Why do you belong to the church/group/denomination/religion that you belong to?

[Associate Justice PiT]

     A reply that I got recently on USGD made me realize how much we tend to assume that other people arrive at their positions through processes similar to our own, yet this often isn't the case. With that in mind I thought that this might be an interesting topic. Please try to explain your thought processes that informed you and not just say "because it's true".

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

I was baptized in a UCC church yet raised Catholic in all but name (i.e. no church) because my dad was an atheist for most of his life and didn't like organized religion. I think he'd have preferred I came out as gay than express interest in working for the church. That aside, I suppose it's extremely difficult to honestly separate culture from religious convictions. I have witnessed enough things which I will not discuss or reiterate publicly anymore (because people would think I'm crazy... and maybe I am) to believe that there must be something beyond the material world, and the metaphysical intertwines with the physical. As a catholic/Anglican, the most significant example of that is the Eucharist.

I also believe because I want Christianity to be true, and I feel like that's the driving desire for most of the faithful. I live with the humility in knowing that I might be wrong and probably am wrong in my understanding of things. I trust that the Blood of Jesus is enough to save all people even if God's path for them did not necessarily lead them to Christ in this lifetime. But even if I am wrong, I try to live the way I think is best because I believe what is promised to followers of Jesus is worth doing so.

Christianity prompts ideas that are fundamentally absurd or impossible to define in concrete, non-abstract terms. A virgin birth with endless debate over what "virgin" means and whether Mary truly was one. The Holy Trinity.(!) Both individual and tribal interpretations of Scripture that eventually resulted in hundreds of different sects. All these things are absurd. But enter the Divine Mystery, and we peacefully accept the things we cannot understand or control and take a shot at changing the things we can control. That's what I believe each individual's mission in life is.

Faith, love, and hope are the only things humans can truly have and no matter how wretched either nature or humans are to us, they are insignificant in God's realm and in the context of an eternal being whose nature we know little of as a consequence of our finite minds. The same God - the only God that can actually destroy us, destroy our eternal being in ways that earthly things never can -  also loves His people in ways that nobody, and nothing, on earth can ever know.

[Torie]

I have been an atheist all my life, as was my Dad. However that religion can help some people to live more estimable lives than would otherwise be the case. I would have liked to ask Christopher Hitchens that question while he was still alive. Religion can be a bane, but that is not always true. And in the Jewish tradition, the teachings emphasize trying to be a caring and empathetic person. Make sense?

[LabourJersey]

I was baptized Episcopal. My parents were of different denomination (Dad was Presbyterian, Mom was Catholic) and so they "met in the middle" denominationally speaking. I've believe in a creator of the universe, the maker of all things visible and invisible.

During the pandemic I felt the urge to re-discover my faith, as I was more of a Deist than anything else. I believed in God but organized religion wasn't something I was super into. I became much more interested in liturgical worship, and found that immensely fulfilling. This is what drew me to the Anglo-Catholic church I attend, which I've gone to since 2021.

[Cokeland Saxton]

I'm an atheist because all religions are cults

[Mr. Smith]

TL; DR: Honest cynicism and nihilism overrode delusion and false hope, and also newly acquired information and institutional changes within that church that didn't add up.

Becoming more of a secular humanist to try for something more uplifting.

[RINO Tom]

I'm an atheist because all religions are cults

I feel like you think this was an intelligent or insightful take.  Unfortunately, it’s pretty low hanging fruit spam of the neck beard variety.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

I'm an atheist because all religions are cults

I feel like you think this was an intelligent or insightful take.  Unfortunately, it’s pretty low hanging fruit spam of the neck beard variety.

Seriously. There should be an unofficial rule against crappy one-liners on this board.

[RINO Tom]

Anyway, as for the OP I suppose I obtained my "bias" in favor of Lutheranism due to being born into that tradition, but I would reject a simple "because I was born Lutheran" explanation ... I am more than old enough and interested enough in theology to have switched to another denomination if I felt compelled to do so.  So, a few rambling notes:

WHY I AM A CHRISTIAN
1. I am convinced by the philosophical and logical arguments for theism, and more importantly I just don't like the implications of a Universe that came about and/or has always existed under atheism.  I won't get into that here, but the point is I have come to the conclusion that I do believe there is some type of eternal first cause for existence, and I would call this being/consciousness God.

2. Given #1, I find Christianity's description of what this being would be like to be the most reasonable of the world's religions.  It might still have flaws (I would consider myself theologically liberal to some extent), but I have no serious problems with it.

