Four Shoals Churches: Can You ID?

 

When most of us in the South and particularly the Shoals think of a church, we usually picture a congregation meeting on the first day of the week to learn about Christ. Not all churches are like that.

We're going to describe four actual "churches" with a congregation of sorts here in the Shoals area. Can you put a name to them?

1. This organization denies the divinity of Christ and preaches that no one truth can be known to man.

2. This group meets in secret where they practice spells, curses, and often sacrifice poultry.

3. This church preaches a feel good salvation and conducts continuous fundraisers to support its work, sending much of its contributions outside the Shoals to use where the home office deems the funds are needed.

4. This group calls itself a new thought church, and its leaders take part in various rites, both locally and across the U.S., in which they use the magic of stones and perform ceremonies to appease Mother Earth.

Three of these churches are located in Florence, while the fourth is located in a Colbert County town. The same three churches enjoy tax-free status. Two of these churches are merely one congregation in a larger network. The other two are stand alone and not connected to other bodies of worship. These latter two may be described as the most unorthodox. 

Are there any community movers and shakers in one of the two latter churches? Perhaps that's a question every concerned citizen should ask...