[Ensorceled]

You see similar, but less egregious, behaviour in other religious contexts. In the small, poorish town where I grew up there were 10 churches for a town of 1300 people. The town of 400 that was ten miles down the road had 3 churches.

This was a huge, one might say parasitic, drain on a town made up of farmers, railway workers, assorted stores, failing restaurants, etc.

As attendance fell, the churches started demanding more and more money from their congregations to make up the shortfall. My former church, a Catholic Church, is one of the worst. There are still 7 churches operating in that town.

[euroclydon]

Churches have a legacy of being the focal point in a community. It's no more surprising that a small town would have that many churches than it is that they would have bars or community centers.

Society is changing. Small towns are getting smaller as kids move away. Also, church attendance is down as people go to Starbucks instead. It will balance out over time.

[Ensorceled]

That's not how small towns work. When I was a kid there was 1 bar, 2 restaurants, 4 community centers (arena, legion, golden age home, library), 2 schools and 10 churches.

The largest building the town was the middle school. The next 3 by size were churches.

[jacobush]

Maybe you could argue that they provided a better service to the community when they had better representation. Now they are in a recession and people flight to put it in economic terms.