Question about churches in low Protestantism

[DianJo]

I personally find non-denominational churches or for that matter most Protestant churches sorley lacking in their choice of church “decorations”. Maybe it’s what you become used to. I’ve been in pleanty of protestant churches and I just don’t feel like I’ve walked into a church - it feels like any other building. There is nothing there to remind you of Christ, of God. Not a candle, even a simple cross.

Churches were developed to be conducive to worship. The stained glass was used to teach about the bible since most people didn’t own a bible and couldn’t read anyway - they were for the illiterate but what an absolutely beautiful way of teaching the faith. It raises our thinking to the things of God. Since the time of Solomon, people have been giving their best to God, in fact, God demanded their best (only pure gold adorned the temples, among other things) and I guess I just kinda feel like the protestants, in an effort not to pray to idols, are not giving their best to God in their places of worship for an unjustified fear of worshipping idols.

I just don’t find protestant churches conducive to worship. The focal point in a church is the podium from which the preacher preaches. The attention, I feel, is misdirected. The attention should be on Jesus, not the preacher but what esle to you look at in a protestant church but the preacher - there’s nothing else there! If the preacher were not up there preaching then the “stage” could be used for any number of secular things as well. There is nothing that designates the place as a place of worship.

 

[Anima_Christi]

I’ve noticed that often, many modern protestant churches, though ugly, are still identifiable as churches from the outside (shape of building, steeple, cross). But a lot of modern Catholic churches don’t even look like churches except for the sign out front. One church in my area looks like a modern public library. There isn’t even a cross on the roof. Another one does have a cross on the roof, but the building looks like an airport terminal.
Why is this and why can’t we have Catholic churches that look Catholic??
BTW, as far as I know there is only one Catholic Church in Lexington, KY that has the tabernacle where it belongs–in the sanctuary!!

 

[mercygate]

Puh-leeze! This is NOT a Catholic/Protestant issue. The 1960s through the 1980s were the absolute nadir of church architecture across the board. Read Michael Rose’s Ugly as Sin.

I thought it was just the CATHOLICS that were building awful churches. Heck, even the synagogues from that era are revolting.