Opiate of the gilded

New York Journal | Did Henry Clay Frick seek peace and happiness through art? | Marvin Olasky

New York journalists sometimes drop in on affluent Manhattan mainline churches, see a few dozen folks rattling around in a big sanctuary, and declare the death of Christianity. What they may be witnessing is the death of a pretense to self-sufficiency.

Reporters should drop in on growing evangelical or Pentecostal churches, such as the Times Square Church, which owns and has five services each week at what was the Mark Hellinger Theatre, original home to hit musicals such as My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music. Some 8,000 people worship there; I recently visited a 10 a.m. Sunday service that was standing room only. Blacks, whites, and Hispanics seemed about equally present.

It's not an affluent congregation, and maybe that lack of riches contributed to the passion of the singing, with crying-out verses like, "I'm desperate for You . . . I'm lost without You." Maybe it's harder for the rich to get into heaven because those with money or power can more readily fool themselves into thinking that they are self-sufficient rather than desperate and lost. Maybe they can surround themselves with servants or great works of art and forget for a time that they and all of us are dust.