I am not religious and have no desire to start being now but sometimes I just want the community people get with church. I am craving connection with the community and feel it’s very healthy for families and neighbors as well. The United States is seriously lacking in third spaces and communities. It’s leading to a serious loneliness epidemic… Just wondering if there is anything that can fill that need for non-religious folks?
Probably Freemasons?
Unitarian Universalism. It is about a common social values - you know, stuff like helping your neighbors and whatnot. You don’t have to be a particular religion, just be decent.
Do you live in a city, and do you have hobbies? If you like stuff like anime, go to an anime con, it’s great and how I know a huge amount of my friend group
Church without church is just a book club.
Take an art class
Dungeons and dragons
Isn’t that just a cult?
You mean church?
Unitarian church
They do sermons by different people on different topics.
It’s the genious of western social engineering that it is almost unthinkable.
It would require those third places, people who don’t reject each other and an activity that is more fun than watching TV.
Halloween, beaches and (street) festivals, conventions and online games have a bit of it.
If that place would exist, people would change politics. But it can’t because nobody can afford the space for people to do nothing.
The easiest would be to repurpose parts of a dying mall and turn it in a place for cosplayers to meet.
Check out the Unitarians
You do not need to be a member to join events in most public University clubs.
The Buddhist word for this is sangha or community of like minded individuals. Not necessarily to suggested a sangha but most are non denominational and not strictly religious as well as being kind welcoming individuals.
The core concept though is just finding the people you vibe with, or “your people.” Try finding places that revolve around a hobby or interest of yours and you will likely find like-minded individuals.
Kinda random, but I’ve thought about joining a local non-church choir to meet people in a similar way.
Birding. Get into birdwatching. Mediative closeness with nature. A realization of the whole. Everything is connected
If you are willing to risk a financially debilitating addiction to cardboard or minis, your local game store could fill that role. I have jokingly referred to my usually-weekly visit to my LGS as “nerd church,” complete with the tithe of a few booster packs. You have to get lucky though because the quality of community can vary wildly. I am fortunate in that regard.
