“ON THE EIGHTH DAY MAN CREATED BEER.” So claims the Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a brewery housed in a former church building. This is just one of many bars and breweries opening in former churches across America. When churches close, their buildings can be difficult to repurpose. Large stained glass windows and cavernous sanctuaries are hard to make into condominiums, and historic landmark protections can impede renovation. So developers are turning them into beer halls.
In Europe, the trend is even more disturbing: churches are being turned into Islamic mosques. In Dublin, Ireland, the largest central mosque is located in a former Presbyterian church. Numerous churches in Cyprus, England, France and Germany are now mosques. We can lament the post-Christian nature of Western civilization, or we can be agents of transformation while there is still time. On our decision rests the future of our culture. READ MORE
