Preface: when I speak of Churches in this article, I'm not only referring to Christian Churches, but also Synagogues, Mosques, etc..

I was just thinking of Churches, and their place in society today versus their place in society a hundred years ago. Churches are having more and more money problems, and have been losing their 'membership' (so to speak) quite rapidly over the last few decades.

I think the main reason why this has been happening is simply that our communication methods are better. If you remember, churches, even as recently as the 60's and 70's, were places where people would congregate on a regular basis. Not just church services either, the church was a societal focal point for most areas, especially in the earlier years. This holds especially true of Rural churches. People would gossip, children would see each other apart from school (if they had such luxuries), people who lived far away (relatively speaking) would come together to a central place and talk. Communication.

Now with newer methods of communication, Churches are similar to writing letters. With speedier forms of communication, why choose something as slow as writing a letter, when you can always just email someone? Quite a lot of people feel religion is their own personal thing, and that a church is optional. Which is, IMO, really the case. The church is nothing but a building. It's a person that makes the church anything more, and that person can just as easily do things by themselves at home.

More and more people are beginning to realise that religion really is what you make of it.

What do you think?