Dining with the Devil': The Unique Secularization of American Evangelical Churches‪.‬

Introduction It has often been said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. When one cultural group begins to imitate the way of life of another, however, they are, to some degree, disavowing their past and assuming a new identity. In the case of many American evangelical churches, the corporate business culture represents an organizational model with an intoxicating appeal. Over the last twenty years, the influence of the church growth movement has accelerated the "McDonaldization" of numerous evangelical churches. Sociologist George Ritzer defines McDonaldization as "the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world." (1) McDonaldization has extended the process of rationalization to the realm of all major social institutions, including religion. In some cases, this process has occurred in a literal fashion; several churches in the southern United States have added McDonald's restaurants and similar retail food establishments to their facilities, complete with drive-through windows. Food courts, bookstores, cafes, boutiques, and even banks have also become part of the worship experience. These developments are best viewed as a by-product of a fundamental paradigm shift in religious organization among evangelicals, that is, churches restructuring themselves according to a corporate business model.