Saturday morning, two hours after my alarm went off, I biked around lake Elkhorn and down to Kings Contrivance village center to cover the clean up. I've been to King's Contrivance before but until now I never really looked at the courtyard surrounded by vibrant shops.Compared to Owen Brown village center, this place is nice. The 24 hour Harris Teeter is integrated with the courtyard so that one draws you to the other. There is no vacant space like there is in Owen Brown village center and no two shops are alike. For example in Owen Brown, we have Jerry's pizza and Vocelli's pizza. What a dumb idea.
Then I saw it. Beyond the Amherst house in the corner of the lot is a beautiful brick structure. At first I wasn't sure what it was. Then I saw the brick bell tower with the cross on top. Immediately, I crossed King's Contrivance village center off my list. I looked up at the cross, that blatant symbol that says f--k Columbia's interfaith centers and damn inclusion.
I may live near a shell of a village center but at least I don't have to look at any religious symbols on my way to the Sunoco. I don't want any churches, mosques, temples, synagogues or any other religious type buildings in my town. Period. Go to the interfaith centers or go somewhere else.
At least that's my opinion. What's yours?
3 comments:
Sorry, this is one case where I think Columbia normally bears an unfortunate resemblance to the Ottoman Empire. If it helps restore your faith any, I believe they did forbid an onion dome. (St. Matthew's had to resort to putting up an interior "dome" that's invisible from the outside.)
Personally, I'm a little confused about the interfaith centers. I've been in one of the more classic designs (Oakland Mills?) for an MTA hearing--creepy, IMHO--and I get what the philosophy was behind them. But some of the newer centers--River Hill and Kings Contrivance--seem to have preserved some of the external aspects (fairly nondescript buildings, with consistent exterior look) but allowed individual faith communities to build their own units. Did they change the rules at some point?
I dunno--ISTM there's a draconian quality to some of this utopianism. In general, I don't object to architectural standards, but cordoning off worship centers in ecumenical enclaves? To my thinking, that treads on freedom of religion. From a more pragmatic standpoint, I think you can talk about the restrictions on businesses and faith communities in terms of their actual outcomes. Personally, I'm just as glad not to have to see the golden arches in the Columbia villages, and I lose no love on big-box stores, but when they all end up camping in eastern Columbia and western Elkridge, it just makes it that much harder to maintain functional, walkable community. The same thing happens with houses of worship. For anyone who doesn't embrace Columbia's secular-ecumenical philosophy, the choices are to meet in temporary space or to find a place on the fringes, where everyone has to drive to get there. So has it really worked?
Yes you the storyteller
I usually dont take time to ever make comments on a web site but I have to say I would truly be doing you a grave disservice if I didnt write something. This post has most definitely opened my eyes. Thank you so much for writing it.
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