Slog - Comments on Month of Sundays http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1 Not everybody is ticked off about our "Month of Sundays" package. This letter just arrived from Eugene Cho, the founder and leader of Quest Church, which is the church I visited last Sunday... Dan, The visit 30 churches idea and article was brilliant. Loved your piece about Quest. Seriously. Brutal, hilarious, and damn good writing. I do have one correction. I also did pour wine! Thanks for the visit and swing by again next year... e Swing by next year? Is Eugene suggesting that we make "Month of Sundays" an annual event? It's not a bad idea... Oh, and Eugene... Copyright 2008 Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:48:15 -0800 Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:48:54 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Tiffany Hooray for having a sense of perspective!

]]> Tiffany http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743102 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743102 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:59:39 -0800 Comment by Sam So is that correction forthcoming? ;)

]]> Sam http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743123 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743123 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:14:44 -0800 Comment by infrequent i liked the article. it was funny in places, and informative in others. with was at some times brutal and other times sincere.

]]> infrequent http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743149 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743149 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:39:36 -0800 Comment by annie Least unchurched?

]]> annie http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743150 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743150 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:39:46 -0800 Comment by The Devil Dan, your whole religion-bashing schtick really gets old. You are as abrasive and intolerant as the people you profess to hate so much. With a Catholic mother, one would think that you would have deeper insight on these matters. Clearly, that is not the case. Your blather is as hard to listen to as an O'Reilly Factor marathon. Speaking of him, I'll never forget that deer-in-the headlights interview of yours a few years back. And that's exactly what I'm talking about - you are capable of conveying an intelligent perspective on these matters, but instead, you seem to let your anger get in the way and you come off like a hate-filled dipshit. Instead of being the anti-Falwell, you could be a much more persuasive public figure. You certainly have a broad enough audience to pull that off. It is just too easy for a lot of middle-ground people to write you off. Good perspectives; bad tactics.

Your Friend,
The Devil

]]> The Devil http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743164 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743164 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:47:15 -0800 Comment by Thel Annual? Hell, while I was reading it I found myself wishing it was a permanent feature, like the restaurant reviews.

]]> Thel http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743171 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743171 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:50:57 -0800 Comment by dirge Wow, so on Cho's blog he mentions that he is a Star Wars fan (not surprising) and has a son named "Jedi"!

I guess "Jesus" would have been too awkward.

]]> dirge http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743187 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743187 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:01:34 -0800 Comment by Jonathon "Seattle is infamously known as the least 'unchurched city in America.' The Northwest is the least unchurched region in America."

Seattle and the Northwest then set an example for the nation. Don't go changing, y'all. This Southern boy needs to move to a place like that!

]]> Jonathon http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743194 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743194 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:06:01 -0800 Comment by infrequent some papers do have a "religion" section. it would be funny to have a review of a different church or topic each issue. then again, i'm not going to be the one who recommends sending a stranger writer to do work each sunday morning. unless they can find an intern for that...

]]> infrequent http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743196 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743196 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:06:32 -0800 Comment by Jonathon And Dan, "The Devil" doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. Keep it up man... you're one of my heroes.

]]> Jonathon http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743198 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743198 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:07:31 -0800 Comment by glendale Whoever had the seagull shit on their windshield. Trent Mooreman?

Well, I went to my car during lunch and there was shit on it. I looked for the Virgin Mary.

No Virgin for me either. But lets keep looking, she's bound to turn up one of these days.

]]> glendale http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743220 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743220 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:21:22 -0800 Comment by Original Andrew Jonathon @ 8,

It's also worth noting that Seattle residents have the highest education attainment rates in the US, with some 50% having at least a Bachelor's Degree, and there is an inverse relationship between education level and religiosity.

]]> Original Andrew http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743227 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743227 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:28:39 -0800 Comment by merktuttle i wouldnt really call your 30 churches piece journalistic. it was more just "let's make fun of christians". 90% of your writers missed the point of church in the first place. i mean it's understandable. who doesn't like a good church bashing from time to time. it's so easy. perhaps an intellectually challenging approach would have been a search for why these churches are either growing (the mega's), or dwindling. and intellectual is actually why i have been an avid stranger reader for 10 yrs.

]]> merktuttle http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743236 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743236 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:43:24 -0800 Comment by Angela Yeah... I think Cho meant to say *most* unchurched city in America... and Dan, you rock in a plethora of ways.

]]> Angela http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743237 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743237 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:45:23 -0800 Comment by monkey That was interesting and not all that offensive, I didn't think. Coming from a religious family and knowing how the uptighty-whities take their religiousness so seriously I'm not surprised by any of the responses.

