Any Christians who lost their faith but continue attending church?

[bawac34618]

I still have faith, but my belief about God is moving farther and farther away from the "Republican Jesus" that most people in my area believe in. Nonetheless, I still attend church due to societal pressure and to appease my fundamentalist family. It's also nice for social reasons (though it sucks to not be able to be myself). I get angry a lot when sitting in church because I am so fed up with the political GOP bullcrap. There aren't a lot of other social outlets living in a small city in the buckle of the Bible Belt. I am strongly considering transitioning to a more liberal church being that I still do believe in a higher power.

[NoCapo]

Originally Posted by LargeKingCat

As an atheist, I do attend services for the esoteric beauty involved. I like sometimes, when visiting other cities, to explore the indoor architecture of the great cathedrals. While no one will find me on Sundays inside of a plain or ugly church building, I might, out of curiosity, visit an older cathedral type church just to see what is happening.
I may attend because of a chamber orchestra, or a concert, perhaps an organist who is appearing.

I always attend Midnight Mass at an episcopal high church. It is the most beautiful service of the Christmas season.

I sometimes attend the Tridentine Latin mass, something most poetic and aesthetically inspiring.

I was once at a Methodist church in New England with my son. The building dated back to the early 1800s and was very ornate, very beautiful. The subject for the summer was "reconciling religion and science" and the day we were visiting, the speaker was a physics professor from Yale.
At the beginning, the speaker welcomed everyone "believers and non-believers alike"
The music was nice, the Professor most interesting and the science lecture appealed to us more than a religious sermon ever would.

After my atheism had settled in for a couple years, I have found myself able to attend and even enjoy some services. Right after I left the faith, I couldn't do it. I could not separate the parts I can enjoy from the stuff that was toxic for me. Over time it has gotten better, and now my wife and I have gone to the confirmations of our friends' kids, attended an evensong at King's College in Cambridge, a performance of the Passion of St John in London, and taken several international students to some local Methodist and Episcopalian churches (They were Saudi students who wanted to see what a Christian church was like). I might even be persuaded to go back to my childhood Southern Baptist Church just for the singing. I miss the old shaped note hymnals...

That being said, I have absolutely no compulsion to return to my faith. I simply can't believe it anymore, and I don't think I could pretend. This is a part of why I live 10 hours away from where I grew up. I am not the same person I was back then, and living somewhere else allows me to be myself without the pressure from family and friends to squeeze back into that mold.

-NoCapo