LATE 1970s Growth of Megachurches in Orange County
The late 1970s saw a phenomenal growth in the United States of large non-denominational Christian churches, often called “megachurches.” Defined as congregations with 2,000 or more worshipers per week, megachurches grew most rapidly in the sun-belt suburbs of California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia. Appealing particularly to the young and the aspiring middle class, these huge congregations offered a theological message focused on God’s love and care, personal salvation, spiritual growth, and practical advice for daily living. By 2004 nineteen of the largest and ten of the fastest-growing American churches were in southern California, where in Orange County they included the Crystal Cathedral, Calvary Chapel Diamond Bar, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, Mariners’ Church, and Saddleback Church. Yet only 3 million of an estimated 70 million Protestant churchgoers in America attended a megachurch, and overall religious affiliation in the nation appeared to be leveling off at less than half the country’s population. SEE FIGURE 65
FEBRUARY 1979 Shah Overthrown in Iran
Established in power in 1954 by the Americans and British, Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi undertook an effort to modernize Iran that grew steadily more ambitious in the following decades. With help from the United States and money from a booming oil industry, the Shah’s government built smelters, steel mills, and truck factories, at the same time investing heavily in education, public health facilities, and the military. Yet poor economic management in the 1960s and 1970s generated shortages, massive inflation, and income inequality while the Shah’s government harshly repressed dissent, especially of Muslim clerics and groups hostile to westernization and secularization. Demonstrations against the Shah broke out in October 1977 and became more disruptive in the fall of 1978, virtually paralyzing the country. The Shah left Iran for medical reasons in January 1979, and the royal regime collapsed the following month. In an April election, Iran voted to become an Islamic republic and to approve a new theocratic constitution, installing the Ayatollah Khomenei as supreme leader.
Figure 65. The Crystal Cathedral mega-church was designed by Philip Johnson whose famous Glass House in Connecticut is a modern architectural landmark. Image courtesy of Carol M. Highsmith.
DECEMBER 1979 Soviet Union Invades Afghanistan On December 27, 1979, a small unit of Soviet special forces disguised as regular Afghan soldiers infiltrated Kabul, the nation’s capital and largest city. Within a few weeks, all of Afghanistan’s cities and major roads were under the control of the Soviet army. These events occurred, despite reduced tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States, because Brezhnev and the Soviet leadership had adopted an increasingly assertive foreign policy, proclaiming their “right and duty” to take action “if and when an existing socialist regime was threatened.” Russia contended that American- supported Muslim opposition to the Soviet- backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan represented just such a threat. Thus began a decade-long and steadily more expensive Russian intervention. The war was not only disastrous for the Afghans, who suffered more than one million casualties; it was a key factor in the breakdown of the Soviet Union and its collapse in 1991.
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