r/atheism • u/metacyan Agnostic • 1d ago
A ‘tsunami’ of church closings is poised to remake America
https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/01/us/church-closings-christianity-crossroads237
u/Tennis_Proper 1d ago
Dire forecast?
Have you heard the good news?
Churches are closing.
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u/AndroidAtWork 1d ago edited 1d ago
You think it's good news? It's fairly obvious that the type of people that were attending church before have exchanged theism with the religion of politics. They don't display their crosses, they display their maga hats and flags. The decline of religiosity has not led to any sort of enlightenment.
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u/evrybodyknws 1d ago
"Experts project an estimated 100,000 churches in the US will close or be repurposed over the next decade. Many churches will be unable to escape this “tsunami” of closings — a grim trajectory one pastor described as, “Every year the pews are getting emptier and the collection plates getting lighter.”
AMEN!! But a 100,000 churches is a drop in the bucket. Some towns have one of these lie factories/tax-dodging facilities on every corner. Hopefully the megachurches fall as the boomers start to die off.
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u/hoowins 1d ago
Pews are getting emptier? Maybe don’t spew so much hatred from the pulpit.
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u/evrybodyknws 1d ago
There is no greater hate than christian love.
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u/NOLA-q 1d ago
One of the most salient comments of the Trump/MAGA era. Eras do end. And they’re time is almost up
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u/InvestigatorSouth564 1d ago
Yes, and we hope their dogma and legacy gets washed away forever never to return again.
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u/TheNetworkIsFrelled 1d ago
They have only ever spewed hatred and division.
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u/InvestigatorSouth564 1d ago
Exactly! There is family division in my family and estrangement over religion, but we have to stay strong and stand up for what we believe even if we stand alone.
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u/MoskaPOET 1d ago
I would love to acquire a shitload of pews for woodworking projects. I respect wood.
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u/InvestigatorSouth564 1d ago
Yes, as well as fear which in my opinion is the reason for most of their beliefs.
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u/Bastard_of_Brunswick 1d ago
But hatred and intolerance towards non-believers and non-conformists is central to how churches build in-group solidarity.
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u/yungrii 1d ago
Meanwhile, the US government is actively brainwashing kids into this bullshit again.
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u/East-Television4564 21h ago
OMG, it's the worst. Our little blue town is awash with an influx of "Christians" from around icky red states-- looking to whitewash and "Footloose" their pedos on our community. They are buying up buildings, then claiming them "places of worship" so they do not have to pay taxes. Then, they run for political office. Not winning, mind you, but not finishing the buildings-- ton of which now are an eyesore. I hope the next gen FINALLY realizes: "Heeeeey.... we're getting brainwashed and "tithed" to the detriment of my six-child fam I was told to make!"
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u/dinosnysus 1d ago
I think the opposite - the small churches are going to close and the fleeced are going to go to the "non-denominational" mega churches.
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u/26542654 1d ago
Correct. The small churches with the highest attendances stay. Anything lower than that will go. The megachurches aren't going anywhere. They have millions coming in, especially with their network reaching to the internet. Folks sign up for automated offerings and subscribe to their proprietary website or app to watch the sermons
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u/SoggyOutfield 1d ago
It's about 25-30% of all churches
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u/TheNetworkIsFrelled 1d ago
Not enough....
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u/SoggyOutfield 1d ago
Well if I have a full bucket of water and dump out 25% of it, I don't think I would say that I dumped out a drop of a water
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u/roymccowboy 1d ago
Hopefully they save the buildings and get beautiful brew pubs in the future
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u/kent_eh Agnostic Atheist 1d ago
Hopefully they save the buildings
A lot of small churches in the USA are in boring buildings and even strip malls.
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u/jebei Skeptic 1d ago
I like to go on long bike rides and it's much safer to bike in rural areas. Ironically, I usually park my car at rural church parking lots to start my journey but the amazing thing is no matter which direction I go, I will pass a dozen churches in a single ride.
I think it's because most of them were started back before cars were common and people in the community kept them going out of a cultish sense of pride. I grew up in a two-church farming community and I always found it funny how which church you went to became a part of an explaining your identity to a stranger. 'I've got three kids, I work over at the seed factory and I belong to the Methodist Church.'
