Atheist experiences in church

[februarystars]

I'm glad I happened upon this old thread, because I was just wondering if any people here who are atheist or otherwise non-religious ever go to church for intellectual reasons or out of curiosity. In the last 8 years or so, I've only been to church twice. The first was for a wedding between two people I had never even met (I was just there as a date). One of those Catholic stand-sit-stand-sit services.

The second â€" I spent last Christmas in Boston, and being away from my family for the first time ever on Christmas Eve, I felt like I needed to do something, so I just wandered to the little church that was next to my hotel to watch their Christmas pageant. I can't remember what branch of Christianity they were, but the church was unlike any I had ever been to. Instead of pews, there were lots of little cubicles that had seating all around, so you might end up sitting with your back to the pulpit, which was kind of odd. The services are presented by two priestesses, so it was definitely nontraditional in that aspect. The pageant was performed by all the kids in the church, so it was really kind of adorable. The priestesses and church members recognized right away that I wasn't a regular there, and on my way out a lot of them asked me about my visit to Boston and where I was from, thanked me for coming to watch the play, and told me to enjoy the rest of my trip. It was all around a very pleasant experience.

Lately, I've been kind of wanting to go sit in at a mass or church service just to observe. Do any of you ever do that?

[dgmort19]

Do any of you ever do that?

In fact, I've been considering cutting my family off from the few times each year that I DO attend. Christmas and Easter, my mother guilt trips me into showing up. "It would make your mother happy." Uggh.

I was raised going to church every Sunday, and have had quite enough. The crappy music, the silly sermons, the stand-up, sit-down, stand-up-again rituals, the fervent hand waiving, the nods and "amen" choruses during services, the flaws in the pastor's faith arguments, etc.

Frankly, it disturbs me to watch other members of my species devoutly worship this thing, and even more so to see that they're indoctrinating their children.

[februarystars]

Frankly, it disturbs me to watch other members of my species devoutly worship this thing, and even more so to see that they're indoctrinating their children.

It's precisely this that makes me want to go. I'm very familiar with masses, since I grew up Catholic, and I know it's easy to sort of slip in and blend in with the crowd as the ceremonial structure is so rigid. The reciting and chanting and sort of herd behavior seems so much more bizarre to me now than it used to be when I attended for more sincere reasons, that I'm fascinated by the idea of it. I'm sure I'll go to a mass sometime in the next few weeks, sit there for about 20 minutes and think ohhhh wtf was I thinking, wait miserably for the remaining two hours, and then have it out of my system.

[freeservant]

I should share my atheist experiences in the Church environment.

I became and atheist around the age of 15 and at the time I had been attending Seventh Day Adventist Church schools since the 5th grade.  I rejected God under the typical emotional reasons about Hell and the problem of evil so was pitifully intellectually dishonest with my self thus blinding me to the evidence and rational entailment's of the Christian world view.

Remember that I was in church school so not only did I have to lie to myself but I could not keep up a good front that I was a good little Christian student.  In my freshmen year at boarding academy I felt isolated and abandoned.  Lack of power was my dilemma so I even dabbled in the occult.  I shoplifted the satanic bible by anton lavey.  It is a hilarious romp into parody religion if you want to read it.  Needless to say as angsty teen I was going to rebel in many ways.  Got kicked out of school my freshman year. (two different ones)  Loved to read H. P. Lovecraft and do horrible things from a Christian perspective.  In Church I was a silent little mouse having masturbatory fantasy about the preachers wife or what ever tipped my fancy.  I was a good atheist by some standards and by others I could see where I am not considered to be atheist enough.  I was not militant in my view but I was a good contrarian and even now I like to share how some atheists think with my Church Family along with my testimony on what brought me back to the faith as an honest seeker of truth.  I am sure some will be pleased to know that this makes some uncomfortable but the atheist viewpoint is important to understanding what is going on now with certain political efforts to demoralize and marginalize Christians, especially on the left.

My advise is that if you want attention then start asking the tough questions if given the opportunity.  But I caution that if you want to say ignorant then keep up the shield of contempt prior to investigation because an honest truth seeker is going to have to confront some things that I had to and thus am no longer an atheist or an alcoholic or the contrarian rebel without a cause that I used to be.

[dgmort19]

The reciting and chanting and sort of herd behavior seems so much more bizarre to me now than it used to be when I attended for more sincere reasons, that I'm fascinated by the idea of it.

