10 Dec #3 Faith or Technology?

Sunday morning, too many drinks on Saturday, you know it. Emma and I were to going to give in to our hangover, or let it at least be a Holy Hangover. Time to go to Glide Merorial Church in Tenderloin! If you feel like having an American religious experience, this is a must visit. I have visited quite a lot of churches in my life, Catholic, Protestant, also a few Evangalical, but this was quite a different experience to me. No bibles, no readings: songs, beautiful songs, and those voices! People standing up, clapping, eyes closed, these attenders were really commited to this place. Pictures of Mother Teresa, Gandhi and Martin Luther King in the back; the map of the United States, and strong quotes about believing, strength and hope were screened in the back. Speeches were given: ‘when life get’s difficult, just remember to have faith, just believe, you are worth it’.

I must say I am surprised: I have been reading that less than 10 per cent of San Francisco’s citizens are practicing a religion. Still I have seen so many different churches in the city, whether it is a gospel, a catholic, baptist, luthern or mexican community building. And in a city where technology, new ideas and development are so highly valued, it seems surreal that faith and technology are still so easily combined with each other. Or are there just so many different life styles coexisting next to one another?

Whether there exists faith in this city or whether technology is the new faith, I am totally mesmerized by this (almost over the top) service in the Tenderloin, and afterwords my hangover has totally disappeared.