- G-d's Arena -

I was just reading this Times article about a Houston evangelical church that just remodelled a sports arena into a 16,000 seat sanctuary. This paragraph in particular really surprised me:

Like many new evangelical churches, the building has no cross, no stained glass, no other religious iconography. Instead, it has a cafe with wireless Internet access, 32 video game kiosks and a vault to store the offering.

Who knew? Well, with 16,000 people at each service, you figure there has to be a vault. But an internet cafe and video arcade? G-d certainly works in mysterious ways. Still, I'd be most interested to learn which video games have been selected for the arcade.

This reminds me of one of the churches in the town where I grew up. It had a full-service gym attached. Many joined the church not for the theology but for the fully tax deductible gym membership.