A look inside the ‘faith industry’

Megachurches host nearly 6 million Americans each week, combining stadium-sized spectacle with the traditionally quiet practices of worship. And while they’re often criticized for consumerism and corporate-style recruitment tactics, the most visible feature has always been the buildings themselves: massive, often-crystalline cathedrals unlike anything else in the skyline. Photographer Joe Johnson went on a tour of the churches, from Louisville, Kentucky to a stadium-style church outside Chicago, and came away with a book’s worth of material showing the grandeur and stagecraft involved. Wired has 16 of the best shots, along with an interview describing what Johnson calls, “the highly produced aural and visual sophistication being brought to the act of worship.”