Google and the Saddleback megachurch have more in common than the undying worship of their devotees. Both organizations are set up around “campuses” that are meant to be spaces where people can do more than just work. They both have beach volleyball courts and cafes, where people can socialize and feel a greater connection to their organizations. Triple Canopy reports that the architecture “is meant to persuade church members or secular employees—especially younger people—to spend their most productive time there.” 

The modern corporation and the Christian megachurch have developed simultaneously, according to Triple Canopy. Both organizations have tried to figure out how to maximize the engagement and productivity of their devotees. For the churches and the corporations, creating city-like campuses represents “the logical next step in their colonization of everyday life, part and parcel with the ever-more-diffuse protocols they have developed for managing souls.”

(Thanks, Kottke.)

Source: Triple Canopy

Image of the Saddleback Megachurch.

Sound financial advice loses some power when you believe that God is pushing you toward a sub-prime loan. In the midst of the economic crisis, there has been “a steady increase in church bankruptcies and foreclosures,” according to Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. Churches are cutting back hours, laying off staff, and struggling for ways to stay afloat financially.

Churches placed their faith in the market, just like everyone else, real estate broker Eric Knowles told Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. Religious leaders, though, have an extra trump card. When Knowles advises against risky loans, pastors have said to him, “I understand by earthly standards this will not work, but God has called me to do it.” And it’s hard to argue with that.

Source: Religion & Ethics Newsweekly

Image by  Heated Ground Photography , licensed under  Creative Commons .