3. Given #1 and #2, I believe in a "personal God," and the claims of the Resurrection all things considered in light of this are simply not that difficult for me to believe.  Again, oversimplifying here ... would love to throw back several glasses of wine and talk about it for hours, lol.

4. Even if I have occasional doubts for #3 (this seems totally natural to me, and I do not think it needs to ever dampen someone's faith or at least conviction to "try" to have faith),

WHY I AM LUTHERAN
1. Again, all oversimplified ... but I fundamentally do not agree with the argument for the Papacy.  As Jordan B. Cooper said, if we agreed with the claims of the Papacy, we'd simply all be Catholic ... so repeating "ONE TRUE CHURCH" at us is just a silly, silly argument, lol.  Thus, I am Protestant.

2. This is more of a #1.5, but I also really appreciate the culture and history of Protestantism, at least "classical" Protestantism that is more rooted in the Reformation.  The societies that were formed in Protestant countries and the effect Protestant ideas around work ethic have had on our world are very appealing to me.

3. Within Protestantism, I very much approve of the more "conservative reformation" of Lutheranism vs. the more extreme departure taken by the Reformed traditions (and I obviously am no fan of anything to do with the Radical Reformation, which was more of a revolution that threw out the baby with the bath water).  I have a lot of respect for the Reformed traditions and Anglicanism, but I believe Lutheranism best toes the line between genuinely improving upon the Roman Catholic way of approaching Christianity and yet retaining anything that was not fundamentally "broken" in our eyes.

4. Lastly, I see Lutheranism as a part of my heritage, given my predominantly German and Swedish ancestry.  I frankly really wish Lutherans in the US had the same sentimental attachment to still being "nominally" or "culturally" Lutheran even if they no longer practice/believe, in a similar way to Italians or Irish folks still identifying as Catholic, at least on some level.

TL;DR

I started out Lutheran because I have German and Swedish ancestry, and my ancestors were simply Lutherans.  While never really "leaving" the faith, I returned to actually attending church last summer when my wife was pregnant with our (now 5-month old) son, and while getting into church history and theology during that time, I found no compelling reason to consider another denomination.

[Cokeland Saxton]

I'm an atheist because all religions are cults

I feel like you think this was an intelligent or insightful take.  Unfortunately, it’s pretty low hanging fruit spam of the neck beard variety.

This was not spam. This is my real opinion. Wasn’t intending to be insightful. You seem to have no sympathy for people whose childhoods were ruined by being raised religious. So instead, you decide to personally attack me because I quit the denomination you are a part of (probably because you see me as a traitor)

[Associate Justice PiT]

     For some reason when I made this I did not think it would be such a personal thread for people. Nothing wrong with that of course, and I appreciate people taking it seriously.

     I grew up an atheist and it made sense to me because I thought that science could by itself lead people into a more rational understanding of the world. However, my faith in that was tested severely by my fellow atheists not becoming more rational and if anything becoming less rational as they followed the trends of modern culture. Around that time, a friend of mine started attending an Orthodox church and turned his life around. Seeing the effect this had on him made me interested to looking into Christianity and Orthodox Christianity and seeing more of this effect that it demonstrated, so when he asked me to come to church with him I agreed.

     I did not want to feel locked in to being Orthodox just because my friend was, so I looked at other forms of Christianity too. The problem for me with Protestantism (which in America is really seen as the default form of Christianity) was that, having seen the limitations of a commitment to human reason it didn't make sense to me to just transfer that commitment to the Bible. Why should I think that I was the one to get it right while millions have gotten it wrong? The only way out of this rut that made sense to me was to try to find the place where the doctrines had been kept unchanged from the start, and the place that seemed to be to me was in the Orthodox Church, with its unrelenting emphasis on continuity of belief and interpretation.

     If there is a belief that is important and meant for Christians to hold, does it make sense that it could not have been known about or meaningfully existed until the last few decades or centuries? I've heard numerous views with relatively meager lineage be posited as obviously true by reason or by the Holy Spirit, both on Atlas and on other websites, and it strikes me that if these claims had any weight to them then it is meaningless to say that the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. Given how easy it is for our reason to lead us astray into believing novelties, it didn't seem sufficient to me to rely on that.

     Did I just make this thread to complain about people who annoy me? That has been a nonzero factor, and for that I hope everyone here can forgive me. But my hope is that I was able to create a space where people can share a part of their thoughts and edify each other. The internet doesn't have enough of that in an age where all we want to do is bicker and get points over on other people. I'm well aware of how much debating culture has shaped internet perception of the Orthodox Church, and while someone like Jay Dyer understands our dogmatic theology very well he doesn't communicate the ascetic and spiritual side of Orthodoxy, which is ultimately no less important.

