From Community to Facebook 841daily life occurred even less frequently. With the
advent of the Internet and improved software, many
people became their own travel agent, tax preparer,
financial adviser, grocer, cosmetician, medical assis-
tant, and bookseller.
From Community to Facebook
Religious institutions have long constituted the bul-
wark of communities, and the postwar period wit-
nessed a remarkable expansion. By 1990, membership
in all churches and synagogues surpassed 148 million,
an increase of 60 million during the previous four
decades. (The total population during the period
increased by nearly 100 million.) With the large influx
of Hispanic immigrants, membership in the Roman
Catholic Church more than doubled. Membership in
mainstream Protestant churches generally declined,
but rose solidly in fundamentalist and evangelical
churches, such as the Southern Baptist, Pentecostal,
Holiness, Assemblies of God, and Church of God in
Christ. The Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormon
Church grew as well. In 1990 two-thirds of all
Americans reported that they belonged to a church,
the highest percentage by far among the major indus-
trial nations of the West.The Crystal Cathedral was erected in 1980 in Garden Grove, California, by Dr. Robert H. Schuller, a televangelist whose weekly broadcasts were
seen by tens of millions of viewers. Designed by Phillip Johnson, the cathedral is made of over 10,000 glass panes.