this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2024
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Summary

Churches across the U.S. are grappling with dwindling attendance and financial instability, forcing many to close or sell properties.

The Diocese of Buffalo has shut down 100 parishes since the 2000s and plans to close 70 more. Nationwide, church membership has dropped from 80% in the 1940s to 45% today.

Some churches repurpose their land to survive, like Atlanta’s First United Methodist Church, which is building affordable housing.

Others, like Calcium Church in New York, make cutbacks to stay open. Leaders warn of the long-term risks of declining community and support for churches.

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[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Not on the internet. I'm a string of characters. I don't have a face, I don't have a voice, I don't have a body, I am a handle and a comment tree. I cease to exist as soon as you aren't paying attention to this comment chain. I could be a bot, you have no idea.

The internet can never be community. We are only human when we do human things. This digital space isn't human at all.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I mean, why are you even here then? Exchanging information IS a human thing, and we're (probably) all people behind the screens. I agree that physicality is a necessity for a 3rd space, but I disagree that it's necessary for community.

To say that we can't help people with our words strikes me as rather pessimistic.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

~~I'm here for fun, not community. None of this shit matters. It's not real.~~

I don't know why I'm here. Just to get ganged up on and hurt myself.

[–] nialv7 2 points 6 days ago

i feel the downvotes kinda proved your point...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

._. *patpat*

It do be like that sometimes...

But even having fun maybe matters too?

I'm sorry you got ganged up on... I, at least, enjoyed reading your comments.

Edit:

It just occurred to me that tone really doesn't come across on the internet, and "Why are you even here then?" could be read in an accusatory way, when I really didn't intend it as such. I meant it in more of an interrogatory sense, and I wasn't trying to be mean. I was curious. ._.

You have as much right to be here as anyone else!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The internet can never be community.

Bullshit. There are millions of communities on the internet. Maybe not the kind of communities you personally want, but communities just the same. Don't gatekeep how others interact with different social groups.

Also there are countless communities that exist both online and in meatspace. You can enjoy people in the real world, go home and resume those connections via internet with the same people. Those people don't cease to exist when they're not physically standing in front of you.

These are not just letters on a screen. They were put here by a human being named Kevin. I have an entire life, history, interpersonal connections, my own thoughts and feelings. Tomorrow you will likely see more things that I write along with everyone else who's part of This community.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

The internet is a community only in a sense that abstracts and extends the original meaning. It only has any of the defining aspects of a community by analogy. A closer analogy is that it's a glory hole without the hole.

[–] NocturnalMorning 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Tell that to the numerous thriving online communities.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Like this one? You think this is community? You don't even know anyone's names.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I mean, does that matter that much? Your irl name is just an identifier that points to you. Just like queermunist is an identifier that also points to you.

I've seen you before, I've read some of your comments. I wouldn't say I know you per se, but I at least recognize your name in passing and have an inkling of what to expect from you.

You could almost think of it as we both go to the same school, but have different friend groups so maybe never really interact, but still know each other exists.

And some of the more prolific users I understand a bit more of. And some of the smaller communities I'm part of I know all of the regular users a little bit better.

But you're right, it's a bit harder than in person because you can't put a face or mannerisms to the handle, but I think you can still know people here a little bit.

[–] FlyingSquid 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Also, it seems weird that someone who is openly trans is complaining that we don't know people's names rather than us knowing the names people chose for themselves.

I'm fine with my real name, but if the world called me Flying Squid, I'd be cool with that too.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Another brilliant take from someone on .ml

[–] jrs100000 5 points 1 week ago

Sorry, Im pretty sure thats all were likely to get. The way things are going well be lucky to have public schools in 20 years, let alone a bunch of new publicly funded community spaces.

[–] captainlezbian 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The internet can form community but it's not the same. I'm about to move across the country and crash with a friend I met through the internet; and I've only seen her irl twice. That whole friend group are some of my best friends. And they aren't even the only close friendships I have through the internet.

But also, I've done the only socialize online thing and it broke my mind in college and again in the pandemic (which is when I met both friend groups I mentioned earlier). I need physical places where I can interact positively with other physical humans. I need physical places that I can coexist with other people and that's what an actual third space is. And I've seen what only existing on the internet does to people and it's not good

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago

Yes yes thank you, this is what I meant. I know I pissed a lot of people off by saying that internet communities aren't real, but what I meant is that they aren't a replacement for community. The distance, the lag, the lack of a face or voice or body, the time zones, there's so many elements that make internet "community" into something that I struggle to call community.

If people want to call it community then fine, but it's not a neighborhood or a workplace or (in the earlier example) congregation.