There are an incredible amount of religious institutions in America, of all sorts of different denominations and faiths, which presupposes that this is indeed a religious nation. The thing about religious institutions is that the governance of this nation has benefited them by exempting most churches from property taxes, along with being exempt from Federal, State, and local taxes, so done under the belief that religious institutions are providing a community service. Still the question needs to be asked as to whether or not this is really true, and further to the point, whether many churches could do more for their communities than they currently do.
Indeed, most religions, have a specific time set aside for worship within the sanctuary of that church, of which, while some religious institutions have a daily mass, as well as those that have specific times for their congregants to pray daily, there are plenty of other religious institutions though that have specific service times, on a particular date of the week, and seemingly are quiescent as an institution for the greater balance of the week.
What more religious institutions should be encouraged to do, is to engage the communities that they are an integral part of, to provide services that will be of good use for that community. This would represent things such as after-school care, meals for children, tutoring, wellness checks, job fairs, and pretty much anything that would help provide support for the community. Further to the point, for those religious institutions that claim that they do not have the resources to provide such aid, it would behoove them to consider outsourcing such to those entities that would be happy to assist, especially when they can avail themselves of the utilization of the religious institution's facility space and infrastructure.
The fact of the matter is that the business of saving souls has got to include having the type of hours and commitment in which the doors are open, for as long as they can reasonably be open, to accommodate the needs of the community and to be a helping hand to that community, as well as being a sanctuary. Indeed, the areas that a given community does not do well in, as regards to education, mentoring, and opportunity, necessitates that religious institutions step into the breach, because if this is not done, then those that are already under-served and under-cared for, will find it difficult to make progress without concentrated and dedicated aid on their behalf.
Our religious institutions represent our best hope, in many a community, in helping to build up people, who need the attention and care, that the best of our religious institutions represent, and when this is done, it is done to not only for the glory of the nation but to God, which is why in this era of frustration that our governance has let us down, that we need to turn to that which has our vested interests in mind, best represented by religious institutions within our community, that are focused upon doing right through their good actions for the people of that community