A bell that tolls no more.

An old church and bell near Astoria, Oregon.

You see them in little towns and alone on the prairies.  They are a testament to distant times when the community would unite in faith, in hope, and in times of despair.  As a legacy, all that remains is a stain upon the landscape.  The parishioners have long since vanished, being survived by a new generation which has forgotten their value.

The country church is what I am speaking of.  In many ways, they share the heritage of grain elevators and one room school houses.  A part of our history, vital then to the life of the population; now it stands idly by, waiting for rust and rot to finish the desecration beset upon it.  What has happened that this, the once lifeblood of society, has crumbled into its decayed state?

The answer is multifaceted, as time has changed the land and the people with it.  Populations become less rural and move to urban centers.  Farming has changed from many members driving horses to a few large landowners driving massive farm vehicles.  The protestant immigrants of the day have been usurped by multiculturalism; many faiths with diverse needs have rendered these edifices moot.  Then too there is the gradual erosion of faith.  With each successive generation, there is a decrease in the portion that believes in the God that created them.  All together these events have decreed their sentence and past judgment.

Yet, the history remains.  It is because the founding fathers had faith, they built the churches.  These buildings helped the communities they were a part of, bringing people together who needed their faith as much as they needed each other.  These buildings still stand proud, in spite of their impending doom, because of the contribution they have made.  Yes, ours would have been a totally different country if their silhouettes had not been so prominent.  Although their bells are silent now, the gongs of the past resonate with present and future generations for the foundations that were laid.