Why do people attend church?

In My Humble Opinion
61

Growing up, I was always told that not going to church made it easy to slip up on your walk with God. Having a community of people who have the same goal is useful. The sermons and classes are useful, and help remind you what you need to do. In my churches, you also had some pretty wild worship (singing and stuff) where you could let loose and forget about your cares. You can talk to people who have been through trials. You can get encouragement.

I also note that access to a church community means that, if you have financial troubles, you can call up the church to help. They’ll take up an offering for it. Sure, now you have GoFundMe and such, but that is impersonal and not people who are part of your community and care about you.

Of course, all the other reasons apply, too. There’s no one reason, even for a particular individual. Yes, even the people who read a certain scripture in the Bible and think it means not going to church means they will go to hell.

I do note, however, that things like “I go there to worship God” have never made a lot of sense to me, since you can do that anywhere. Sure, it’s a secondary thing you can do there, but it’s not necessary for that purpose.

62

For me personally – and this is very personal indeed – I started going to church as an adult (raised atheist), because I felt the presence of God more strongly there than anywhere else. I’m not saying God isn’t everywhere – that’s just where I happen to feel most connected to God.

All the other stuff like being able to help others, and get help, sing together, listen to uplifting homilies and so forth, are extras, which I could, if I had to, get somewhere else (although probably not all in the same place). Those are not why I go.

Many perhaps most churchgoers do not have this experience it seems. Which is too bad.

63

I know the concept will be completely alien to some, but because I believe in God and His revealed word, and I obey it as best as I can. Including the commands to meet together with other believers.
I go because it is the best place to stop being in the world and focus on God. I go to be with other believers so we can build one another up, equip each other for service, and worship and pray cooperatively.
I go to pray for the lost in the world who reject God, the idea of God, and their need for salvation, and to pray for people who do not know or are misinformed about God and His plan for the world.

64

This is interesting. What do you mean by “worship”?

65

Former atheist here, now scientific pantheist. https://www.pantheism.net/beliefs/ I would have asked the same thing before my ayahuasca journey, in august 2016. During that trip, I experienced a religious emotion for the very first time. I had not before, and so I thought, like you, that religious people were either deluded or deluding others, or both. But that the polite thing to do was to keep this to myself.

I compared the experience to dancing. When you’ve never heard music, and you see people dance, they look silly, right? Dancing looks like walking, but done really badly. If these people wanted to go somewhere, why don’t they just walk? Or run? What is this silly and pointless stepping and jumping and handwaving in place that they do, and why are they so ridiculously smug about it?
And then you hear music and then you’re like: “oh…so THAT is what you were talking about! Now I get it. Why yes, when I hear music, I want to start dancing too!”

And of course, once you “get” the concept of dancing and music, you’re entirely free to find your own kind of music and dancing. Or to even create your own music and your own kind of dance. You’re not obliged to choose between waltzes and line-dancing, as if those are the only two options available. Christianity or Buddhism are not the only choices, far from it. Here’s a light hearted test: Are You Atheist, Agnostic, Pantheist, Deist, Pagan or what? a free Religion selector.

I started my own local Unitarian Universalist chapter a few months ago. It feels good to share with others my faith in… well, that’s kinda hard to put into words. The good and the beauty of all Life? Or rather, the Allness of it All, and my own ability, as a sort of conduit by which the Allness of it All can look at itself consciously, to enjoy the experience and marvel at it, rather then bitch at it?

It’s really a very pleasant experience to share this.

And if you’ve told me that three years ago, I would have thought you were mad.

66

That put down, ‘mouth breather’ has always been strange to me. I’ve always had sinus problems, nose stuffed up a large % of the time, so rather than suffocate I breathe through my mouth a lot. What of it?!? :slight_smile:

67

I went from ages 11-16, because as a kid, I didn’t have any choice. It was an interesting experience, but it was never able to convert me.

At age 60, came back one other time to support my cousin who became a preacher to a very large church here in my hometown. Think the world of my cousin, despite what I think of his profession.

What I observed from his sermon, is, what a great charismatic speaker, but oh so flawed for the number of fallacious arguments used, they were coming in too fast to count them all, but I still remember several in particular. I honestly think he believes the stories himself. We now know, thanks to the Clergy Project that there are quite a few non-believers in the pulpit.

And like another on this thread, my cousin is still convinced that I’m some kind of a believer too, regardless being an atheist all of my adult life, and part of my teenage years too, just didn’t call myself that then, and still careful with it being in a conservative area of TX and having a business.