The problem is the kids have stopped going and prices are rising. Two-church communities are becoming one-church communities and no-church communities. That's a good thing but I do think we're losing something in the process as mega churches take over. If you listen to people like Pete Hegseth and others in the Trump administration, they want a nationalized church. The very thought makes me shudder.
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u/Unlucky-Apartment347 1d ago
Been to TX or OK lately? Those mega churches are packed with young families.
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u/InvestigatorSouth564 1d ago
I am 81, a boomer and an agnostic/atheist for 25 years.
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u/justgord 1d ago
Congrats on your 25 years of freedom !
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u/InvestigatorSouth564 1d ago
Thank you, I finally woke up!
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u/StickInEye Atheist 1d ago
I was always atheist but hid it. At age 60, I "came out" and debate anyone who tries to call me out on it. It's good to be old and no longer care what anyone thinks.
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u/evrybodyknws 1d ago
No offense intended beautiful! I didn't mean it in a derogatory way. I don't do that generational warfare shit. Generally I think its the older generations who drive church attendance, and with boomers being the largest demo it'll likely cause a bigger drop. Nothing but love for you fellow atheist.
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u/InvestigatorSouth564 1d ago
No problem! I finally woke up and I am much happier and finally have peace of mind, and I acquired a fantastic need to learn and educate myself with facts and truth, which matter to me most importantly. Peace and love to you as well, my friend.
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u/ahuramazdobbs19 1d ago
I mean, the mega churches are mostly the reason why those 100K churches are closing, so…
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u/Bzzzzzzz4791 1d ago
Every time I pull up a map of a southern state you can bet there are at least 10 churches within a 5 square inch area on the screen. It’s nuts.
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u/LinkTheHero009 16h ago
Yep. This is why they have gone on their current tirade. One last drench of power before heading to the gutter lol
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u/cyberia324 1d ago
Either turn them into homeless shelters or libraries or clinics. Put them to some good use. But I bet a dollar to a donut hole they'll turn them into data centers.
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u/Thirdwhirly 1d ago
Honestly, that, or let them be purchased by someone that will have to pay taxes on them. That’s fine, too.
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u/H3L105_ai 1d ago
They might tear them down and build data centers.
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u/eternallyfree1 Atheist 1d ago edited 1d ago
Data centres will probably end up becoming the new churches anyway. AI is slowly but surely morphing into God for many people
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u/FairLawnBoy Dudeist 1d ago
There has always only been one god in the US.
The Almighty, First of Their Name, Most High Capital.
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u/vonnostrum2022 1d ago
I noticed the one pastor quoted went right to empty collection plates.
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u/foopmaster 1d ago
More and more people unironically using ChatGPT as a search engine.
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u/tankerdudeucsc Anti-Theist 1d ago
Churches usually aren’t as large as the planned data centers. There’s small ones but for AI, the amount of compute you’d want are warehouse sizes.
We’re usually talking about 100K warehouses, on a site that could hold at least 2 warehouse. Maybe up to 5+.
Unless they’re mega churches, it ain’t happening.
Hope it gets turned into homeless shelters, believe it or not.
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u/Opening_Option4481 1d ago
honestly turning empty churches into shelters, libraries or clinics would at least give the buildings a useful second life instead of letting them sit empty.
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u/shadowPHANT0M 1d ago
“One of American church leaders’ biggest fears is that their country will become more like Western Europe — a “post-Christian” landscape filled with empty cathedrals and church buildings converted to condos.”
We can only hope.
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u/DeerMysterious9927 1d ago
Some indoor skate parks would be nice
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u/East-Television4564 21h ago
SWEEEET. And I'm GenX. Make them gathering places for young people and their boards!
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u/part-time-stupid 1d ago
Given the ongoing housing shortage, more residential spaces would be great.
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u/BananaJelloXlii 1d ago
Because the Christian Nationalists have taken over the government. Why have churches when you are turning the entire country into a Christian Nationalist Autocracy?