I'm still not going though. :)

]]> monkey http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743244 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743244 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:56:34 -0800 Comment by dw My church is quite happy they got a surprisingly positive review.

Annual? Hell, while I was reading it I found myself wishing it was a permanent feature, like the restaurant reviews.

Hell, if The Stranger doesn't do it, I will on Metblogs. Or I'll do it for The Stranger. I'm not kidding.

]]> dw http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743276 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743276 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:21:40 -0800 Comment by Katelyn I'd offer to write a review or two if I wasn't so deathly allergic to churches. I went to St. Marks on Easter (yeah, yeah, maybe it was bad timing, but if an ex-Christian can't go to church on the most important liturgical day of the religious year, when CAN she go to church?). It was so horrifying I had to leave ten minutes into the service. This is part of the problem with the church review concept... It seems like a good knowledge of religious culture and history comes with either refusal to darken the church doors or an insider's gushing smugness. And those who don't know enough about the faith and US church culture couldn't possibly write consistently fair reviews!! Good luck with that, Stranger.

]]> Katelyn http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743306 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743306 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:40:58 -0800 Comment by Eugene c'mon!

"church" aint't that bad. [at least, i hope not]. it's a good venue for "community" and the last time i checked, we're all designed for community.

the way i look at it is this: if you can force yourself to sit through two hours of pirates of the carribeans, you can get and sit your ass at church.

but that's me. and part of it might be because i'm the eugene cho in this article. peace out.

]]> Eugene http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743375 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743375 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:40:44 -0800 Comment by keshmeshi Yeah well, even the worst Pirates of the Caribbean film is still more entertaining than church. Oh, and movie theater seats don't make your ass sore.

]]> keshmeshi http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743438 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743438 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:41:10 -0800 Comment by Pauls Toutonghi In his review of Quest Church, Dan Savage mentions Jim Jones and David Koresh. Unfortunately -- because of horrific tragedies like these -- I always look at any new religious movements with suspicion. So, no matter how normal and hip and kind someone like Eugene Cho seems, I think: "Okay, where's the dark side?"

Maybe I'm pessimistic. But I just feel like people are too fucked up,in general, to do something like start a church -- if they don't have a deep and sinister megalomania. But maybe not. Maybe Eugene Cho and Quest Church are just good, spiritual people.

]]> Pauls Toutonghi http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743456 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743456 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:00:00 -0800 Comment by pox I'd like to apply for the position of Stranger Religion Reviewer. I liked the piece - it read like a collection of honest reactions.

Also, Eugene@18: The only thing Disney asked me to believe is that Jack Sparrow is a character in a story. If you can similarly limit your claims about Jesus, and maybe have him fight some CGI ghost pirates, you might have something.

]]> pox http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743486 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743486 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:33:02 -0800 Comment by Katelyn I change my mind: I AM offering to write some reviews, damnit. I'd be good at it.

]]> Katelyn http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743572 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743572 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:34:38 -0800 Comment by dirge In reflection I don't think that Mr. Cho necessarily has a good sense of humor. I suspect the pastor thinks Dan Savage was joking when he described the music as insipid, the sanctuary as homely, the prayer position as a "double armed fascist salute", or the church as a "Mars Hill wannabee". But he wasn't. His phrases were glib but I'd guess honest. Mr. Cho finds these things hilarious.

I do think that "establish rapport with edgy urban media" is on Mr. Cho's marketing to-do list. Mars Hill had the Paradox venue as it's subtle youth outreach. Quest has it's Q Cafe and, now possibly, the Stranger.

]]> dirge http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743630 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743630 Religion Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:23:31 -0800 Comment by Dean It is possible for Christians to exist outside of your preconcieved ideas. There are actually churches and pastors out there who don't insist that you agree with them on everything. You can actually explore spirituality and journey alongside others who are doing the same. I would be the first to acknowledge that I don't want to be associated with the vast majority of Christianity, but Eugene is the real deal.

]]> Dean http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743964 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c743964 Religion Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:52:47 -0800 Comment by ycjpd dxbseogpn ngquahl mlegjp btnyoveq cqdro tdryl xiodfm stobwai

]]> ycjpd dxbseogpn http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c751437 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c751437 Religion Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:43:33 -0800 Comment by ycjpd dxbseogpn ngquahl mlegjp btnyoveq cqdro tdryl xiodfm stobwai

]]> ycjpd dxbseogpn http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c751449 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c751449 Religion Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:48:50 -0800 Comment by ycjpd dxbseogpn ngquahl mlegjp btnyoveq cqdro tdryl xiodfm stobwai

]]> ycjpd dxbseogpn http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c751451 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/month_of_sundays_1#c751451 Religion Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:48:54 -0800