     Soapbox rant over now.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

I'm an atheist because all religions are cults

I feel like you think this was an intelligent or insightful take.  Unfortunately, it’s pretty low hanging fruit spam of the neck beard variety.

This was not spam. This is my real opinion. Wasn’t intending to be insightful. You seem to have no sympathy for people whose childhoods were ruined by being raised religious. So instead, you decide to personally attack me because I quit the denomination you are a part of (probably because you see me as a traitor)

I, personally, hold no ill will towards you nor do I hold any ill will against Torie. I sympathize that religion was used as a form of abuse towards you. Some of us just think that pithy and derogatory comments ("religions are cults," "religious people are mentally ill," "atheists are incel neckbeards," "atheists hate God," etc.) are better reserved for other places.

[afleitch]

I'm an atheist because all religions are cults

I feel like you think this was an intelligent or insightful take.  Unfortunately, it’s pretty low hanging fruit spam of the neck beard variety.

This was not spam. This is my real opinion. Wasn’t intending to be insightful. You seem to have no sympathy for people whose childhoods were ruined by being raised religious. So instead, you decide to personally attack me because I quit the denomination you are a part of (probably because you see me as a traitor)

I, personally, hold no ill will towards you nor do I hold any ill will against Torie. I sympathize that religion was used as a form of abuse towards you. Some of us just think that pithy and derogatory comments ("religions are cults," "religious people are mentally ill," "atheists are incel neckbeards," "atheists hate God," etc.) are better reserved for other places.

That would have somewhat more resonance if you hadn't liked a post by RINO Tom that pretty much hit on that trope.

[RINO Tom]

I'm an atheist because all religions are cults

I feel like you think this was an intelligent or insightful take.  Unfortunately, it’s pretty low hanging fruit spam of the neck beard variety.

This was not spam. This is my real opinion. Wasn’t intending to be insightful. You seem to have no sympathy for people whose childhoods were ruined by being raised religious. So instead, you decide to personally attack me because I quit the denomination you are a part of (probably because you see me as a traitor)

I, personally, hold no ill will towards you nor do I hold any ill will against Torie. I sympathize that religion was used as a form of abuse towards you. Some of us just think that pithy and derogatory comments ("religions are cults," "religious people are mentally ill," "atheists are incel neckbeards," "atheists hate God," etc.) are better reserved for other places.

That would have somewhat more resonance if you hadn't liked a post by RINO Tom that pretty much hit on that trope.

Guilty as charged for not taking the high road here, but I also would have never said that in this thread if he hadn't gone there first.  I have a genuine interest in the more high-level and respectful discussion on this forum, and I think it is clear that it was his comment that took us down this path ... in other words, I didn't click on this thread ready to call someone a neckbeard atheist, lol.

[RINO Tom]

I'm an atheist because all religions are cults

I feel like you think this was an intelligent or insightful take.  Unfortunately, it’s pretty low hanging fruit spam of the neck beard variety.

This was not spam. This is my real opinion. Wasn’t intending to be insightful. You seem to have no sympathy for people whose childhoods were ruined by being raised religious. So instead, you decide to personally attack me because I quit the denomination you are a part of (probably because you see me as a traitor)

This seems like a ridiculous number of things to read into my comment, haha.  I did not insinuate you were some type of "traitor," and I certainly know nothing of your childhood.  However, I do think that this forum should generally be held to the standard that others' religious beliefs should be respected, and our discourse should come from a perspective of wanting to learn and have fruitful discussion ... and I think answering this OP the way you did functioned more as a quick dig at those of us who have a religion and didn't really serve as an actual answer in the spirit of the OP.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

I'm an atheist because all religions are cults

I feel like you think this was an intelligent or insightful take.  Unfortunately, it’s pretty low hanging fruit spam of the neck beard variety.

This was not spam. This is my real opinion. Wasn’t intending to be insightful. You seem to have no sympathy for people whose childhoods were ruined by being raised religious. So instead, you decide to personally attack me because I quit the denomination you are a part of (probably because you see me as a traitor)

I, personally, hold no ill will towards you nor do I hold any ill will against Torie. I sympathize that religion was used as a form of abuse towards you. Some of us just think that pithy and derogatory comments ("religions are cults," "religious people are mentally ill," "atheists are incel neckbeards," "atheists hate God," etc.) are better reserved for other places.

