According to my knowledge, there are parts of Scotland where “I go to church” means “I’m going out for a drink” (because many places of worship have become pubs for the past years), thus it shouldn’t be a great surprise to learn about a church turned into a… grocery store.This is what happened to the former Westbourne Methodist Church from Bournemouth (Dorset, England), which is now a Tesco Express, part of a giant retail corporation undergoing a controversial expansion in Britain, as well as in several other parts of the world.
The faces of saints are still there, on the original stained glass windows, nevertheless, the interiour of the building is dedicated to other gods (food, sweets, alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets etc), this article from The Daily Mail reports.
The former minister of the church was helpless in stopping Tesco taking over Christ, and I bet there are countless fanatical atheists in the UK who are once more thrilled to see the ‘defeat’ of a God Whose mere existence they deny.
On the other hand, here’s what a local interviewed by the reporter says: “I suppose it represents people’s priorities nowadays – the convenience of being able to buy their bread a few miles closer is more important than prayer and religion.”
What else could I add that this is another example of sad truth about the UK? Anyway, if I were to end my article with a fickle beam of hope, I should add that the same Bournemouth is a place where a Romanian Orthodox Church was consecrated in 2007.
A former Church of England church declared ‘redundant’ in 2001 had the chance to be ‘revived’ by an Orthodox community, unlike the Westbourne Methodist Church which was brought back to life only for consumerist purposes.
[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]
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