On my bike ride yesterday, I must have passed eight different churches while services were ending. At OLPH, Mass was so crowded that people were standing out on Lyons Ave with their Palm fronds. At Placerita Baptist, they were socializing in the parking lot in their Sunday best. The LDS ward in Sand Canyon was packed, as was the EV Free church there and even the two Jehovah’s Witnesses churches on my 30 mile route.
That can only mean one thing: It’s Holy Week in Santa Clarita. And the Signal must be chock-full of ads for the churches new and old in the SCV.
As if I needed any other confirmation, on several Paseo bridges in North Valencia, the Pentecostal Church on the Way (they will ALWAYS be the old Mann Theater, my teenage haunt, to me) had hung these banners:
Now if you’ve read my blog for awhile, you know I’m a lapsed Catholic who flirts with atheism but mostly commits to the least troublesome view on religion: agnosticism. As such, my first reaction to the bunny ad above was to raise funds to hang a smart ass ad with sentiments similar to this t-shirt:
But lately, I’ve felt the tug of Church, of community, of having something to do on Sunday beside the Farmer’s Market (don’t get me wrong, I love the farmer’s market). Part of the draw, I suspect, is that the institutes of the Catholic church (its sacraments, rituals and especially the calendar) provided order and structure to me as a boy, and it’s something I miss. Of course there’s a longer list of things I don’t miss about the church, but that’s another matter.
I sometimes feel that to really understand Santa Clarita, you have to go where Santa Claritans go, and that, by and large, is church on Sundays. I’m guessing here, but probably 60%+ of our residents attend church weekly, which would be double the rate of weekly church attendance in California according to the Pew Survey.
This is born out anecdotally by the fact that the only businesses that sprout up more often in Santa Clarita than churches is massage parlors. Christians even have a term for it, they call it “church planting” and you’ll see evidence of this in school MPRs, strip malls, and other public places throughout town.
One of the things I have been slow to realize is how big a factor local churches play in originating and spreading news. It’s probably no coincidence that the anonymous person behind the massage parlor letter targeted churches first. News travels fast on Sundays (and other days of the week).
It’s a whole side of life in Santa Clarita that I’m largely unfamiliar with.
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I’m afraid that your estimate is sky-high. We don’t have nearly enough seats to accommodate that many people. I would even go so far as to guess that we are below the national average, but we’re probably not too far off either way.
Furthermore, the question: “How often do you attend religious services?” leads to highly inaccurate results. Surveyors find that when they ask people to list the things that they did in the last week, church attendance occurs with much less frequency than when people estimate their own frequency of attendance.
I agree with mike. Based on the traffic levels on Sunday morning when our family goes to church it can’t be a 60% deal. Further, on holidays like Easter church attendance basically goes up about 150%, so this would imply a weekly church attendance of about 30%, fairly close to the mean.
The difference is that involvement in Church probably is a very good indicator of involvement in the community in general, so the church folks put a much larger footprint on local happenings than mere numbers would indicate.
Totally agree. Santa Clarita is filled with churches but the churches are not filled. Church planting is moving outside of Santa Clarita thankfully. We don’t need more churches here…we need more actual Christians becoming involved and serving our community.
Just attending church out of guilt on Easter and Christmas doesn’t quite cut it.
OLPH was packed Sunday and traffic in and out of the parking lot tied Lyons up for sometime. Can’t wait for the expansion!
The 7:00am Sunday Mass at OLPH has plenty of space–there are just about two people per pew. (And half of these people arrive at 6:30 in order to say the Rosary before mass begins). If Catholics woke up earlier, maybe there wouldn’t need to be an expansion.
Many studies have confirmed that at ANY church with multiple services 60% of the people attending on any given Sunday will come to the service that starts between 9 and 10 am. Its just the sweet spot!
When we lived in Texas the church we attended to alleviate parking concerns added an 8:00 am service and got committments from 25 families to attend. We volunteered which required me getting up at 6:00 am to feed an dress an eight month old and then rouse a six and four year old. After about two months half of the families had “lapsed” back to 9:00 am.
“How often do you attend religious services?”
I depends on whether I’m being asked by my friends or my tax preparer.
I LOVE the picture of the T-Shirt BTW.
If the average church attendee puts in $20 when they pass the basket (I too was raised in Catholicism), and if the attendee goes to church every weekend, the total contributions for the year, assuming no special fund-drives is . . . . $1040.
Try putting that on Schedule A of your . . . . 1040.
Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Friends or tax preparer = great line, very funny.
“depends on whether I’m being asked by my friends or my tax preparer”………ROFLMAO!!!!
The precise tilt of the Earth (23 degrees on it’s axis relative to the plane of it’s orbit) was designed by God to make Earth habitable by HIS creation. The t shirt taken by itself does not tell the complete story. Glad it gave CC a cheap thrill though.
Petz encourages everyone to attend a House of Worship of their individual choosing.
I thought the tilt had to do with the shape of the Great Turtle’s shell on whose back the Earth rests?
Jeff, walk away from the light!
;.))
“Petz encourages everyone to attend a House of Worship of their individual choosing.”
Well if PETZ encourages… I will be sure not to do it. *turns up AC/DC and raises devil horns*
“Petz encourages everyone to attend a House of Worship of their individual choosing.”
House of Pancakes?
Excellent response Petz. Religion and science are not mutually exclusive. I was working in Pasadena today and looking up at Mount Wilson told a co-worker how the universe expansion and big bang theory were developed there. In “God and the Astronomers” by author Jastrow it is described how closely the scientific explanation of the universe’s birth parallels Genesis.
