Why do churches have their windows up high and covered in stain glass? Is it so no one can see in or out?

Question

There have been some recent questions about why many JW Kingdom Halls don't have windows. That got me to thinking, so tonight, as I drove 250 miles around Kansas City, I checked out every church I passed. I noticed that all of them had windows, but they were up high and covered in stain glass. Many respondents to the previous questions about Kingdom Halls said that it was because JWs didn't want anyone seeing what went on inside, well the same can be claimed for any church. In fact, a lot of churches do have things to hide, as has become evident by the number of claims made of child sexual abuse. I wonder how many churches are as open to inspection as a Kingdom Hall, such as places where children can be taken advantage of? In Kingdom Halls, the children are not segregated from the parents to where they can be harmed. Is this what other churches are hiding?

Answer 1

Stained glass is also called "artwork"; it falls in the same category as sculptures and paintings and frescoes, etc. It is not intended to hide anything, just there to be pretty and inspire those who look at it.

Sin, like molesting children, is not hidden by glass, stained or otherwise. Neither is it hidden by walls of concrete, wood, plaster, or steel. It is hidden by people of corrupt mind and heart, buried behind a life of false pretences and lies and slick showmanship.

We have had child molesting "preachers" in my town also. The building isn't the problem. The lies are the problem! Lack of accountability is the problem.

Answer 2

The high windows were built at that level to keep the marauding Turks out of the church during the days preceding and following the Spanish Inquisition. The high windows were a protective feature that defended the building itself from destruction by the Muslim nomadicc pirates throughout Europe -- and the tradition spread to the New World from England.

As for the stain glass windows --- they depicted the life and times of the saints -- a kind of homage to the martyrs. Purely aesthetic and ceremonial purposes.

Sorry to ruin your conspiray theory....

Answer 3

It goes back to the days of the monks. They didn't have any windows on the buildings because they believed that any kind of pleasure is certainly wrong. They denied themselves of all pleasure.. wearing colored clothing, eating certain foods, and even their music didn't have any note "jumps" in it because that seemed too "vain." - which is also why they didn't allow women to sing - listen to those monk chants and you'll hear no random note changes, just smooth transitions up or down.
My guess is that the JW Kingdom Hall was influenced by this.

Answer 4

I think it's less dramatic than that, even if what you say happens, I think that windows are high mostly to let more light enter. The fact that the bottom is located high on the wall is certainly a way to avoid losses of concentration in the audience and the tainted glass is a natural way to let the sun glorify their story. Remember that pigments always were astronomically expensive. It's only recently that colors are being sinthesized easily.

Answer 5

Friend the church I go to does Have windows, & they are not stained, Nor high up, We do have wooden shutters over them but it is not to hide something but to protect our church, we have had many break-ins, Therefore we put wooden shutters over the window, & a few has bars over them, that too is to keep someone from breaking in, we had one person that was at church by himself & 2 people came in & rob him & beat him.

Answer 6

in fact i m not a Christ. but i believe that there was a religion like that and these times the Church's were the home of god. like mosques. so there cant be the happenings inside the Church's like you told.maybe the windows are high because they want to have the best angle to take sun inside.cant it be???

Answer 7

Most new public schools are doing the same thing, maybe they don't want parents to know what they are doing with their kids.

Answer 8

possible. it's hard to say. i don't know why they wouldn't have windows but i have heard their is a reason for the stain glass that i can't remember now.

Answer 9

Thats reallly creepy. I never thought of it that way.

Answer 10

see-thru windows can and will cause distraction in the services