Cleveland Plain Dealer: A teenager, unhappy with the changes at her church, stands up and faces the congregation.
"The church is like Noah's Ark," she says. "You can't stand the smell, but if you get out, you'll drown."
The girl captures the appeal/repulse dynamic so common to people in groups, particularly to people in religious groups. More than 350,000 congregations dot the American landscape, yet their life and character seldom attract much scrutiny.
Public television moves to redress that in a Dec. 29 airing of the absorbing, two-hour documentary, "The Congregation."
The film focuses on one United Methodist church in the Philadelphia area, where the members are fighting about finances, leadership and style of worship.
"You don't normally associate tension and stress within a church setting," Alan and Susan Raymond wrote about making this film. "Everything was supposed to be calm and peaceful, but that was not our experience."