That would have somewhat more resonance if you hadn't liked a post by RINO Tom that pretty much hit on that trope.

In my defense, I liked it more for calling it spam. But point taken.

[afleitch]

To answer;

I'm no longer Catholic because it's not true. That's the simplest and most honest answer.

But to go a bit deeper, personal truth is important and I don't doubt personal commitment to belief. But it's not real. It's aesthetic. All Christianity is; whether it's high baroque, spartan or sleek. It's a 'feels' movement. It's a feast for the senses. The 'baubles' are very real. And they excite and dazzle because we put them there to excite and dazzle us.

Different 'baubles', different concepts and philosophies excited us before Christianity.

And that's all very good, and harmless and mostly doesn't bother me.

Except when it's not harmless. Because it can f-ck you or other people up. And then, with either a sharp tongue as dirt or a warm hug as salve; it will blame you for the wounds it caused.

To me, there is also something inherently selfish about salvational religion. The things people will do, or say or act (or not) in order to secure their own post mortal destiny. These things can be good, genuinely good and impactful things. They can also be objectively bad and wicked things, wrapped up in some paternalistic 'this is good' gaslighting and blackmail.

It's real hurt, for assumed personal gain made under 'spiritual' pretexts.

And those who aren't religious or of a salvational faith can't escape the 'game' that gets played at an interpersonal level or worse, a legal/political level by people who don't want to mess up their chance (and it is their chance) at salvation. We just have to navigate around it as collateral. Which I think is something that a lot of believers forget; what is the basis of my interaction with you? What's the transaction?

As a gay man (and I know many people of faith who are queer, irl and on here), I'm always going to be hyper vigilant because quite frankly, the record of Christianity and the Church has been deliberately and vindictively inhumane. Pleasure has been derived from dehumanising queer folk. Because it's up against what is real and what is true and yes a connection a communion even; with the body, the self and others that is 'spiritual' in form and act.

Leaving faith behind was a healing act. It made me a better person. It made me a more patient, and kinder person. Because what I carried with me and what I put out into the world was now my own.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I'll note that I asked for explanation because I anticipated an answer like "all religions are cults". For something like religion, we should be able to offer more substantive reasons for why we believe what we believe. The idea that your childhood was ruined by religion is much closer to having actual substance than just randomly painting every religion with the same brush of "being a cult", even though there objectively is a considerable level of variation in the degree of control that different religions exercise over their members.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I'm an atheist because all religions are cults

I feel like you think this was an intelligent or insightful take.  Unfortunately, it’s pretty low hanging fruit spam of the neck beard variety.

Seriously. There should be an unofficial rule against crappy one-liners on this board.

There is. Make an effort, Cokeland Saxton.

That goes for RINO Tom as well in this case tbh.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I'm an evangelical Protestant with very strong Baptist theological leanings, despite attending a non-denominational church...but, I didn't always believe that.

I come from a somewhat mixed religious background.  My mom's family is Southern Baptist, but my mom drifted away from religion and calls herself an atheist today.  My dad is a devout Catholic, but he wasn't as deeply religious when I was young (despite very strongly maintaining a Catholic identity).  I was raised "kind-of-Catholic".  I was taught that God was real, sometimes went to Mass, and went through the Catholic sacraments, but it wasn't a deep part of my life as a kid.

Sometime after my Confirmation, I began to seriously doubt the existence of God and eventually decided that I was an atheist.  Like a lot of teenagers, I had an "edgy atheist" stage, where I would have said something like "Christians are idiots".  During this time, I vaguely remember thinking that my grandparents' Baptist church "made more sense" than the Catholic church did.

By the time I went to college, I was more agnostic (really an "apatheist").  Unlike many non-religious people, I was politically conservative.  So, I met some Christians in the College Republicans and began to learn that my stereotypes about Christianity weren't really true.  God placed people and events in my life that helped to soften my heart towards Christianity.

After my sophomore year in college, I interned in Washington for The Heritage Foundation.  My roommates there took me to Capitol Hill Baptist Church a few times that summer, and I loved it and felt like I was a Christian without knowing really what that meant.  Eventually, a year later, when I was ready to truly step into Christianity, I knew that a Baptist church would be where I would start due to personal experience.

