The Church of Atheism?

If you have a few moments today, read this article recently published in New York Magazine. It really got me thinking about the idea of church vs. Church. And I realized I really don't have a clear understanding of this whole concept. But I want to.

So what, exactly, is the Church? Or church? I'd love input from any of you more philosphically, theologically minded types because I'm a bit confused.

Here is a quote from the article ...

"The most successful movements in history, after all—Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc.—all have creeds, cathedrals, schools, hierarchies, rituals, money, clerics, and some version of a heavenly afterlife. Churches fill needs, goes the argument—they inculcate ethics, give meaning, build communities."

and another ...

"They aim to remove God from the church, while leaving the church, at least large parts of it, standing."

What is your reaction?
What, as Christ-followers, should our response be?
Or should we respond at all?

Oysters from the Land-Locked State

First off, I'd just like to say how much you guys all rock! Seriously, you're the best family/friends/acquaintances/total strangers a girl could ever ask for. I'm blessed.

Just had to get that out there. Okay ... moving on.

I joined the Photography Fellowship at my church. ("Fellowship" is Christianese for "Club.") Anywho, I've been looking for ways to get more involved at church and even though this isn't serving the church, per se, I like photography so I decided to check it out.

Now this group is just getting started. They meet once a month to share photography techniques, good shooting locations, and give photo critiques. Also at this meeting they decide where the monthly field trip will be. Today was my first field trip.

I convinced my friend Melissa (who also happens to like photography) to come along, despite the early departure time. We were going to Paint Mines Park. Now I've lived here in Southern Colorado for most of my life and never heard of Paint Mines Park. It is apparently located just east of Calhan. (That fact alone should have tipped us off right there as to what type of field trip we were in for.) Calhan = Cowtown

After driving for an hour, we arrived at the park entrance. Here's a picture.
Yeah, that's what we thought too.

So we set off on the trail in the icy cold wind, hoping that something cool and picture-worthy would magically appear. We walked. And walked. And walked. And froze. And walked some more. Finally, we arrived at the Paint Mines. (This picture does no justice to how cold it was.)

Melissa was too cold to take pictures. I took a few. But every picture we took very closely resembled the one before, so we decided to leave early. Figuring as Calhan is an authentic western small town, it had to have a diner, right? We were picturing a cute little place named Margie's with checkered curtains, decorations straight out of the 1950's and Margie serving us never-ending coffee and a home-cooked breakfast.

What we found was Taste Buds.

Although it lacked the nostalgic diner feel, it was warm and the food was good. We ate breakfast and defrosted.

As we were leaving, I noticed the sign of daily specials. Notice Saturday's special.
Melissa, not being from the west, had never heard of Rocky Mountain Oysters. I very eloquently described it to her as "bull's balls." Mmmmmmmm ... All-U-Can-Eat.

Gross.

On that note, Happy Resurrection Day!

P.S. If anyone has actually eaten Rocky Mountain Oysters, I'm curious what they are like. Do share.