Easter is a time to decorate eggs and purchase new clothes, Christmas a credit-card extravaganza. Considering America's growing ethnic and religious diversity, the corporate community's conscious effort to remove religious meanings is indeed very practical. Step inside the churches and you'll see evidence of the same evolving trends. The mainline denominational churches will continue to lose ground to less demanding non-sectarian congregations. Those with a Charismatic or Pentecostal bent can also receive a bracing emotional jolt on Sunday morning.
Service is the name of the game.
Well, he's in there somewhere. I suspect that the man from Galilee, who ejected the money changers from the temple, would frown to hear the gospel of wealth preached from so many pulpits. In short, mainstream religious institutions are heading into the direction of social service providers with a divine panache. Every age, it seems, spawns new beliefs, and the Third Millennium will be no exception. You should remember that today's mainstream religions, including Christianity and Islam, were born as persecuted cults on the fringe of mainstream belief systems in their day.