I feel exactly the same way. However, my fascination manifests as an interest in research of Christian ideas, rather than a desire to attend. While I might find it interesting to observe the surroundings for a bit, I know from experience that, eventually, I begin the "ohhhh " process.

Loved to read H. P. Lovecraft

I just read The Shadow Out of Time. Very interesting, though I found the best portion of the story to consist of his description of life as a conical alien. The rest seemed like a needless confirmation of the reality of the dreams, which we, as the readers, already knew to be true.

In Church I was a silent little mouse having masturbatory fantasy about the preachers wife or what ever tipped my fancy.

Now this was a fun one during my Christian years. Let's supercharge an adolescent with hormones, but tell him it's utterly wrong to engage in any kind of natural, compensatory activity. Obviously, this is the kind of ultimate love only a perfect deity could expend.

[fester30]

I spent 33 years drifting through different churches in different denominations.  Since January, I've been to church once, for a retirement ceremony for a coworker.  He took advantage of the opportunity to give an amateur sermon while he was at it.  I was surprised about one thing, though.  I had figured that since I didn't bow my head for the prayer, for sure the Catholic priest in the room would go find some holy water to douse me with, but that didn't happen.

[Tank]

I spent 33 years drifting through different churches in different denominations.  Since January, I've been to church once, for a retirement ceremony for a coworker.  He took advantage of the opportunity to give an amateur sermon while he was at it.  I was surprised about one thing, though.  I had figured that since I didn't bow my head for the prayer, for sure the Catholic priest in the room would go find some holy water to douse me with, but that didn't happen.

Do they actually do that?

[februarystars]

Oh I lied, I just remembered another time I went to a church in the last decade. It was for my uncle's funeral 6 years ago, and it was about 5 minutes about the memory of my uncle, then quickly turned into a lengthy accusatory sermon about how we all need to change our ways or we will burn for eternity. Since then, I have refused to go to another funeral.

[Davin]

What a way to lift the spirits of the grieving.

[fester30]

I spent 33 years drifting through different churches in different denominations.  Since January, I've been to church once, for a retirement ceremony for a coworker.  He took advantage of the opportunity to give an amateur sermon while he was at it.  I was surprised about one thing, though.  I had figured that since I didn't bow my head for the prayer, for sure the Catholic priest in the room would go find some holy water to douse me with, but that didn't happen.

Do they actually do that?

I've seen it in a movie or two.  The holy water usually boils and melts the skin away of the demons.  Might be an improvement in my case .

I went to a Catholic church twice.  Once, I fell asleep, but it wasn't horrible.  The other time, it was a very strict sort of Catholic church in Lincoln, Nebraska.  I whispered a couple words to my best friend who took me there.  She gave me a look as if to say "stop it now!"  I gave her a look back as if to say "what's the deal?"  Just then I felt an object hit the top of my head.  Behind me there was a nun, had to be around 55, dressed up in full habit, with what seemed to be a rubberized stick.  She had a mean look on her face and shooshed me!  I was very scared.

[dgmort19]

I would have taken her rubber stick away until the end of the service.

[Whitney]

I wonder if it would hold up in court if you pressed assault charges on a nun who hit you with a rubber stick . . .

[xSilverPhinx]

I can count the number of times I've attended a real church service on both my hands, two catholic and a few others of some evangelical denomination.

They're annoying to tell the truth. From my perspective, it's a group of people being emotionally aroused more than anything with their talk of "god", their personal relationship with Jesus and the like - something that had no value to me as a non believer. The incessant "amens" would follow, along with with the general high level of noise during some of the evangelical services as they talked on about what god meant to them and how pieces of their scripture should be interpreted to fit into their lives. Luckily I was never asked what I thought of the whole thing, though I think I would've just gone with the flow to maintain the peace. The accommodationist in me annoys me sometimes.  

I attended one service held by a seventh day Adventist church (which my grandparents frequent). Most of that was spent talking about how important it is to raise money for the church's architectural reform. They made a lot of money, I'll tell you that ... best business for sure is to open a church in a wealthy environment. Or sell real estate in heaven (I kid you not - it actually happens and people actually pay).  Woe to humanity.

I like cathedrals though, something about big spacious and ornamented buildings...I don't find the protestant idea of a church to be very visually appealing, though understand why they keep what they see as unnecessary out. I think that something that's the fruit of a rich human imagination and creativity belongs in a building that represents that.