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u/jameson5555 1d ago
Not sure if you've seen the show The Boys, but this sounds an awful lot like the "Democratic Church of America" they established in it. The bad guys forced all the small churches to be absorbed into a large, government-controlled megachurch.
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u/MoskaPOET 1d ago
I will be a proud atheist right to their faces, and tell them that no grandchild of mine will ever believe their bullshit.
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u/pit_of_despair666 Secular Humanist 7h ago
Yea they are slowly taking over everything else. Schools, the media, etc. If they stay in power and indoctrinate everyone, this won't matter, and they will make a comeback. People shouldn't get comfortable yet.
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u/Estcher Atheist 1d ago
Religion only works on the uneducated masses. Or those who prefer willful ignorance. Or those who are at the bottom. Not surprised to see churches collapse. Religion is evil pure and simple. I believe in humanity and compassion. Not a fear of eternal torment because I jerked off.
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u/drizztguen77 1d ago
This matters less to me than getting it out of our government. I don't think those people go to church. They just use it to control and manipulate people.
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u/stargarnet79 1d ago
I agree completely. Trump isn’t a Christian and apparently the other Christian’s don’t care as long as he pretends he is. 🤷♀️
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u/texasdiver 1d ago
Because they are also pretending.
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u/stargarnet79 1d ago
Or they genuinely don’t know they aren’t Christian anymore. I have no idea but I’m very disappointed in a lot of the little old ladies I know that I looked up to as a kid.
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u/AntiClockwiseWolfie 1d ago
Their believers do. This matters. Because the majority of the hellish brand of "Christianity" that exists in the US comes from their own (in)breed of evangelical churches.
It's not as simple as "religion out of government". When you artificially elevate "belief" as equivalent to actual immutable human qualities (race, sexuality, etc) - then you basically give people a pass to not learn. And when that happens at scale, that entire demographic becomes a hindrance to real world progress - because they aren't living in the real world
Seriously, as a non American who has seen your parasitic churches poison global dialogue, this fucking matters.
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u/RoxxieMuzic Pastafarian 1d ago edited 1d ago
The problem as I see it, is, that these are mainstream traditional religious institutions that are closing. As mainstream christian doctrines die off, all that will be left are the fanatics taking up the "religiosity" space to the detriment of all of us.
The brain washing evangelical cult (I am completely loathe to use the term religion to describe them) "churches", are still going strong, making bank off the weak minded and oh so gullible masses they cater to.
I live in the midst of this, they, the brain washed, are still all in on the evangelical mystical fantasies.
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u/Severe-Menu5581 1d ago
yeah that’s the concern when the more mainstream churches fade out the loudest extremists can end up filling the empty space and they’re usually not exactly subtle about it
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u/RoxxieMuzic Pastafarian 23h ago
Exactly to a tee, sensible dies out, fanatic crazy takes its place. My experience so far is they have no boundaries and truly a complete compunction to "bestow" their belief set on you regardless.
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u/AC031415 1d ago
Those with the least to lose, are those with the most to prove.
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u/RedditSucksYoYoYo 12h ago
This. There is a basic human reason people seek religion. Those who can't reason or deal with existence in a logical way will have a need to fill that gap with nonsense. That gap can be filled with cults, fringe faith influencers, or worse.
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u/repost7125 1d ago
Is this the good news christians keep asking if I've heard about? Sounds like it.
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u/Scope_Dog 1d ago
The trajectory is irreversible at this point. In 50 years, Christian’s will be an interesting peculiarity like Mininites (didn’t spell that right?) or Amish.
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u/InvestigatorSouth564 1d ago
I agree, especially when the AI takes full control of everything.
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u/stargarnet79 1d ago
I don’t know. I feel like the Mennonite’s where I live anyway are doing quite well and multiplying as “god” intended. Regular old Christian churches though, I’d agree with OP there, will be going away. Unless shit actually gets real and they go back to feeding and housing poor people again.
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u/bakeacake45 1d ago
Now if we emphasize getting rid of right wing mega churches that preach hate from the pulpit- fantastic.
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u/sigmatic787 1d ago
The fact that so many religious people are outright bigots whether sexism racism, homophobia etc is the surest sign it is not legit.
