Silent but Dangerous

According to Brad Greenberg of GetReligion.org, The Los Angeles Times has under-covered and under-praised the Southern California Megachurch phenomenon. Greenberg suggests that while there exists a dragon in LA's backyard, the Los Angeles Times has treated it like a small lizard, at best.

Although Greenberg finds the attitude towards the movement unjustified,to me the media's slightly negative treatment seems understandable.

The "Southern California Bible Belt" stretches from LA to San Diego, including well over 100 megachurches (those with over 2000 members)--the most in the country. But while the area boasts remarkable spiritual density, the cause may not necessarily be a religious revolution.

Perhaps the root cause of the megachurch expansion is an economical one. Orange County, the primary church hotbed, is largely republican and contains mostly upwardly-mobile middle class. It makes sense that in a megalopolis like the LA-San Diego divide that megachurches would present the best spiritual opportunity for the yuppies.

If the main factors in the mega-religious revolution are economical, it's easy to see why the media might give a big "so what?" to the symptoms of the times.