I also discussed another major event in my story (the first seed of doubt in atheism) here: https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=557256.msg9129187#msg9129187

AS TO THE DIRECT QUESTION AT HAND:

Why I'm not an atheist: Simply, I don't view atheism as a convincing argument for how our planet came to be.  Something cannot come from nothing, and I've found that atheists lack an explanation for what set into motion the events that created the Universe.  Likewise, even if we accept the Big Bang, evolution, and an Old Earth, the first life would have had to come from something, and I don't understand how something could evolve from non-living to living.

Additionally, I think there's something to be said for the fact that none of Jesus's disciples ever recanted their belief in the Resurrection even under tremendous persecution (all except for John were executed for those beliefs).  I find apologetics works (such as "The Case for Christ") and the fact that archeologists use the Bible to find previously unknown ancient sites to be very convincing as well.

Why I'm not a Catholic or a member of a liturgical Protestant denomination: I have many theological disagreements with Catholicism.  Those range from their view of Mary to salvation by works to the infallibility of the Pope (and beyond).  However, I also want to discuss my personal opinion that a highly ritualistic and liturgical service focuses more on the ritual itself and distracts from the actual point (to know Jesus more).  I know that many devout Catholics (as well as those in highly liturgical Protestant denominations) interact deeply with those rituals and feel that they know God better through them.  However, I think- given human nature- that people often lose sight of why they are doing them.  As a kid, I viewed Catholic Mass as this weird collection of rituals I didn't understand.  Now, I view my Protestant service as an opportunity to learn more about Jesus and grow in my faith through being surrounded with other believers.

Why I'm not Reformed or Charismatic:  I'm combining two opposite pitfalls into this same bucket.  I'll preface this by saying that both groups are very sincere in their views and genuine Christians.  I consider many people in both camps to be my friends, and I have learned from both groups.  Starting with Reformed people- I disagree with the belief in infant Baptism (as I don't believe the act of Baptism confers Salvation), think that the hyper-Calvinistic view of predestination logically leads to no need to share our faith, and see nothing in Scripture to suggest that the Gifts of the Spirit have ceased.  However, the charismatic/Pentecostal side often lacks discernment towards those same Gifts.  I'd also note that Pentecostals in particular tend to over-focus on tongues (which the Bible actually puts less emphasis on than prophecy or speaking Truth into our world).  Speaking in tongues (which I believe is mis-defined by charismatics anyway) is not the primary evidence for being filled with the Holy Spirit and is typically seen Scripturally to share the Gospel with people who may not speak the same language.

Why I am a de-facto Baptist: I've said what I don't believe, and that already almost narrows it down to being Baptist-adjacent.  The one other "not" I'll add is about "progressive Christianity".  While the Bible is certainly best read knowing various forms of context, that doesn't mean that all Biblical morality can be simply written off as being a "product of its times".  If we don't accept the Bible as perfectly true, than that opens the door to pick and choose what we like from Scripture.  I believe Baptist and Baptist-adjacent churches, while imperfect, do a good job of focusing on personal spiritual growth with an evangelistic outlook.

While others might make jokes about the "Baptist potluck", we actually do view things like that as an important practice.  We often prioritize Christian fellowship because we believe that "a brother sharpens a brother as iron sharpens iron".  Learning from each other's walks with Christ enables us all to grow in our own Walk.  And, then, there is a priority to bring others into Christian community to foster real relationships and begin to share our faith with them.  Of course, some can use it as an excuse to do things that they shouldn't, but I wouldn't be a believer if some of my Brothers and Sisters in Christ hadn't brought this non-believer in nearly a decade ago.

I'll also note that the service itself, while important, isn't the be-all-end-all in churches I have been to as an adult in the same way as it is in Catholic churches.  The preaching is important, as we can learn from someone with deep knowledge of Scripture, but it's also not unique to one church.  We view it as essential to be a part of a Church for a very different reason than Catholics do.  Our view is that it's hard to impossible to be a Christian on an island separated from other Christians.  We don't believe in an obligation to attend service on very specific days in the way that some other denominations do.  A practical application of this is that I typically don't seek out a church when I'm traveling (maybe unless it's somewhere I expect to be back to often and would like to engage in a Christian community there).

[Battista Minola 1616]

I guess the best answer is that I was born in it, and I have enough congruence with it (in particular in terms of moral lessons imparted, which is what I tend to come back to when this argument comes up). Short answer but I have learnt that trying to explain my religious situation at length is a fool's errand.

[RINO Tom]

I'm an evangelical Protestant with very strong Baptist theological leanings, despite attending a non-denominational church...but, I didn't always believe that...