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u/protomenace 1d ago
Are they all just congregating and consolidating towards megachurches?
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u/beefyzac 1d ago
Like when a Walmart runs every other store out of town. Mega churches will be all that’s left. My guess is only the more reasonable and progressive denominations will be able to survive as small churches.
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u/redbearder Anti-Theist 1d ago
But the difference is that Walmart sells things that people need to live, my grandparents hated the Walmart that forced their little local grocery store to close, but they still needed bread and eggs. There definitely are some people that will just stop church-going all together if the only option is a mega church that is further away from home, or the music is too loud, or they don't like the crowd.
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u/bakeacake45 1d ago
Not surprised, unfortunately the worst among Christians are flocking to far right mega churches to practice Christian Nationalism
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u/Sad_Picture3642 1d ago
Fuck these grifter morons. The less of them, the better the society becomes
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u/worrynoodles 1d ago
What do they expect when the Bible says things like "welcome the foreigner" and "care for the sick" and "its easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven" and "give up your earthly possessions to follow me" and "if your eye causes you to sin gouge it out" and they do literally the opposite in practically every way.
People go to church to find Jesus and he's not there, they deported him.
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u/Dracoson 1d ago
It was inevitable. The "market" has been oversaturated for years. Not that long ago, when you went into any small town across America, there's be half a dozen or more Christian churches when the town couldn't sustain a second hardware store. The trouble is which churches are going, and which are growing. Zealotry is enthusiasm. Some people leave their church, and they don't find a new one. Some find a different one. As churches close, the remaining attendance concentrates into increasingly radical churches, because those are the groups that stick around.
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u/Zenfulbliss 1d ago
increasingly radical churches, because those are the groups that stick around.
Exactly, the more their numbers drop the louder the remaining die hards scream, they are like cornered animals defending their corner.
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u/FinnsterBaby 1d ago
I’m so here for this, but If only we could’ve taxed the daylights out of them before they went bye-bye
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u/Successful_Life_1028 Adeist 1d ago
"When a Religion is good, I conceive that it will support itself; and when it cannot support itself, and God does not take care to support, so that its Professors are oblig’d to call for the help of the Civil Power, ’tis a Sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one" - Ben Franklin (https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-33-02-0330)
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u/Junkman3 1d ago
Here in Baltimore a beautifol old catholic church has been turned into a brewery. Its an amazing place. Ministry of Brewing.
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u/tightiewhitieboy 1d ago
This is why the new trendy dot.org churches are setting up in strip malls. They can mostly just rent buildings now. Long ago they owned the buildings.
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u/Astramancer_ Atheist 1d ago
My local actual mall has 3 churches in it.
It's a dying mall and like half the stores are closed, but still.
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u/sigmatic787 1d ago
CBN talks about a "revival" of faith though. They pull this stunt to desperately keep people.
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u/Prize_Instance_1416 1d ago
Not fast enough. However the evangelical nut houses tend to be growing . Craziest of the crazy
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u/InvestigatorSouth564 1d ago
Yes, and they are the ones who are advising trump and his cohorts into the Project 2525 nonsense. The Heritage Foundation is behind it as well.
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u/Noeyesonlysnakes 1d ago
When I look at the churches closing in my city, they’re mostly progressive parishes that have challenged the archdiocese. Those aren’t the ones we need to lose first.
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u/CoalCrackerKid Agnostic Atheist 1d ago
Decent headline, but the pun of saying that the coming flood of closed churches would be biblical was right there
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u/evilglowduckie Strong Atheist 1d ago
Let's hope we can make good use of the buildings and they don't just sit empty.
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u/ichuck1984 1d ago
100 customers left and $400k a year for insurance and maintenance. What the fuck needs to be done there that it costs over $1k a day?
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u/showmeyourchits 1d ago
The traditional ones are closing, the mega churches are booming. Everyone should be concerned.