Of course the Christian faith has taken on the Winter Solstice and Vernal Equinox as the time to celebrate Christmas and Easter. This makes sense as the exact date/month of the events is not known. On the Winter Solstice the days are getting longer to represent the light of Christ coming into the world. Of course Spring represents re-birth and thus the eternal life promised by the Resurrection. Enough said.
RRRRRRight…. So the world is what 6000 years old and people rode dinosaurs to their rock quarry jobs. Yabbba-dabbba-Hallelujah!
Face it Lennon said it best… “”God is a concept by which we measure our pain.” that is it.
damageinc – Oh wow! Due to you very thoughtful response I only now realize how wrong I have been. You are so intelligent that you would never require such a quaint thing as a God in your life. You’ve got it all figured out.
I don’t ridicule atheists like you do those that are religious. I actually feel a bit sorry for you.
Why do you assume to know my position? Did I ever say that A GOD doesn’t exist? No, I made fun of your version of GOD and the veggietale like Jesus optimism… of trying to make Genesis and Science even remotely compatible.
Only a fool would attempt to sell people on the idea that Genesis and Science match up even slightly, it shows just how blind you are to the FACTS of life.
Biggest difference between you and is I don’t make up fairey tales to explain things I don’t understand or try to camouflage and disguise my world view to be something it is not. I am honest enough to say I don’t know.
God has been the #1 reason for murder the past 2000 years… so yeah I can do without this concept.
Science be praised.
BTW I don’t believe Jesus would discriminate. I would never go to a church unless they welcomed everyone from the community into their “flock” that includes Homosexuals.
You are making some wild assumptions on what I believe based on a few comments I have made. You are obviously very bitter and angry. Perhaps you have good reason to be. I won’t judge that. Good evening.
Obviously I am bitter and angry… what Jesus tell you that.
Here I am saying, I’tm against discrimination and that makes me bitter and angry. Nice try but you have no clue about happiness nor it’s source.
One of the very reason I am against Religion is because their churches are full of nothing but bitter and angry people. Do I need to remind you of the headlines that Christians have made this week?
We can start with the pope covering up child molestation… hmmm?
How about the Christian Michigan militia who wanted to kill police officers and ambush the funeral… hmmm?
What about Norman Leboon plotting to kill Eric Cantor along with President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid?… Yeah!
Yeah religion is a wonderful thing everyone should do it…
GangFang encourages Petz to track down a sense of humor and purchase it.
Thats what GangFang does.
What is the deal with the church hanging the banners on the Paseo bridges? My impression was these were reserved for City events not anyone who feels like hanging a banner.
Can I put a banner for my garage sale?
Is the city selling these advertising on Paseo Bridges? or Did this church just take it upon themselves to advertise on public property?
Great Question…
“When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.”
-Voltaire
You pay to play!
City lets nonprofits put up banners within certain guidelines. The city makes it clear on its requirement sheet that the bridges are not an open forum. Considering that, I don’t see how they allow for a purely religious message/advertisement to go up.
If it is an open forum that allows all non-commerical messages, then a church’s ad would be legal, but since the city asserts some kind of control over the type and manner of the message, the message that gets through the filter has an implicit endorsement.
Another banner-gate?
Sweet! So we can start collecting money for a banner campaign for SCVtalk! I think it should have a picture of Jeff doing a wheelie on his bike.
It would have to be WAY more nerdie…
Jeff popping a wheelie with a his netbook in hand typing a blog.
Brilliant. Where do I donate?
banner guidelines:
http://www.santa-clarita.com/community/city-banner-program.pdf
@cc
Petz said Worship, not Syrup
Once upon a time…….
Your god has a strange way of operating when priests and a future pope are allowed to sexually abuse kids and then cover it up. The whole church is full of pedophiles preaching abstinence.
Keep your fantasies to yourself and I won’t point out the absurdities of religion. I choose not to be a part of this perversion which goes unpunished!
Btw, if Obama covered up child molestations, many of you would be calling for his impeachment and prosecution. Why the double standard?
I have an idea. Let’s have the city council elections at all of the churches across town, replacing envelopes with ballots.
That’s one way to get ‘em to vote.
damangeinc: so you admit to being angry and bitter but don’t like going to church because it is filled with “nothing but” angry and bitter people? That is a bit “broad” don’t you think? Even if you were right….wouldn’t you want to go hang out with other bitter and angry people? You might like it.
CRAZY people make headlines all the time. CRAZY people claiming to be Christians make headlines all the time. People doing crazy things in the name of WHATEVER…religion, the environment, their family etc are simply crazy on all accounts. Your argument, damangeinc , that crazy people claiming to be following Christ hurt society is absolutely correct. People that actually follow the teachings of Christ are constantly mortified. But making such wide-reaching, unsubstantiated statements like “God is the number 1 reason for murder” just make you sound quite foolish. Not pride, money, greed and lure of power? These underlining causes, also known as sin, are the cause of so much destruction.
Damage, I know it’s your business and all, but there is such thing as too much damage. Jim’s politics may be paranoid, but otherwise he’s a standup and humble guy.
I’m not in “the know”. What’s his business?
I can only assume that “Damage” is his business, that’s why he’s Damage, Inc.
Got it. I didn’t catch that.
Scvfan I am sure you can appreciate sarcasm?
A little study of world history will tell you that most wars have religion as the main reason. Not necessarily chriatianity.
Mike – I am sure he is a nice guy, i don’t appreciate his personal attacks.
Yabba Dabba Hallelujah! LOL