the door and was greeted by an older gentleman who locked/unlocked the door. He would do this after every person that would step in. He gave a “Hello” and sat down to study his bible.
The man would do this religiously. He would unlock the door, lock it back, and sit to read his bible. Barely speaking to the people who frequented the church on a regular basis.
At first, we were often greeted like this by everyone at the church we came across, being slightly acknowledged and then, to what seemed like us, to be tuned out as if we were not there. Susan, was nervous and felt very out of place and at times wanted to run back to her house up the street. Chris, felt accepted right away even though it was obvious we did not superfically fit in. After we started to become more frequent visitors, Susan began to embrace Chris’ mindset and welcome what was going on around us.
After doing our interview, the members realized that we were there for a school project and not to disrespect them, and then became more open to us about their community.
The main concern they expressed with us was the lack of attendance and how it continuously declines. Minister Vernon claimed the reason for the decline was the emphasis on obtaining money rather than gaining spiritual enlightenment. While he understood that this was a valid reason for some community members to be able to take care of their families, he still seemed uneasy that faith could be given up so easily.
This statement gave us the main point for our project. The point being that economic gain would dominate over the religious communities’ priorities across America. Chris has seen this first hand back in his hometown in Alabama. Inflation would rise and wages wouldn’t, causing people to work longer hours and more days to make ends meet. Since, churches stay open by the congregation offering donations. The donations became less and less as people were forced to work all the time. Mostly, missing church on Sunday to work and provide for their families instead.
The impact of American consumerism will cause the churches to have to close their doors. If no one is able to attend church, then the church has no one to help pay property tax and energy bills. This would also mark the beginning of the end for faith. The closing of churches would also cause AA(Alcoholics Anonymous) and NA (Narcotics Anonymous) to find other locations for meets. These being programs that help people with guidance, at their most desperate times, for free. If the church closes, the government would probably start a funded organization using government money. This means taxes could go up for all Americans adding another financial hardship on the original people who left the church to begin with.
Also if churches become extinct, religion would die out. The only thing of worship that would be left is the idea of money and material possessions. In due time, this would cause the promotion of our current market causing more production of the goods being demanded. This eats away at the limited resources God or Nature has given us. No matter what one believes, the earth has only so much and people are already concerned about over population, providing for everyone. Christianity does provide a message of anti-materilism, which is what the world needs now,since people really only work jobs to buy objects they think they need.
Religion also provides an understanding of the world around us. It makes us reflect on what is truly important in life. While money provides no insight on life. It only provides a solution for material problems. Americans hear all the time, “so many problems come with being rich”, so without religion one could be either poor and sad or rich and depressed.
In conclusion, the separation of church and state is actually causing the two ideas to be codependent on each other. The separation of church and state goes all the way back to when settlers first came across the sea. The people of Britain were tired of having to follow governments rules of religion and thought it would be better if people had the choice and freedom of choosing their religion. The church needing money, a concept of value, that the government provides, but the congregation having jobs to earn money to donate to the church. This interlocking system usually fails due to one side not being able to sustain the other. The repercussions will cause the other to fail. So this raises the question. Which is more important, religion or money?
