Have you given up going to church but used to attend ?

Shinamae

Not at all religious. I would class myself as agnostic but when I visit churches or cathedrals are l often get very emotional and brought to tears and I have no understanding of why that would be.. mother nature is my God…

I visit them to admire the architecture in case anybody is wondering…

Not at all religious. I would class myself as agnostic but when I visit churches or cathedrals are l often get very emotional and brought to tears and I have no understanding of why that would be.. mother nature is my God…

When a child went to church and Sunday school but now am an atheist. I have a friend who believes every word of the Bible. Considering how many times the original, which was written many years after the events, has been translated before the King James Version is stupid.
So many wars and atrocities are caused. now by religion.

My DH and I and our children used to attend church one or twice every Sunday. They were all in the church choir. DH was church warden, church treasurer etc for years. I did church flowers, looked after church hall bookings etc. Then a rogue priest came along with two henchmen, and they systematically got rid of just about all existing church members. The organist, the wardens and DH and myself. I have to say that that shattered our faith, and neither of us have any desire to join another church and get involved again. Unfortunately I don't think our experience is unusual in church circles.

Our church is an independent one and very lively. As well as services there are many activities for all ages through the week which benefit people in the community whether they are believers or not.

I am very involved in my local Baptist church, so much so that when my GD was telling her friend where members of her family work she said "...and Nanna works at the church"!
We have young families and older folk in our fellowship and it can be hard to please them all when it comes to choosing hymns etc but in general the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly. For those who can't attend on Sunday the service is broadcast live and a recording can be accessed during the week. This week's link is: fccdl.in/v9nSCsmIvf
Most of the adults live out their faith in their work: nurses, paramedics, teachers and social workers for example. The retired members give a lot of time to the church, providing a Lunch Club, Toddler groups and more, as well as volunteering at the Food Bank and reading support and assemblies in schools.
If your church doesn't meet your needs, why not try a different one?

Never felt the need. Churches ought to be converted into community centres for concerts, etc.

One of things I objected to as a child was the idea that we were all sinners. I didn’t think I was a sinner at all. I was a good girl!

Brought up by Irish Catholic Mum, Dad never had any religion, stopped going to mass at 15, wont ever go back had enough being terrorised and brainwashed , threatened with purgatory and Hell and confessing ,
I don't believe in God now , but if I did I wouldn't go to church , chapel , mass or any kind of gatherings,

Never been a church goer. As a young child I went to Sunday School but my parents weren't religious. I think it was more to do with them having an hour to themselves on a Sunday afternoon! I have a very early memory of being in Sunday School and the teacher talking about "cheese going among the poor". I pictured people eating cheese and only later learned it was a person called Jesus.

Atheist here …so never been , never will. Peoples celebrations I go to.

It's so sad that many people have had negative experiences at church, chapel or religious teachers/leaders. I think church ( which is the people who go, of course) should definitely reflect and exemplify God's love more than anything else. At 14, I became a Christian having considered things that were discussed at a Christian pony trekking holiday. I was on my own, in my bedroom, and felt an overwhelming sense of Jesus beside me and his love for me. We can certainly encounter God anywhere, anytime. Over the years, I've strayed from him at times, and attended one church for quite a while where the minister and others had gone badly off track. I am, however, 100% certain God has never abandoned me. I feel his nearness every day. I do attend a Baptist church now. I volunteer for a couple of things and have great relationships with many friends there. I would certainly be very careful about which church I attend nowadays ( I'm not bothered about which denomination), making sure I could question and challenge things I didn't agree with, see God's love in action in the community, and feel welcomed and valued. No church is perfect, of course, and posters have illustrated some of the reasons people can be put off ( as well as everyone having free choice of course).

When I was a child I was made to go to church and Sunday school. When I was old enough I told my parents I wasn't going and that was that. You can believe in God, but you don't have to attend a place to show you do, you can pray at home.

I think a lot of people do the same Grandma70's, maybe never even having their own personal faith.

For this reason many people are "Sunday Christians". Knowing about something isn't the same as having faith. I know about a lot of things, but I don't have faith in most of them.

Husband was a chorister in his youth and feels he's been to church enough!! I was brought up as a Catholic so attended church regularly as a child and teenager but didn't so much after I left home. All 3 DC were baptised but DGC haven't. I go when I visit my Mum but otherwise not

I went to church as a child, loved the hymns and the buildings, loved school Prayers with hymn and psalms. I don’t think I ever believed any of it.

My parents were both ambivalent about religion. They thought we ought to know about it, but were not believers themselves. My mother’s father was headmaster of an Anglican school, and my mother was so steeped in the church she turned against it in her teens. She said the only thing that had interested her about her confirmation was the dress.

I agree with you Polnan, love is the main thing. If there is not love it's discordant and I want no part in what I saw in our parish.

I also go to a small place now where there is love and kindness.

As others have said, there’s a huge difference between religion and faith. I’m a Christian, I don’t attend my local church service every Sunday, but do go to a weekly home group and to the monthly women’s breakfast group. I was on the PCC for a while, but it wasn’t really for me. My church is very active, has groups for children and young people, is open once a week for anyone who lives alone and feels they want/need company, runs a food bank, and has recently become an eco-church. We also have a team that helps local people in difficulty. In the past, I’ve attended churches whose congregations were happy to sing the hymns, pray the prayers, etc. but no sooner had they stepped outside after the service than they were gossiping and criticising. I’ve also had ‘friends’ in the past who claimed to love Christ and who would forever quote the Bible but who deep down weren’t very nice people at all. One so-called ‘friend’ used to think she could tell me what TV programmes I should watch; she used to ask me if Jesus would approve.

I go to church, and our smallish church does a lot for others, Food Banks, Homeless, children etc.. that is our main purpose, well after worshipping

If you see people practising what they preach then you know they have integrity. The worst is when people say one thing and do another.

During covid the local church said there's no meetings "because of covid" but they meet secretly in a small room and think no one knows, even though the church is large and social distancing would have been easy. Then the C of E lost loads of money and a lot of clergy had their wages taken away from them this year.

So they maintain the friendship groups I mean cliques! I think this will further contribute to the collapse of the Anglican Church in those parishes and be quite obvious. There are good ones and bad ones, only time will tell on them. As with all churches, we need to look at the fruit and decide if we can align with that.

A lot of Baptist churches are very good and kind, in fact I have never been to one where I've had any kind of bad experience. In hard times faith is important, more important than denomination.

I had been a regular churchgoer all my life until covid hit and services were suspended. In the meantime my DH was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and by the time the church reopened he was very anxious being left on his own and not being a regular churchgoer himself is reluctant to accompany me. I do so miss the church "family" and though I am in regular contact with people, by phone or email, I have just been there in person about three times in the past year and I miss it so much.

Chicklette I agree with you. I actually volunteer at just such a church and it is heartwarming to see people practising what they preach.

I went to Sunday school and church, even got confirmed but as an adult and mixing with others from different faiths I have come to the conclusion it is all fairy tales, just a good story. I am with Urms on this and I am humanist, I try to live my life. By just helping others when I can and treating people with respect and compassion, whoever they are. Mind you it’s a bit hard to do that with Liz Truss

Urmstongran very well said. I used to have a strong belief but things happen and I discovered that life without a belief in god was so much easier. Totally agree with your philosophy.

Our (Baptist) church runs a food bank, has a parish nurse who gives free help to people in need, helps people in poverty, domestic abuse and modern slavery. We also hold gay weddings now. So I don’t believe that all churches do no good. True Christians want to live like Jesus did, helping those in need and loving people. That was the advice Jesus left us with: love one another as I have loved you. Quite simple really.