Interview With a None On Church/Community

[isbelldl]

I found this interview pretty interesting & very relatable. He's not describing himself as an atheist, but sounds like he wouldn't really be a Christian anymore even if he's hesitant to break the tie completely. I get his search for community & questions of what you actually do believe, even if I was certain of my beliefs or lack of much more suddenly.

As an atheist that broke away from Christianity about 8 years ago myself & has moved a lot, I get the desire for the community aspects of church. It's hard to reestablish yourself with a new social group every 4 years. My wife & I are trying to do a better job in our new location than we had in some previous ones. We did end up checking out our local Unitarian Universalist church recently. I became aware of them after the proud boys showed up to protest an all-ages drag show there earlier this year. It's a small group & the service we went to was totally secular. I'm torn on whether I actually like the "church" experience, but it was a nice opportunity to meet like-minded neighbors outside of a business transaction. I've also checked out the local Satanic Temple. I like some of the people there, but the group's more spread out. I'm also not quite theatrical enough to really fit there either. I think it's still a better social fit for me than the UU, which was mostly older & more traditional in ways that I'm just not looking for at the moment. I do like seeing the mushroom people at my local farmer's market, but I don't feel like I can just hang out with them for more than a short casual conversation while they're trying to work though.

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/10/119850960...t-a-church

[Dancefortwo]

I read a similar article in the WaPost a couple of weeks ago.  It may have been the same person in the interview.  

For me, I didn't grow up with any sort of religion and didn't even know who Jesus was until I was 10 years old so it's not something I miss.   I guess I've found like minded people in the theatre arts which is my chosen field.   It was really difficult when all the theatres closed down during Covid because I didn't have that connection anymore.  '

One way to connect with others as a community is to find people who share the same hobby, whatever that might be.  It could be photography or hiking or something like a book club.  I used to belong to a Meetup group here in Portland OR called the Contemplative Hiking Group.  We would go on walks to see the plant life and whatnot.  So it wasn't a mad dash on a hiking trail to try and get to the top,  it was more like stroll through nature.  I really liked it.  I should rejoin. 

Meetup Groups are a world wide network of people with shared intrests so if you're living near a city or large community there might be some Meetup groups you could join, instead of trying to find something sorta, kinda like a church but sorta, kinda not a church. I'm pretty sure Meetup groups are in Europe too.   

https://www.meetup.com/

[Cranky]

I agree a hobby is a great idea.  I flew my own plane for a good number of years.  Sold it 6 years ago due to health issues and retirement, but I'm still buddies with a number of pilots and ex-pilots and we meet ever Saturday morning for breakfast at the local airfield.

I also still sing Gregorian chant in a small choir.  I know I'm singing BS (Gregorian chant is almost all bible and psalm verses) but the a cappella singing is sublime.  The only downside is that we sing at mass so I have to go into a Catholic church.  There's another atheist in the choir though, and we keep the pews warm while the others go to communion.  Besides liking the musical format I'm really in the choir mostly for the social contact and for something to do in my retirement.

I looked into the Unitarian Church.  My daughter goes to one.  She's not really a believer.  But I dislike the notion of being preached to by a pastor, even a non-believing pastor.  

I tend to be introverted so it's not always easy for me to be in social settings.  What I'd really like is a beautiful, modern, airy building or room, with natural lighting, where I can find silence and stillness for an hour of peace, but without someone telling me how to think.

[Thethingaboutitis]

We've recently started up camping again. When our kids were little we got heavily invested in it and made lots of friends on the campsites. There was always a great sense of community wherever we went, people sitting around just chatting away from the rat race.

We have been a couple of times this year but the difference now is that we pick weekends when we know that there is a festival or event happening, only our youngest son comes along now the others have sort of grown out of it.

We met a couple on our last trip who had also recently taken it up again. They ended up sitting outside our tent having a few glasses of wine with us.