That’s the title of the lead article in the Easter edition of Newsweek Magazine. The article defines the decline of the church in America.

Meanwhile, organized religion itself is in trouble. The Catholic Church’s hierarchy lost much of its authority over the American flock with the unilateral prohibition of the pill in 1968 by Pope Paul VI. But in the last decade, whatever shred of moral authority that remained has evaporated. The hierarchy was exposed as enabling, and then covering up, an international conspiracy to abuse and rape countless youths and children. I don’t know what greater indictment of a church’s authority there can be—except the refusal, even now, of the entire leadership to face their responsibility and resign. Instead, they obsess about others’ sex lives, about who is entitled to civil marriage, and about who pays for birth control in health insurance. Inequality, poverty, even the torture institutionalized by the government after 9/11: these issues attract far less of their public attention.

The prosperity Gospel is a farce and is turning off a generation of Christians. And I am somewhat impressed that a major news publication recognizes what so many people on this blog and other places on the internet have come to realize for themselves — You don’t need church to be a Christian.

That is going to be the title of my upcoming “prosperity gospel” book.

A pastor in Maine, William Cripe, titled his book, “The Proper Pursuit of Prosperity”. (My title is better). And I love what Mr. Cripe says about the prosperity scam:

Cripe said the book is intended for people struggling with the frustrations of life. He made clear that there is nothing about financial success or extraordinary wealth.

“Many of the faithful people of the Bible were wealthy,” he said in his email. “This is not another book that bashes the rich nor does it maintain that poverty is next to godliness. There are in fact promises of ‘blessing’ in this life for the one whose priorities are God-centered rather than self-centered.

“But material wealth and perfect health are not guaranteed to anyone no matter how faithful they are,” he continued. “Some of the most faithful people in the Bible and throughout history were dirt poor or suffered horrible diseases or experienced great tragedies. We all know examples of very wealthy yet very nasty people and we probably all know some very wonderful people who experience crisis and calamity. Poverty and wealth are both poor indicators of God’s favor on a person.”

Um, yeah. Exactly.

A couple of atheists in Portland are running around visiting and writing reviews of local churches for their blog - A Year of Sundays.

They offer a particularly scathing review of Beaverton Four$quare Church.

But Foursquare seems to be praying upon the mediocre. Church for the American consumer. You’re buying an experience that FEELS like spirituality because it’s prettily packaged and perfectly delivered, not because it’s real. It reminds me of the last meal I ate at Olive Garden. You might not find any real FOOD in that all-you-can-eat soup, salad and bread sticks deal, but it still fills you up. Foursquare feels similarly overpriced.

I’m not sure there’s a better way for me to say this, but I feel a genuine sadness for the people who attend this church. They are being bamboozled. But here’s the thing – I honestly and truly believe that they all BELIEVE it, the enigmatic Rick Fry included. It’s a collective bamboozlement. As an outsider looking in, I watched a short line of parishioners approach the pastor after the service to ask for specific prayers. They would throw their arms around each other, butt their heads together in a circle and pray.

Besides the completely uncalled for attack on Olive Garden, the whole review is quite good. They hit upon a key aspect of these mega churches that really bugs me: they're completely fake.

I found a YouTube channel that posts some powerful clips of preachers calling for Christians to live more like Christ and the Apostles of the early church.  This is a ministry of Grace Community Church in San Antonio, TX.  Now I've never been there nor do I know everything that the believe/preach so I can't say this is all great stuff.  However, many of the clips call out the prosperity gospel and those who preach it, which of course I like.  Two that really got me are Leonard Ravenhill on the prosperity gospel and Paul Washer on false pastors/preachers.  I also like this one, which is a compellation of some great biblical messages.  This is NOT the kind of stuff you will EVER hear preached from the mouths of Judah Smith or Frank Damzio.