NS Younglifers?

Why not donate directly to charities instead of having the church essentially tax those donations. Yeah churches do good stuff with money but they also take tithing for themselves as well. You don't need church to have a good sense of community either, there are plenty of other ways to do that.

how come my younglife thread wasnt this popular :(

yeah but a church is REAL community not saying you cant make a real community on your own but its harder on your own....also a church only takes some money for itself because they need to keep the church going, heat, paying the pastor and such.......Also the bible tells you to give to ur church.....but u probably dont care what the bible says....or maybe you do who knows.....every one should just relax and let people believe and do what they want

You don't need Religion to have a positive community:

YL isn't that bad, church isn't bad in of itself, its people who use the church as an excuse. As, ironically, Adolf Hitler once said (and this may be a rough quote) "a gun isn't bad in nature, but a man with a gun is". Basically, its people who use religion is what makes it bad. If its not for you, it isn't for you, but don't give people shit who do enjoy it.

i feel like my church community is on a whole different level though.. idk i guess itd be hard to understand if you havent experienced it, but i know that ive had deeper conversations with people int he church than some of my best friends outside of church.. yeah i have a school community, sports community, ski community, etc etc etc but for me none of them are on the level of my church community. I really do understand why many people hate the church, hell if i had never been to my home church or the one ive found out in SLC i would probably hate it too, ive had a ton of bad experiences in other churches, and of course many of the "christians" on tv or in politics are complete idiots, but i genuinely have gained good relationships and really do feel like im in the right place when im at church. It make me content, and I am firm in my beliefs, i will never try to force them on anyone so i dont understand why it bothers people so much that I decide to go to church every sunday

I get those same feelings but I get those when I see a beautiful animal, or am hanging out with my best pals, or even seeing a beautiful sunset. I'm glad you have found something meaningful and I'm almost envious. But I stop myself a hair shy. For I could never be envious of a lie... I'm not saying the church is an intentional lie... Hell most people that go probably really believe it. But as a skeptical person I cannot bring myself to believe the things that they teach.

So this jesus character, does he do birthdays too?

I agree 100% will everything you just said. it really isnt rational at all, and quite frankly i realize that completely, and most christians do. And I too get close to the same feeling from nature, its just not quite there. I really appreciate an atheist that can coincide with christians and realize that there is nothing different between us. BTW you from SLC?

Yeah I'm from SLC haha.