Tufted

I actually now enjoy going to church for both the social and the spiritual reasons. I enjoy the sermons that the pastor presents, since they mainly deal with spitituality in modern life. I don't think it is a bad thing to try and emulate some of the teachings of Jesus. And since I don't believe in an afterlife, trying to act in a "Christian" way seems even more altruistic.

During my marriage, many years ago, I attended Catholic service regulary solely to please my wife. There was no socializing, too much meaningless ritual, and often boring sermons. I really felt it was a waste of time.

For the next 20 or so years I rarely attended church , and when I did it was solely for "Dating" reasons. Now I eagerly look forward to it.

Ronin

I've been from Catholic church to Southern Fried Fundy and view them as lame exercises in disingenuous socializing.

Well, now...scoping out the hot sexually guilt laden chicks is another story altogether!

Bree

I am going to move this to SL&S, just to try and keep it on-topic.

Shake

:notworthy Bravo!

Organization of people with similar (albeit not the same) views is necessary for the political process to work, but not for religion. A check of individual beliefs in any given congregation will vary, and sometimes greatly. I saw it in the church that I used to attend with my parents. Within the congregation you had some who were very liberal in their beliefs, and others that were borderline fundy! This sort of echos seebs' post. You find all of those in any given congregation. This is because people are different. Anyone who tells you, "I believe exactly what so-and-so believes," either really doesn't have a full grasp of what the other believes, or is just too lazy to think for themself, and just says, "Yeah that sounds good. I believe that too." :banghead:

The realization that "organized" religion is a sham is what started me on the process of looking at religion and religious belief as a whole. It ended with my rejection of it entirely. To those like my mom, who still hopes I'll "find something," to believe in, I say that I may, I'm too realistic to say never, but I won't go back to any church. To paraphrase a Yogi-ism (IIRC):

spacedOut

In my opinion, yes. I occasionally attend the church I used to be a member of because I do miss my friends there. Also, listening to the sermon from a free thinker's point of view can be interesting, and on some occasions, quite entertaining.

But what I notice (much more now than when I considered myself a Christain) is the "self-preservation" aspect of the church. In other words, it exists to support itself. Oh sure the congregation supports a missionary somewhere in South America, but there is no noticable local mission work going on. Most of the money taken in goes to paying staff salaries and maintaining the multi-million dollar facility. The Bible classes are tailored to the interests of the members (e.g. young families, singles, retired, etc.), and there are plenty of social events to go around.

Looking at this organization from an objective point of view, I wonder - what does all this have to do with Christianity??? Where is the "preach the gospel to every living creature" or "sell all that you have and follow me" or "he who does not love me more than is family is not worthy"???

The members at my church seem more interested in getting out early on Sunday so they can beat the lunch crowd or get home in time for the game.

Does the church have a positive effect? To its members - I would say, yes. Does it in any way reflect Christianity as recorded in the New Testament? I find it hard to identify the similarities...

Rational BAC

I have to admit that, in my personal opinion, going to church is completely unnecessary to be a Christian.

Looking back on history it was ORGANIZED Christianity that caused so much horror to civilized minds. I really believe that Christianity should never have been "organized".

Nevertheless, as an Episcopalian, I do like the pageantry "the show" of the whole service. More Catholic than the Catholic service , as they say.

{This bit edited: please note forum rules regarding no preaching, witnessing, etc. Thanks kindly.}

And mostly that is why I go to church. Even when the sermon is boring as hell.

BioBeing

Shake - that was Groucho Marx, not Yogi...

To the OP: I only go to Church when my wife asks me very nicely. I got out at Easter because I was sick, and she excused me yesterday (Mother's Day) although I did actually volunteer (I had to do yardwork and cook her dinner instead!). However, I too am interested in what the alternatives are, from a social perspective. Recently, a friend of my wife's (from the same church) died from complications just after childbirth, leaving the husband with three young children. The church rallied around and provided food, child care etc etc for the husband. My wife is worried about what would happen to me - we have two small kids - if she were to die, and wants me to get more involved in the church to develop more of a support group. [We have young children, of course I don't have any other friends...] It would be one thing if it were Unitarian, but Church of Christ...

Celsus

Well Bree's attempt to move it seems to have failed; never ask a woman...

KitKit

i don't see any reason for me to go to church, not a regular church anyway. i've been to plenty & it's all a bunch of rubbish.

however... i am thinking about going to a unitarian church. i think i'll go just so i can meet some other atheists with kids. and i'd like my children to go to religious education classes & learn about all people's beliefs. i think that the key to tolerance & acceptance is knowledge. it's important for them to understand what other people believe & why & i'm sure lots of questions will come up & it will be a good opportunity to discuss things with my kids.

just like i don't think religionists should believe just because everyone has told them to, i don't want my kids to not believe in a god just because i told them not to. i want them to not believe because they examined all the evidence & decided for themleves that it is all fairy tales & superstition.

SLD

I did go to a Unitarian church recently and I did in fact like it. It wasn't like my Episcopal Church with an organized ritual, but was more like a lecture series. A Catholic peace missionary had just returned from Iraq (it was the Sunday after Baghdad fell), and he lectured on what he had experienced. The extent of the worship was having kids light a candle and learning something from the minister about what Palm Sunday meant. There was a little "Prayers of the People" kind of thing where people ad-libbed whatever they wanted to whatever deity they wanted.

I enjoyed the lecture about Iraq, and may return. I also meant many other rationalists (for want of a better term) and that I enjoyed.

SLD