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Does anyone else ever miss going to church sometimes? I miss the community and tradition and even the rituals. They were familiar and comforting in a way.

MindfulSoul 5 Apr 5
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44 comments

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5

I don't. But if you do you could try finding a UU church (Unitarian Universalist).

4

I can personally say that for me, just walking through church doors (into a church) starts my anxiety and stress. It's not pleasant for me but to each their own.

4

I definitely feel the same way! I still have a gospel music playlist that I find myself playing every once in a while. It is comforting. Especially some of my mother’s (who has passed) old favorites. An atheist “church” with traditions and rituals and none of the guilt and shame would be awesome!

Essie Level 6 Apr 5, 2018

Good for you! Give yourself some credit for knowing what is good and healthy for yourself!

4

I do. I do know that it’s because I was brought up that way and human nature likes routine! It’s how I stayed married to hateful wife for 10yrs. You can get used to anything and we crave consistency, even if it’s bad.

3

Church is something I still deal with philosophically and emotionally. After many years (25) of membership, how do I reject a community of friends? My wife is still a believer and always will be. I had a very direct conversation with the pastor, told him, from everything I have observed, if there is/was a conscious Creator, It was of the absentee landlord variety. Therefore, I reject the divinity of Christ, although I accept his teachings in human relations. He was very accepting, said I was as good a Christian as any in the congregation! I thanked him for the kind words, and left it at that. Being a physicist and amateur astronomer/cosmologist can lead you down a path of no return.

3

Let me think... Do I miss watching grown men and women speaking made up languages and flopping around on the ground oddly reminiscient of scenes from "The Exorcist". No!

I been there. The problem with all of this is they thought it was perfectly normal.

You went to the wrong church!

@Lostwax that was just one of the many denominations I visited in my quest to understand religious psychopathy.

@larsoned I found United Methodist to be about the most reasoning and reasonable Christian church around, because they consider faith to be based on a quadrilateral (or four-legged something), Bible, tradition, reason and experience. Thus, they are NOT inerrants. They accept that the various authors had their diverse agendas, and therefore there are going to be conflicting elements of scripture. My problem was more basic, however. With NO evidence that the Creator/god was a loving entity, Christ could not therefore be divine, but merely a wise, loving rabbi. I like his teachings but reject the church’s belief that he is God. That leaves open the question of whether the universe was spontaneously creat

3

No. Glad to see the back of it. Upsets me to think of all those wasted minutes and hours, every Sunday as a child, when I was made to attend by my parents. That all ceased when I was fifteen.

3

I really don't but I'm pretty sure this is at the root of my Dad's belief. He likes the rituals and tradition. If God doesn't exist then the rituals he loves become meaningless and irrelevant. This is something that he can't possibly accept. Thus, he believes in God despite having the intellectual capacity to see that it is BS.

3

I didn't even like going to church when I was a believer; now I get to enjoy sleeping in on Sundays guilt-free.

3

Not at all! I only went twice - once to the funeral of a friend. He was a Dutch guy, Dutch Orthodox or whatever, but his wife was Catholic. I remember the Priest saying "we will remember ... (looks at scrap of paper] ... Ben ...

The second time was to a Baptist service. I had a new girlfriend and it turns out she was a hardcore Baptist. I was fairly um ... focused though, so when she asked me to go to the service, I agreed. Yikes! People standing, sitting, standing, sitting, and a guy with a guitar, singing a song everyone else seemed to know, but me. What ever happened to Amazing Grace!
Finally it was over and we were leaving. Yay! Not so fast! a greeter met us at the door and invited us to a luncheon.
"..... uh... sure," says I.
Groan.
Somebody asked me about my past and I recounted how I had spent my formative years no a commune up Powell Lake. Well, talk about a lead balloon!
Frosty silence.

No, I don't miss it one bit!

2

I miss the community. I miss my old pastor, even though I didn't believe as he did. He was an excellent writer and orator.

2

I think the hardest part of leaving a religion for many people is leaving the sense of community and sense of belonging, not to mentin leaving the familiar.

For me, I missed the "familiarity" of it all, even if I didnt' miss much else. Even though ti wa familiar, it doesnt 'm,ean I enjoyed what was familiar to me though.

2

I remember hearing ministers admonishing the clergy not be the kind of people who only attend church on the holidays. I enjoy attending around the holidays--for the very reasons you brought up.

2

Do I miss church? NO!!!!!

2

Since you asked...... From the bottom of my heart..... Hell NO ???

2

I never had much affection for the people at my church(including family)so I don't miss it at all. In fact, it seems just downright creepy to me, now.

2

No definitely like the idea sleeping in on Sunday's! I have a good Secular group! here we do a lot of activities!

2

I don't miss any of it!

1

One of the reasons I left church, and never looked for another one, is that I felt that I didn't fit in there. The small church I grew up in was all families and couples, and as a single person, I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb. I understand why/how you might miss the ritual (but you can now get a lot of that, music at least, on TV), but I never felt the sense of community, so I am not missing that at all.

1

I always hated going to church. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

1
1

I quit when l was 14. I haven't missed anything about it for a second. I hated every second of it.

1

No. I have set foot in a church only 4 times in the last 67 years -- once for a funeral, and 3 times at the request of a chose relative.

1

It has been decades since I attended any church (1980, LOL!), so no, not missing that at all. But a secular group in my area tries to emulate that feeling of community by holding something called Sunday Assembly. They have a facility they call Reason Center. It's just some commercial office space and has a large room. Not fancy. They have a small, makeshift stage, set up chairs, bring in some secular speakers. There is music, "fellowship," and a potluck. It's nice and mostly works. It's possible something similar is going on in your area. =]

@eddiem for you, here: [kcoasis.org]

1

Nope. Even though I was much beloved and appreciated as a singer and violinist for 3 years, I never felt I belonged. Because I never feel like I belong anywhere. It's just how I am. I don't worry about it.

I don't do rituals (or oaths, or prayers, or any such psycho-dramatic pantomime). My meaningfulness is within me, always--and never without.

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