myrmepropagandistI'm a culturally baptist atheist/agnostic.
I like the social aspect of church, the music, most of the stories, the philosophy debates, the rhetorical style of a good sermon.
it just confuses me to take it all literally.
Maisie Pubblechook, Esq.@futurebird @[email protected] I was raised Missouri Synod but it never took on a mindset level; I never internalized a belief in a god. But all my life I've recognized the beauty and comfort that can be found in church art and architecture, rituals, and music. Ritual is something that can be salvaged and valued apart from belief, imo. I oppose almost everything about the RC church but I'll happily attend a Christmas midnight mass.
@MaisiePubblechookEsq @rushraptor
What's really "killing the church" is that feeling fundamentalists project that you either buy in to all of their often very personal and made up BS or you stay away.
I've encountered several churches that buck this trend but it's not common at all.
果@MaisiePubblechookEsq @futurebird @rushraptor they say "God is Dead" for a reason. Because "He" is an Amalgamation of souls long past, some of which linger as angels: an angel's time on earth is limited so don't waste their time: pray for your Family, not an edifice that is tantamount to the Money Changer's Table which is meant to be turned, not burned:
Barry Goldman
ראַף 
Just to follow on from @rushraptor comment in Judaism the practice is much more important than the belief.
To give an anecdote, my cousin went to a rabbi and said he's atheist now. The rabbi's response was "That's fine, you'll still be at service next week right?"
And that response is not uncommon. In many ways, it's actually easier to be atheist as a Jew than for Christians who value belief so highly. At least that's been my impression from how ex-Christians talk
@raf @futurebird @rushraptor possibly can say that abt all religion. There is a core of being about simply REMEMBERING to respond to the awesomeness of human experience in any religion. Belief probly comes later when hierarchy develops.
I dont have to BELIEVE that th source of all being became human flesh and that my acts of falling asleep to awe or inhumanity can kill that divinity on a cross in order to tKe that poem into my life and make it transform me.
semiquaver