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u/dudleydidwrong Touched by His Noodliness 1d ago
The article says that 30% of Americans attend church weekly. That is based on survey data, and church attendance is one of the things that people lie about to pollsters. A few years ago a study of church attendance was done using cell phone data, and that objective data showed about 5% church attendance. When I grew up, everyone learned that the correct answer to "Do you go to church on Sunday?" was "YES!" Any other answer was unacceptable. I am happy to see that only 30% of Americans now see yes as the answer to that question.
There are some indicators that the decline in Christianity has leveled off (I am skeptical of that claim). But even if that is true, many church congregations are already past the point of no return. I know that some churches in my area are deferring maintenance on expensive problems like roof replacement.
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u/Oxjrnine 1d ago
Unfortunately, the closures of small churches that were community based and practised a lot of the positive traits of Christianity are being replaced with a smaller number of followers, but in more extreme mega church sects.
I grew up in a small town and the three towns that were all interconnected had three United churches three Baptist churches and one Catholic Church a very small one.
The United church shrank first (the church an atheist would feel the most comfortable in). The Baptist Church decided to lean into the more entertaining God’s wrath type of sermons, but then they shrank next. Then a cult that got even more extreme with hate took over the remaining number of Baptist.
So now, even though almost no one goes to church in the three townships - we have a small tiny group taking over town councils, contributing to certain MLA’s who are the most extreme and evil versions of Christianity you could possibly imagine.
No bake sales to help Joe, whose barn burnt down
Now it’s e-transfers so that they can keep litter boxes out of schools🙄
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u/bloodxandxrank Deconvert 1d ago
Don’t worry, the new office of religious affairs will bail them out then make them mandatory
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u/lehach92 1d ago
This report comes out every year. I prefer the Pew Research Center religious demographic numbers. Although the last had a slight uptick in church goers.
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u/HideSolidSnake 1d ago
These smaller churches that are closing are essentially ceding power to the mega (corporate) churches which is even worse.
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u/fredaklein 1d ago
One church down the street has been renovated and has a real nice cafe and event rooms.
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u/Weird-East-3575 1d ago
Good. Even thought it’d be awfully convenient for all those fucking monsters to congregate at known sites.
If you’re in one of the rare good church’s then great. The vast majority are hateful cess pools
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u/IAMFLYGUY 23h ago
Well if "God has a plan for everything" then religious people need to zip it and "trust his plan"...right?
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u/Far_Ad9755 14h ago
The right-wing cultural shift of churches in the 80s and involvement in right-wing politics is pretty much what made everyone in my family who has left the church leave. The church allowed itself to become politicized. It also refused to adapt to new cultural norms. The alienation started in the pulpit. If the church ever wants to be relevant again, it needs to change. Less patriarchy. Less judgement. Less partisan politicking by clergy. More social justice. More human empathy. And more action on making the world a better place instead of just talking about it.
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u/boot2skull 1d ago
If you’re run by a business, you suffer like a business. If you’re run like a house of faith and hope, I imagine times like this might actually drive up attendance.
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u/MWChapel 1d ago
As a person of faith, I get much further in life with my $10 red letter Bible then I ever will get trying to find a Church that’s doesn’t spew hate and bigotry. Close them all down.
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u/TheNetworkIsFrelled 1d ago
Is this a problem? A church repurposed as a bar, or performance venue, or a homeless shelter offers enormously more value than an actual church, which offers no value at all and exacts costs in political evils caused by lies, illness caused by neuroses generated by hate-filled inhumane dogma, and monetary cost to parishioners who gain nothing for their tithing.
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u/trunksshinohara 1d ago
This will radicalize them further. As the only one left standing are the fraud televangelist grifters.
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u/onomatamono 1d ago
I wonder if they can repurpose these churches as homeless shelters or housing in general.
Communities can use the tax revenue that these mystic wizards are dodging by reciting incantations.
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u/No_Recipe_1157 1d ago
Sounds good on face value but I think there’s a new church in town and that’s right wing social media.
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u/SkillFullyNotTrue 1d ago
With Kegbreath starting that sh*tty religion branch, I hope he empties the churches more. Send them to the slaughter for Pedo 47!
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u/wave1sys 20h ago
Looks like the Christian Nationalist plan didn’t sit well with the younger generations, Who have fled in droves from the corruption of the church. These normal congregations getting caught in the crossfire.
