this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
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Church can always help with that. I am there as many weeks as I can go.
Lemmy moment.
But on that subject, what are the options for non-theistic or otherwise secular analogs for church? And if there are none, perhaps organizing some community support group could be beneficial to many people, including the organizer?
I don't think there is a drop-in replacement for everyone (it would be weird if there were). Maybe libraries?
I know libraries often host recurring secular meetups like knitting clubs and whatnot. Maybe check your local library to see what events they have to offer, or organize one if you're feeling ambitious.
Rightly so, as religion is an absolute horror, objectively. The negatives far outway the benefits, but there are benefits as you've pointed out, the social cohesion and related stuff.
I 2nd the importance, and for non-church ways of attempting to get the same thing, I'd recommend checking out meetup.com. Potentially you can find a group that interests you, whether it be hobbies or just "like minded" gatherings. There are Atheist meetups, among many many others. Depends heavily on your geographic location. Will probably have better options in or near large cities. You can even start your own, and see if anyone joins.
Not all churches are fucking horror shows. There are loads around here, hosted in tiny "homes" in the hood that are quite fulfilling. I just can't get over the overarching superstitious aspect.
Sure that's fine. I didn't say all churches are horror shows, I said religion is a horror. Ya know, all the death, torture, child rape, social indoctrination and control so that a minority can exploit for their personal wealth and luxury. And as you mentioned, the superstition.
I respect the small church gatherings where every day decent people just want to feel like there's something more to their life, etc. Doesn't make the myth true though. Also doesn't make up for all the bad.
What groups have you been exposed to where the negatives outweigh the positives? There are those of us who have found the right crowds of people, groups where there is no aspect of unjustified hierarchal gain, the best of which allow outsiders from other groups. Note that I wasn't necessarily implying conversion, just joining our Sunday activities, which in non-urban areas would be as good advice as using a meetup service. People can really jump to conclusions sometimes.
Groups or religions? Primarily the abrahamic religions, can't really speak on Hinduism, Buddhism, or other minority religions in the US as I just haven't been exposed enough. I doubt they're much better. Buddhism seems cool maybe, Jainism seems nice.
Superstition, bronze age mythology nonsense isn't real, obviously, therefore it shouldn't be treated as such. Yet somewhere around 80-85% of humans believe on this slop.
Speaking on the big three, these are used as tools of control to keep the masses subservient, so that the elites, leaders, billionaires, etc. (Who objectively know its not true) can keep their wealth and luxury and the morons think they'll go to heaven after working to make someone else richer their whole lives.
Any social benefit one gets from their local church is irrelevant. The myth ain't real.
To an agnostic, I presume all guesswork on what made us is, by definition, premature. We might say we don't know. Technically I don't "know". For me, it's something I would strongly go for (based on experiences and self-reflections) rather than a truly smoking gun (in the sense that it's hardwired into the universe). You would certainly be right about most "churches", not necessarily all churches and not necessarily all spiritualities, with the history of the Catholic church coming to mind since so much of it has hijacked what Jesus actually intended (with the structural doctrine not even reflected by the divine doctrine) from the moment of Paul. My own group/church is always thrown into a loop since the Catholic teaching of the Nicene Creed is used as the ultimate test for what is considered "Christian", even though Jesus himself did not necessitate what it says, and we are seen as not following that. Denominations, sects, cults, whatever you want to call them, it's on this sublevel where you actually find these kinds of debates, as well as the exploitations you're alluding to (the churches I frequent don't have those monetary habits, it's just a group of people honoring one history).
You say that like all of us are going to mind if you're theistic or not (an understandable stereotype, even though still a stereotype). I suppose there are other options, like clubs and libraries, but as a rural woman, I can't say anything else makes a stereotype out of it. All the communities I've seen are notoriously bad at keeping common interest groups thriving.