While mainline Protestantism and Catholicism were seeing significant drops in attendance, Evangelical megachurches have been booming. They offer a uniquely American mash-up of positive thinking and the Gospel of Wealth. These transdenominational churches encourage congregants to abandon traditional values of poverty, humility, and service in favor of dreaming their #BestLife. Stage lights, amplified “praise music,” Jumbotrons, and Jesus Rock. The old Catholic standbys of penance, “smells and bells,” never stood a chance.
