The current patchwork of services instead may feature contemporary music, meetings in movie theaters, congregations with related music clubs, gatherings of Eastern and Middle Eastern faiths, megachurches and a greater number of female pastors.

"A new generation of churchgoers are hungry for an active faith and growth but not in the typical trappings," said Mr. Love. "There's a need for new thinking and new types of churches to meet the need of others who are different."

"Churches unwilling to make changes will drift into the background," he said. "Those with purpose and passion will come to the forefront."

What is clear, he said, is that there is an increase in diversity among religious faiths, a rise in the number of people who don't feel compelled to join a congregation -- whether or not they're active in one -- and a decrease in cradle-to-grave loyalty to one denomination.

Mr. Love said the church chose to meet in a theater initially because people outside the faith "judge a book by its cover." A typical church building with a typical sign is bound to attract typical people whose worship experiences are tied to people in the same faith, he said. But Journey Chattanooga hoped to attract people who wanted something different, he said.

Although "some still view their (religious) perspective as the correct way," he said, "it's important that we accept all religions. We're such a diverse community, it's important to include everyone."

As religious faith has become more diversified in Chattanooga, it also has become more common for different denominations and faiths to work together. Mr. Cohn, who recently attended a program on domestic violence at Brainerd Baptist Church, said he has seen an increased emphasis on interfaith services and "getting together.I see common goals and groups working together to reach those goals," he said. "I like that. I think that's very good for the community."

As a result, a number of groups say they believe the battle over religious displays will simply move outside and that the approval of a "holiday tree" will not be impervious to protest from both sides of the divide - anti-religion activists who view even "holiday trees" as a promotion of faith and religious Americans who have generally been opposed to calling Christmas trees "holiday trees."

Last year, a crowd of 500 protesters rallied outside the Washington Capitol to protest a sign that Gov. Chris Gregoire had permitted an atheist group to include as part of a Christmas-themed display inside the rotunda.

Freedom from Religion Foundation, the group that installed the sign, said the display was to promote the Winter's Solstice. It stated: "At this season of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

Regarding the new rules, Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor told the local Olympian newspaper that she is "very pleased" but thinks that the state is making a mistake by allowing religious displays outdoors. "I don't think Nativity scenes belong on the outside of capitols either," Gaylor said.

Gaylor and her group plan to wage war with any group that requests to put up religious displays outside the capitol, saying that they "will match whatever they do."

Religious leaders have "the longest, widest and deepest reach" in society, Ban told representatives of major faith groups gathered for the faith-based climate change summit in England, according to U.K.-based Guardian newspaper. Faith groups run more than half of the world's schools, operate more weeky publications than "all the secular press" in the European Union, control financial investments worth trillions, and own nearly eight percent of habitable land on the planet.

"Your potential impact is enormous," Ban said.

The U.N. secretary-general urged faith leaders to harness their influence to encourage more environmentally friendly lifestyles and to "provoke, challenge and inspire political leaders" to "act more boldly" on tackling the climate change problem.

Religious groups attending the three-day summit, which ends Wednesday, reported various plans on how they would contribute to a healthier planet. Buddhists in China would promote vegetarianism and moderation in burning incense sticks. In India, Sikhs pledged to use solar power in the temples and conduct energy audits.

"If Earth is in some way a museum of divine intent, it's pretty horrible to be defacing all that creation," said McKibben, who is also serves occasionally as a Methodist minister, according to Agence France-Presse. "And if, in Christianity and other faiths, we are called upon above all else to love God and love our neighbors, drowning your neighbor in Bangladesh is a pretty bad way to go about it," he added.

Among Muslims, some 200 leaders of the faith had gathered in Istanbul in July to form a seven-year climate change action plan. One of the measures agreed on was the creation of a "Muslim eco-label" for products and services ranging from the printing of the Qur'an to organized pilgrimages.