we do find it a positive to have a beautiful, calm place to go to every week as a family, where ethics are discussed, cared about, and acted on.
Awesome. This is the part of religion that I love. Building a community of caring individuals is absolutely integral to a happy life, IMO. I even support the idea of paying for it.
I just wish more people could do that without being asked to publicly declare that they believe in magical fairy tales. Every church I've ever attended has told me that they are saved and I am not, because I won't say I believe in magic, and most of them then add that I will suffer an eternity of torment for being different from them. That sort of takes the wind out of their sails in the whole "caring community" pitch.
Well... this is off-topic for the post, but it seems like our church, ELCA, has been criticized for not casting nonbelievers, sinners, and LGBTQ folks into hell. As far as I can tell, their stance is "you decide, and you can decide to go to hell if you really want to, but we think everyone should be nice to everyone else." As a Roman Catholic refugee, I have to laugh because it's so touchy-feely and reminds me of the
message from the Unitarian Jihad. Yet we still get the cool stained glass windows, the singing, the felt wall hangings, and Easter egg hunts!
Yes, there is still the magic fairy tale aspect, but if you don't have or want faith, I hear that the Society for Ethical Culture has a lot of the social benefits of church without the religion.