Try a Unitarian church. I go for the fellowship, community and singing.

"As an atheist I wince at the words 'God' and 'Jesus,'" I told the minister.

"You're not alone," she replied. "Many people here are atheist; the majority of members are agnostic. So in the hymns, we changed the word 'God' to 'good.' It's just adding an 'o.' No big deal."

I appreciate that.

Who says you can't still go to church? Atheists go to church all the time. You don't have buy into their Christian beliefs to go, and you don't have to tell them you're an atheist either to go. I'm just saying.

I was invited to a wedding for a friend that was at a local church. When I pulled into a parking lot of the church my skin started to feel warm. By the time I got inside my skin was melting. I don't think I belong there.

Have you tried the UU? They don't really use the bible, just accept whatever you think you understand. Unitarian Universalists are the first all American Church and many of our founding fathers were members.

I've been going to a UU church some. The people there are great, and they haven't said anything about God or the Bible in the many times I've been there. In one of the services they even sang "Ain't Necessarily So", a great song about the myths in the Bible. You might give it a try.

A socialist commune.

Have you considered.... Satan?

I attend St. Mattress on Sundays.

I don't miss church at all, but my wife did for a while. We went to a Unitarian church for about a year. It was fine. Still interfered with football Sunday so I had to stop going.

If you were a Brit I'd send you down the local to join the darts team. I'm pretty sure they replaced church with the pub about a hundred years ago.

If you miss it so much you should go back there

Your church group isolated you from other social interactions. But you can try:

• amateur sports team or chess, checkers group.
• Dance classes
• Any cultural club
• Wine club or wine tasting events (they are great).
• Sport team fan club.
• Join any class: sculpture, photography, art, language, literature, etc.

And good luck on re-adapting to society!

Have you tried a freethought society or FFRF chapter , however music may be lacking!

Join a choir and you’ll get the singing and the community...supposing you can actually sing of course! You won’t be restricted to singing hymns either, but a real variety of music. You can also volunteer at one of the local charities, I do at a food bank, but there are other charities where you will get a sense of belonging to a team, and also the satisfaction of doing something to help others.

I miss the church as much as I miss the flu

There is a Sunday Assembly movement catching on. [sundayassembly.com]

I tried my local UU. My first visit I liked; the second--not so much.

Even though they are open to any belief, or no belief, I found it still invoked too much "god/universal consciousness" stuff for my liking.

Also, the speaker on my second visit, in my opinion, hi-jacked science in an effort to support her belief in reincarnation of the consciousness and her belief that a man (a yogi) in the year 1100-ish, went into a cave and was able to move his hand so fast it caused a sonic boom; and he was able to push his hand through solid stone--leaving his hand print in the stone as "evidence."

She used the science that shows that all atoms are surrounded by empty space (that we are 99.999...% empty space) to support her argument that this is possible--if one attains the proper state of consciousness. Just as we are able to overcome illness etc.

Now, I don't care that she believes that--but no science I am aware of will support her beliefs that it is possible to do that; and I didn't care for her use of science to try to "prove" her beliefs. She also mentioned some idea that humans showed up in their present form about 200,000 years ago and that didn't sit well with me either.

This was my experience. It might not be yours. And, the only way to know is to give it a try.

Unitarian-Universalist community will fill all those voids without the claptrap! Google to find one!

I would look for local group meetups, centered around your interests. There are tons of non-religious communities out there. You'll still be able to get that sense of common purpose and fellowship, without all the preaching.

Check out meetup.com . There are lots of groups of every type to choose from. I found hiking and kayaking groups and now have all the fellowship and people with common purpose I can handle.

Taking identity more seriously or making the group more valid than ourselves is a notion most of us are indoctrinated with in authoritarian cultures. We aren't respected or loved nearly as much for being who we are naturally as we are for being who we're expected to be by conforming to group rituals, behaviors and affirming prioritized doctrines. This kind of groupism under any title is an addictive process.

We can be our own 'church'; our own identity, articulated as we please and reason. Each person has primary validation by fact of our existence. No external approvals are necessary for that internal status. To know, respect, value and love ourselves we become our own true friends, parents and guardians. Loneliness vanishes because self company is enriching. We literally become something whole and of value to bring to any arena of sharing with others with similar attributes.

Groups requiring self-abdication as part of the membership fee are parasitic and reject anyone unprepared to surrender portions of themselves and their autonomy. The good news is people celebrating individuality recognize one another pretty readily. Healthy attraction works that way. The Internet sports quite a few ways, like this site, to screen and meet self-emancipating, interesting people. Yes, they are very rare but this is a dark age. Hey, its been worse.

After reading these comments I realize just how far out of the mainstream I really am.

I'm not a joiner of groups of any kind and never have been, even in high school, other than bands. I can't relate to this on any level. I am very picky about who I hang out with and always have been.

So start a book club or something in the local library.

Admitted you probably won’t be allowed to sing but most of the other concerns could be fulfilled.

You're trying to replace a crutch with another crutch. Want to sing, join a secular chorus, there are many all over just look online, you want a "sense of purpose" join and volunteer in an organization that protects the planet like Greenpeace, the Sierra Club or any other secular organization that actually does something of benefit for others.