It’s not surprising that churches lose their importance and value even today. The famous Washington Square Methodist Church located in Manhattan once used to be rather active in the anti-Vietnam War movement and thus has the honor of being known as the “peace church.” Forty years have past and the church still remains for New Yorkers to visit as a place of worship.

However, as Gotham Gazette reports, instead of serving as a religious place for sermons, choirs or Sunday schools, churches often serve as places of profit.

Not in a religious sense, however. Now it serves as a “private refuge” offering original stained glass, Italian white marble countertops and quartz and slate floors for those who can afford to pay upward of $3 million for one of its eight apartments. If the church’s role in the 1960s was emblematic of the times, so, some might say, is its function today.

Many city churches, particularly in Manhattan, no longer offer sermons, choirs or Sunday schools. Instead, they serve as places of profit, enjoyment and in some cases even sin, a shift that can have major effect on their communities.