> Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> > It's not just megachurches. Almost all religious organizations, even
> > small ones, offer social services of many kinds. What social services
> > secular leftists offer? Nothing, for there is currently no secular
> > leftist organization that can rival even smallish mainline Protestant
> > denomination.
>
> Most small and medium churches offer some kind of social services, in
> addition to regular social activities. I firmly believe, pardon the pun,
> that most church membership in the U.S. is driven by people who are
> interested in community. Capitalism is so effective at dividing people,
> privatizing social spaces, and otherwise alienating people that churches
> just reap the desire that most people have for community.
>
Chuck,
The problem is however that there are left forms of Christianity which provide all the collective amenities and sense of belonging you and Yoshie list and yet and these are not the forms of Christianity that have expanded in membership. And the question is why not?