> We drove around look again last week, through some nicer neighborhoods. He
> started pointing out the churches and said, "Looks to me like religiosity
> is prevalent in any neighborhood. You just didn't notice the "normal"
> churches like the catholic church back there, the methodist church on the
> corner, the synagogue where we just turned around in the parking lot, or
> the episcopalen church we just passed."
I don't know how many of you have played any of the older SimCity computer simulation games, but if you are unfamiliar with the series it is basically a computer simulation where you run a big city. Or you start with a small town and develop a big city. You zone land, build roads, levy taxes, and budget for municipal services. The game creates most of the buildings automatically based on what you are doing. If you are doing the right thing, the game creates high end residential, commercial and industrial buildings. If you suck or neglect a neighborhood, blight sets in.
One of the annoying things about the game is that it would automatically create churches at random locations around your city. The churches couldn't be taxed, they didn't improve the neighborhood, you couldn't control their location, and they interfered with your development plans. And all of the churches had the same architecture.
In other words, SimCity portrayed churches as a kind of cancer on your city. I came to appreciate that metaphor.
Chuck