Why I'm not a Catholic or a member of a liturgical Protestant denomination: ... However, I also want to discuss my personal opinion that a highly ritualistic and liturgical service focuses more on the ritual itself and distracts from the actual point (to know Jesus more).  I know that many devout Catholics (as well as those in highly liturgical Protestant denominations) interact deeply with those rituals and feel that they know God better through them.  However, I think- given human nature- that people often lose sight of why they are doing them...

Not to hijack the thread, but I wanted to touch on this.  First of all, I must say I am obviously at least somewhat sympathetic to this reasoning ... after all, I am still a Protestant and not a Catholic for a reason, and I see many of those issues among some Catholics.  However, wouldn't you say it can go too far the other way, as well?  Some of these ultra-contemporary non-denominational churches have more or less made it their missions to strip anything from historic Christian practices - including those not-quite-liturgical practices of nearly all Baptists from just 30-40 years ago! - in an effort to seemingly morph church to match their expectations for what they would enjoy in a secular cultural setting (e.g., casual, lowkey, not too stuffy, etc.).  I see a theological problem with that, as well.

I get people can disagree with this theologically, and that is totally fine ... but Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. have their liturgies for a reason, and it's not just because they think they're fancy.  A Lutheran reads the Bible and sees the Lord's Supper as containing the real presence of Christ and at the VERY least as something that should be included in every church service.  It was an essential part of the Early Church's practices in the earliest days where we have writings, and it seems like moving it to once a month (at most) simply because it's "a Catholic tradition" or something is being low church to the point of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Main point being, of course, you should not incorporate ritual "just because" ... and you also should not remove ritual "just because."

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I'm an evangelical Protestant with very strong Baptist theological leanings, despite attending a non-denominational church...but, I didn't always believe that...

Why I'm not a Catholic or a member of a liturgical Protestant denomination: ... However, I also want to discuss my personal opinion that a highly ritualistic and liturgical service focuses more on the ritual itself and distracts from the actual point (to know Jesus more).  I know that many devout Catholics (as well as those in highly liturgical Protestant denominations) interact deeply with those rituals and feel that they know God better through them.  However, I think- given human nature- that people often lose sight of why they are doing them...

Not to hijack the thread, but I wanted to touch on this.  First of all, I must say I am obviously at least somewhat sympathetic to this reasoning ... after all, I am still a Protestant and not a Catholic for a reason, and I see many of those issues among some Catholics.  However, wouldn't you say it can go too far the other way, as well?  Some of these ultra-contemporary non-denominational churches have more or less made it their missions to strip anything from historic Christian practices - including those not-quite-liturgical practices of nearly all Baptists from just 30-40 years ago! - in an effort to seemingly morph church to match their expectations for what they would enjoy in a secular cultural setting (e.g., casual, lowkey, not too stuffy, etc.).  I see a theological problem with that, as well.

I get people can disagree with this theologically, and that is totally fine ... but Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. have their liturgies for a reason, and it's not just because they think they're fancy.  A Lutheran reads the Bible and sees the Lord's Supper as containing the real presence of Christ and at the VERY least as something that should be included in every church service.  It was an essential part of the Early Church's practices in the earliest days where we have writings, and it seems like moving it to once a month (at most) simply because it's "a Catholic tradition" or something is being low church to the point of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Main point being, of course, you should not incorporate ritual "just because" ... and you also should not remove ritual "just because."

The bolded part is a selling point for a lot of people. You think I'd ever attend a church where I can't wear a band shirt? LOL.

[wnwnwn]

I'm non religious, but I can´t see any religion but the catholic as somehow sensible to be "the one". Maybe too much catholic upbringing, surely that.
The Catholic Church recognises the right to form of collective bargaining and it´s a bit pragmatic on the Bible. Also, it has some historic legitimacy.
The problem with catholicism is that I think things should be explained with rational concepts. The Bible can teach some things and tell some interesting stories, but it contradicts the evidence on some aspects of the world (like evolution). But who knows, maybe I will see a miracle in some days. Or maybe I will see the light on other religion.

[jojoju1998]

I'm non religious, but I can´t see any religion but the catholic as somehow sensible to be "the one". Maybe too much catholic upbringing, surely that.
The Catholic Church recognises the right to form of collective bargaining and it´s a bit pragmatic on the Bible. Also, it has some historic legitimacy.
The problem with catholicism is that I think things should be explained with rational concepts. The Bible can teach some things and tell some interesting stories, but it contradicts the evidence on some aspects of the world (like evolution). But who knows, maybe I will see a miracle in some days. Or maybe I will see the light on other religion.

The Catholic Church doesn’t necessarily opposes or supports evolution.