| Comment | Post Reformation up until the late Victorian period there was a lot of Christian factionalism and the many varieties of Christianity were so vehemently sure that they were the 'correct' ones and that they'd need expensive fancy buildings to reflect their Christian-ness and to keep up with the Joneses... lest they not be taken seriously.
Churches weren't just places of worship, peoples' lives revolved around them. They were often associated with particular schools and people's entire social lives were activities through the Church. (Some a bit more merry than others.) There was a tendency to stay with the same church your family attended- should you choose to go elsewhere or, god forbid, to a NEW church it was a very dramatic and often relationship ending affair.
Often the Church was a networking tool and a space for people to find jobs via a measure of Christian nepotism.
The TLDR: Churches used to be a lot more important and every variety of Christian felt that they should have a fancy building to reflect their Godliness and one-up other congregations. |
|---|