Churches as venues?

Over the last week, several churches have been added as venues. I was curious about this, so I searched LT Local for others. Most of these are small theological bookshops or libraries or "reading rooms" co-located with churches. Other church venues have been included as the locations of specific book-related events (book sales, authors invited to speak, etc.). These all seem to fall within the original intent of the LT venue feature.

However, there was a church venue recently added solely to accommodate an event... someone speaking about a particular book of the Bible. Is this an intended use of LT Local?

Yes, it's a undeniably a book discussion. But couldn't virtually every church service be considered a discussion of the Bible? Are all churches and synagogues and mosques eligible to become LT Local venues on this basis? And are all such religious services eligible to be listed as events?

I wouldn't think that a discussion a book of the Bible in a church belongs in LT Local. The site would be overwhelmed. I'm not sure that an upcoming sermon listing would be a book event in any case, as the focus is usually on no more than one chapter of one book.

I do remember going to St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York for an author presentation (Diana L. Eck of her new book in 2001, A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation. This would be an appropriate event.

The gray area would be a scholarly discussion of the bible or some portion. I am thinking of the Bill Moyer's discussion on Genesis with an interfaith group of people (mostly academic) on PBS. There was a book that came out of this. I'm not sure that whether Moyers had an audience or not.

The book by Bill Moyers was Genesis: A Living Conversation (Pbs Series). A resource guide was also published.

I, for one, have in the past added some synagogues and churches as venues. Mostly they were places which either hold author events regularly or have a notable author speaking at particular place even once.

To me, a discussion of a book in the bible does not qualify for entry on LT Local. I think that's really stretching it a bit.

If I were you, I'd follow other entries by the person who is doing those kinds of entries to see if you spot a trend. If their focus is on theological discussion rather than author presentation over several more entries, I'd be highly suspect of the motive of such entries. Seems as if they would be more appropriate on a religious forum bulletin board!! :)

vpfluke, I agree that the vast majority of church-located Bible discussions/studies shouldn't qualify as events on LT Local. I want to emphasize that this view isn't due to anti-religious sentiment, but as a practical matter it would be impossible to pick out traditional book events from the overwhelming mass of sermons and bible study events.

I have intentionally tried not to clutter LT Local with book-selling venues where the store's main focus was not books. For example, I have purchased all of my books on hiking and climbing from an "outdoors" store, but the store's main focus is not books, so I did not add the store to LT Local. Similarly, the local Wal-Mart's book section is actually larger than some of the rural libraries around here, and this Wal-Mart probably sells dozens of books every day, but Wal-Mart's main focus is not book sales, so I did not add it.

I think the same principle could be shaped into a rule to apply to church/religion events. Here's my first draft: If the main focus of the event is worship or spiritual growth, rather than the book itself, then the event shouldn't be added to LT Local.

Maybe there's an opportunity here. Hey, Tim! You could probably make "ChurchThing" completely functional in about an hour, by tweaking the LT Local code and registering the domain name.

5> I have intentionally tried not to clutter LT Local with book-selling venues where the store's main focus was not books.

I've added other venues -- for instance, a local thrift store has a great collection of used books, very cheap; it's well-known in our neighborhood as a good place to bookshop, but I'm not sure visitors to the area would know about it. So I added it, but I marked it as "Other", not a bookstore.

Similarly, if I go to your town and want to get some books on local scenery etc., I would *want* to know about the outdoor store's book section.

Just marking as "Other" is not a perfect solution, of course. Maybe we need: "sells books (not a bookstore)" as a choice.

6 lquilter, you make a very good point regarding the book selection of my local outdoors store. I think I will add it to LT Local, along with a detailed explanation of its book inventory. You're right; this is exactly the kind of detailed "insider" information that elevates the value of LT Local for book lovers. And it's not just out-of-towners who would benefit from this information; I'll bet that many locals are unaware of this outdoors store's unique-for-this-area book selection.

I also like your "sells books (not a bookstore)" category for venues.

If we don't add churches/synagogues/mosques that are holding author events, how will those events be publicized to Thingamabrarians?

The issue isn't "should churches be added as venues?" but "what is an appropriate event to list?" I'm sure we'd all agree that a library is an appropriate venue to add, but that doesn't mean we should list every event held there! I wouldn't, for instance, think to list a library's class on how to use the Social Security Administration website.

> 7

I would definitely add that venue. I just added a café. It's primary business is selling food and drink. But it has occasional book-related events and has a couple of shelves of used books for sales. I think LTers in my area would love to know about it (and I think they should!).

And I love lquilter's "sells books (not a bookstore)" category!

When a nationally published author was scheduled to read from her work (newspaper essays) at a Sunday service at the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu I thought I ought to add it to Local. It surprised me that I had to add the church as a venue, but I went ahead and did it. I have left it because there are likely to be more literary events there over the years.

I also agree that it is proper for SkepticalSurveyor to list his outdoor store.

Specto