St Mark's Church in Mayfair turned into a food hall

[successstories]

I was quite uncomfortable to see this former place of worship being turned into a food hall.

There was something disturbing about spaghetti and pizza being dished up in front of all the religious objects and imagery (which are very prominent, still in situ and pretty much intact)

Isn't there a Christian organisation that could have ensured this building was preserved for a more suitable use? If this had happened to a Synagogue or a Mosque for example, there would have been outrage.

AIBU?

@MurderAtTheBeautyPageant Thank you, have just signed up to Friends of Friendless Churches. Fascinating site and beautiful little churches with amazing history.

Maybe the solution for the OP is to make churchgoing compulsory - in t'olden days when many of our churches were built, it was compulsory to attend with a fine of 12d for non-attendance.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Uniformity_1558

We could have church tax but people who don't wish to affiliate themselves with C of E can opt out of it but this means they can't marry in a C of E church or be admitted to a C of E school under religious/faith grounds. Of course many C of E schools also admit local children of all or no religions but this tends to be based on distance criteria and this would not have any impact on that.

I am not Christian btw but I can see no other way the Church of England can continue maintaining its many lovely buildings.

It does rather seem that you've asked if you're being unreasonable, but not entertaing the possibility anyone would think you're being unreasonable.

There's an old church near me which is now a Greggs. I think it was a pub at some point too.

It seems a shame, but if people aren't attending churches then they can't stay open. At least this way its being used.

I'm not baptized, I didn't get married in church , I won't be having a religious funeral and I didn't send my kids to a school affiliated to any religion and don't feel I should have to opt out of paying to maintain buildings as clearly I have opted out. I come from a long line of religious dissenters, all the way back to at least 1552, so I've just carried the dissenting a bit further.

Just remembered, our Waterstones used to be a Chapel too. It adds to the feeling of peace imo.

Now you raise the objection, OP, I find myself wondering if any of the windows or mosaics feature the feeding of the 5000. Which is what it feels like the size of the queue is, while waiting for food. I was brought up with the idea of a God (in my mind an old man in the sky) who REALLY DID know the number of hairs on my head). That kind of God might know the number of rodents in there at any one time and find it equal to or more than the hairs on my head. So I rather avoid it now.

That said, I get the sense of dislocation, discomfort, dis-sacralisation. It does feel a bit weird.

Are you sure about this? There is a former synagogue in my home town which is now used for other purposes!!

I've been to this place, it's nothing like the hellish fast-food court you suggest OP, it's packed with niche stalls selling all sorts of delicious and unusual food. As others have said it has a community hub. It has a great buzz and has brought life to what was a very dead corner of London. Several other churches in the area are also being transformed you'll be horrified to learn. I think it's great. Also think the way they've preserved the church's history is gorgeous. YABVVU (and are you Jacob Rees Mogg?)

I guess that puts you in the same position as me - we are both not Anglican! However, Church of England is the state religion and so it is logical to me that a tax is appropriate. We aren't a republic. We are ruled by a Queen who is head of the Church of England. Since we consent to that (the polls reflect a depressing lack of support for republicanism), we ought to go the whole hog and support the national institution that is the Church of England.

Of course we are also a multicultural, multi-religious country even if our official religion is Christianity so Jews, Muslims and atheists etc should not be compelled to pay church tax to benefit a church they would never be able to attend. I already pay synagogue fees! At the same time, if people wish to benefit from a C of E education, or marry in a C of E church etc, they should support the institution financially.

I wish the Diocese where I live would find another use or sell the cathedral sized monstrosity that we use as our parish Church. It has a capacity for (my estimate) 500, it is usually set out for 150 and had a regular congregation of 60 pre-pandemic. It could have 2 more floors even.
We now have about 60 members who pay for upkeep.
'Come friendly bombs'

Not allowed by who? If the owners of a religious building want to sell it to be used as a food hall, they can.

Turning an empty building into a food hall is not worshiping at thr altar of consumerism don't be fucking ridiculous.

Malt Cross?

It's a Christian ministry - and amazing!

"Church" doesn't just mean the building.
It's the coming together of the people in workshop.

When a building is deconsecrated and no longer hosts that congregation it no longer has any particular sacred value to Christians.

Sadly for you, Christianity is in decline in the UK. Many churches are likely to be changed in use, I'd suggest you work on coming to terms with that.

The locations and large plot size of most are likely to make them unaffordable for them all to end up hosting Christian charities, furthermore as Christianity declines in the UK many associated charities are likely to as well.

It’s a sad reflection of our society that we now worship at the altar of consumerism, instead of something higher than ourselves.

I don't find it sad at all that people no longer worship a "higher power". I find it odd that people ever did/do, like a strange sign of a lack of self esteem that people can't possibly believe there isn't anything better than their own kind.

Malt does more than Milton can
To justify God's ways to man

(AE Housman)

If the Christian church wants to preserve these buildings, it, and the people who belong to it, need to provide the funds to that end.

You can't rely on other non Christian members of society to bear the costs of preserving loads of Christian art, architecture etc for the vanishingly small number of observant Christians. It's not fair to expect everyone else to subsidise the cost of your belief.

You're very wrong about synagogues! The Jewish community has declined so much that old synagogue buildings are now used for all sorts of stuff. We're not particularly sentimental about stuff like that, as Jews.

I’m sure Jesus would disagree with you.

We could have church tax but people who don't wish to affiliate themselves with C of E can opt out of it but this means they can't marry in a C of E church or be admitted to a C of E school under religious/faith grounds. Of course many C of E schools also admit local children of all or no religions but this tends to be based on distance criteria and this would not have any impact on that.

But C of E schools are state funded not church funded. Your proposal would only be reasonable if you also only funded C of E schools from that Church tax. I wouldn't have any objection to that but you'd also need to completely reform the school network as in many areas people who would prefer a secular school do not have one in reasonable distance (me included- the history of education in the UK means most village schools are c of E and religion is overepresented in education where many parents would prefer it not to be.

It sounds like an excellent use. There are quite a lot of church buildings now being used as cafes and restaurants- there's one in a nearby town with a good curry house in it.
And there are plenty of cathedrals with cafes and restaurants on their premises. Good food is a good thing.

I doubt a Christian charity would have been able to afford the rent / rates / upkeep on a Grade 1 listed building in Mayfair. Why not a business that can preserve the building?

As a christian myself I quite the like the idea of a cafe / restuarant in the church. It won't be the first church that either has been converted into a cafe or has a cafe in part of it. St Mary the Virgin in Oxford, St Martin in the fields, Wells Cathedral... it's not uncommon. Maybe the religious icons & imagery could be a talking point and get people thinking about religion and what it means. I don't see that as being a bad thing.