Interesting article about the practice of giving altar calls, literal or otherwise, during weddings and funerals.
Personally, I've seen this more at funerals than at weddings. Which is upsetting--while in either case, the is-it-what-the-family-wants? litmus test seems a decent one as far as it goes, funerals in particular are full of people who are especially vulnerable and should be able to mourn and commemorate a loved one's life without being put on the spiritual spot. (Some of them might even be active members of other faiths, some of which have painful histories with the subject of Christian conversion...) It's extremely manipulative, and whenever I witness it I get angry--not that there's anything particularly helpful to do about it then and there.
(Also: the article suggests that pastors do this to fight the decline of church membership, which is not only an overly cynical interpretation but also one that suggests the reporter doesn't know the mainline-to-evangelical landscape to well...)
The prison writings of Alexei Navalny
19 hours ago
Re not knowing the Mainline - Evangelical spectrum...
ReplyDeleteIt's really wild how ignorant of that spectrum most of my well-read and well-informed class mates are.
I'm glad I've never witnessed an alter call at a wedding or funeral. And all those who've ever attended the weddings and funeral I've attended should also be glad.
Well, we Protestants are awfully schism-happy, especially in the States, and even defining terms such as mainline and evangelical is awfully murky...so I tend to cut Catholics some slack on this rather perplexing topic--though not so much JOURNALISTS COVERING RELIGION.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm glad I've never witnessed a funeral altar call w/ you. We'd each have trouble persuading the other not to make a scene, what with our own desire to make a similar scene...just one of the many reasons I declined to take advantage of the nearby microphone to try to convert your family members during your wedding. (You'll recall that Abram and I had a bully pulpit for about 25 minutes of prelude music while we waited for the groom to show up...we could have gone right into Just As I Am.)