I’d argue the death of small businesses by large faceless corporations with no ties to the local communities has done more to kill local communities than church attendance.

Used to be your neighbors ran the stores you went to. You knew your money was helping your friends and staying with your community. You could have a little pride knowing your participating in your local community.

Now the small shops downtown are all gone and all that’s left are the big box store chains. And those big stores don’t invest in the community. They take everything they can and give it to their shareholders.

We need to break up everything.

In the US, we have also lost a lot of that “sense of community” as we have moved to a more suburban lifestyle. Our houses are spread out, our businesses are spread out and we spend more time alone and not interacting with others from our local community. For example, we don’t walk to the store to buy groceries, a mode of transport where we are more likely to meet and interact with others. Instead, we get in our cars, alone and drive to the store. Once there, we might have interactions with others, but that not a guarantee. We then get back in our cars and drive home. There is no “public square” anymore, we don’t spend out time in “third spaces” (places other than home or work) in the same way that urbanized dwellers do.

While it had a lot of other baggage, churches were one of those “third spaces”. They provided a place for people to meet and socialize on a regular basis. This still worked for the suburban lifestyle, because it kept people regularly meeting and connecting in a way that nothing else did. The church also provided an way to organize other events beyond the basic worship services. As people have left churches, that organization has been lost and not replaced with anything. Even worse, when leaving a church, it’s not uncommon for the people of that church to ostracize the person leaving.

Ultimately, I’m not sure what the fix is. Religion seems to have run its course in modern society. People are leaving it because the baggage is too much to bear for the social benefits. Suburbanism is likely here to stay in some capacity, though there is always going to be an ebb and flow of people moving into and out of cities. But, that makes it hard to create vibrant “third spaces” for people to meet and interact. Also, those folks whom most need that socialization are probably also the same people who are less likely to see it out. I do think social media can help, as it allows folks to find and interact with others. But, it is also very easy to connect with some pretty horrible people and groups.

I’m not sure I agree with loneliness being a “health emergency”. But, it also seems like the county government is just trying to marshal resource to try and figure the problem out. So, good on 'em.

Give me some money and I’ll let you dance and pray and hug others like yourself in my private backyard.