Everything Is Gold: a visual exploration of religious spaces

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     It has always bugged me how churches and synagogues and other religious places say to donate to .charities and give to those who are less fortunate, yet all I see when I walk into those spaces is gold. Gold wall ornaments, gold candle holders. It's all just gold. I try to understand that gold is a sign of divinity and godliness, but in my not-so-humble opinion, I think that more money should go to different charities. All sorts of places donate to churches, such as Chick-Fil-A or Amazon, donate to churches to promote their services, but the churches should in turn donate to other local nonprofits that benefit the community they're in. If God is represented in gold, and everything in a church has to be gold, that feels like an unfair monetary balance. If God is supposed to treat all his children equally and love all equally, why would he allow churches to  spend so much on furnishings yet so little on helping combat homelessness. I've been in many churches, and they all have these ornate stained glass windows, gold altarpieces, rich red carpets, old tall ceilings that usually have some divine image on them, pews that are pristine, and more. Everything seems so perfect. I would rather go to a church that looks a little more worn down and can boast that they helped provide a home for 50 families versus a church out of a  "religious ikea catalog" that I don't know how they benefit the community. 

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