One person in this thread admited to going trying to get laid. I’ve heard this elsewhere that it’s supposed to be a great place for single guys looking for that because the women generally outnumber the men. I suspect for many grown single men attending the church, poontang is on the brain, and I doubt they give a hoot about the sermon or the ass that Jesus rode into town on.

68

I don’t go to church any more, but if I did it would be for the social aspect. I would pick a church that most closely aligned with my views. I would probably never go to church again, but I occasionally get a pang to.

69

I read this once somewhere as a “Russian proverb”:

“The church is near, but the road is icy. The bar is distant, but I will walk carefully.”

70

You can worship God anywhere, but I generally find that without a community to ground oneself in worship that personal worship tends to be… well, a bit self-centered. That’s not something I think Jesus is a big fan of, but YMMV.

71

I’m friends with a couple who moved here to the Chicago area from a small city in Michigan, about five years ago. They’re both very social people (him in particular), but when they moved here, they were largely uprooted from their social networks. They had been living in the city where they’d gone to college, and they had a circle of good friends, many of whom they’d known since college.

They knew a handful of people here – my wife and myself, and a few other people, though none of those pre-existing friends of theirs lived particularly close to where they got a townhouse (my wife and I are the closest to them, and we’re about 25 minutes away). They’re both atheists, and so, they weren’t about to meet new people via going to a church. For the first couple of years after they moved here, they leaned heavily on the few of us whom they knew for social interaction (almost to the point of annoyance, as I’d often get “Wanna get a drink?” texts from him 3-4 times a week). Eventually, they did start to meet new people, through a book club, and theater stuff, but it took them quite a long time.

72

Back to my childhood church, dancing was a sin and the pastor disapproved of men and women swimming together because it might cause pregnancy. No, not the slippery, half-naked bodies leading to sex, literally being in the same pool causing pregnacy, like the sperm swimming around in the water.

73

I grew up in a town of about 300 people in Minnesota. Three bars a Catholic Church and a Chinese restaurant. That was the sum total of the town. The nearest (not great) grocery store was five miles away. Where they also had a Lutheran Church, a Catholic Church, SIX bars, a liquor store and a feed store that sold gas. (They didn’t need a Chinese restaurant, their bars served food other than frozen pizza).

When I was in high school my town got a convenience store. Gas, groceries, videos and live bait. (Across the border in Wisconsin we’d have added liquor and ammo, but you can’t sell those in a convenience store in Minnesota).

74

That’s a metropolis! :smiley:

75

Speaking as an atheist, the lack of social options for atheists is crippling. Many seem to go to UU churches just to have some sort of social environment. (I attended one once, on the advice of another. I found it oppressively creepy with its heavy religious overtones.)

I’m gonna die alone and unloved.

76

A likely story. Just admit, you were fooling around with that fancy sword your dad made, even after your mom told you not to because you could put out someone’s eye.

77

Ever look into Meetup groups? I belonged to a kayak meetup that was very busy. I also ate a few dinners with a foodie meetup. Nowadays I prefer doing these activities with just my gf, but I’d recommend the Meetup community for atheists looking to make friends. There are atheist discussion groups, book groups, dog play groups, etc.

78

Unbiased cite, please.

79

Just so you are aware, UU churches have a LOT of variety from congregation to congregation. There aren’t many of us, so most people don’t get to pick their congregation, but in cities where there are several congregations, it isn’t unusual to drive to the furthest congregation because it is a better fit for you than anything closer. Some are really Judeo Christian. Some are almost Quaker meetinghouse-ish. Some have Pagan overtones. Some are very small with only lay ministers, others have over a thousand members and multiple full time ministerial staff members.

Almost all tend to be pretty darn liberal in terms of politics.

Other social outlet for atheists is skeptics societies and various fandoms. Again though, if you are in a three bars and a church sort of town two hours from Omaha, you are probably stuck either drinking beer or paying lipservice to God to have a social life.

80

An unbiased cite that this is what the Catholic Church claims/teaches, or that they are correct?

IMHO this thread is not the place to debate whether this is objectively true, nor to discuss why some people believe it. The fact that the claim is made and that some people accept it forms part of the reason that some people (like EscAlaMike) attend church. For other people, it does not.

As this thread makes clear, people’s reasons for, and experiences of, attending church can vary quite a bit.