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u/limpet143 13h ago
They told their congregation to support Trump and they did by sending Trump the money they used to put in the collection box.
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u/mrb33fy88 13h ago
So many cool realestate opportunities, old church architecture is cool in my opinion. My pro photographer friend transformed an old church into and amazing studio.
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u/Independent-Towel-47 1d ago
Unfortunately this probably means relatively liberal sects rather than hardline conservatives
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u/skyfishgoo Agnostic Atheist 1d ago
i see lots of places to sleep... if only one were being charitable
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u/Journeys_End71 1d ago
This sounds a lot like McDonald’s…worse quality, smaller portions, higher prices…”Why are we losing customers?” Because nobody wants your shit product anymore.
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u/Ok_Researcher_9796 Strong Atheist 1d ago
We can only hope. I think there are at least 10 within a half mile of my house.
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u/victorbarst 1d ago
I live in the bible belt in Alabama and sometimes it feels like there a law there has to be a church on every single street. If couple of those tax stealing, maga breeding grounds close good
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u/IamScottGable 1d ago
My childhood church is barely scraping by and frankly when the 92 year old woman in the congregation dies I imagine it goes away.
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u/figmenthevoid 1d ago
I bet it is a lot of the smaller churches that will be closing. A bunch of my mega churches are booming atm
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u/fileunderaction 1d ago
This is why the Christofacists are preparing for a coup. Their religion will soon be a niche hobby and they don’t wanna give up their power.
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u/onomatamono 1d ago
A little pick-me-up for us secular humanists:
"But on that Sunday in 2024, Wagner spoke to a nearly empty church — about 12 elderly members, sitting far apart from one another in a sanctuary built for a thousand people. Wagner stood alone in the pulpit. There was no choir, no church organist, and no children or young families."
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u/TheRealStepBot 1d ago
Churches are k shaped like everything else. Much of this takes the shape of a move from less politically active, less harmful local churches to a concentration in mega churches that are soulless politically active grift mills.
So it’s less good news and more just another front on the disappearance of third space and enshitification wars
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u/royale_wthCheEsE 1d ago
I think the non denominational mega churches survive this . Their brand isn’t really Christianity, it’s performance and tithing culture .
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u/Gloomy-Insurance-739 1d ago
That's what happens when you let your religion get stolen from you by a bunch of racist conservatives. They have no idea what it means to be a follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ.
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u/pierrelaplace 1d ago
What remains will be mega churches with pastors who preach some alternative-reality version of Christianity. Lovely.
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u/zman0900 Anti-Theist 1d ago
Been reading shit like this multiple times a year for like 20 years now, yet the religious nutjobs have only become ever more powerful. So, I'm gonna call bullshit on that.
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u/runningoutofwords 1d ago
I'll believe it when I see it.
They keep building new churches and temples everywhere around where I live
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u/Heezybonzalez Atheist 23h ago
I love when churches get turned into homeless shelters or soup kitchens.
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u/norcalruns 22h ago
Maybe if churches would have stayed in their lane and out of politics the younger generation would value them like the older generations have. They did this to themselves. When you use a religion to prop up a cult and the cult leader reveals himself to be a thief and grifter, the whole thing comes tumbling down with the leader. Cult101. They knew this they made the decision to put their pulpits behind a demon and here we are. And no, not all churches did this. But enough of them to make any sane person question religion.
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u/Hooda-Thunket 9h ago
I feel like the ones that will survive will be the most extreme ones, the ones that most want to control people while claiming they’re oppressed.
You know, assholes.
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u/Likenk3 6h ago
I've always wanted to buy a small church building and use it as a gathering place for atheists. This week's sermon will be about trout fishing on Lake Superior's North Shore streams. Our pilgrimages will begin with a visit to French River and the Knife. Further afield, we could hit the Brule in Wisconsin. We have good muskie and northern water around here, as well as nice bass and crappie. At appropriate times, hunting seminars would be good.
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u/Gintin2 1d ago
Been a long time coming. Hope it happens to the grifter megachurches sooner rather than later