Church Attendance: Why I No Longer Practice It

I was born to parents who were Southern Baptist, which means I went to church twice on Sunday and on Wednesday evenings.  When I became old enough to decide if I wanted to go to church, I, like most late-teen, early-twenty-something Baptist kids, chose not to go for a while.  I eventually came back to church around twenty-five or so.  When I got married, I became Episcopalian because for one, I was ready to get out of the Baptist Church; and two, because the husband usually switches to his wife’s religion – at least here in the Southeast they do anyway.

While attending the Episcopal Church, I became quite involved: I was in the choir for a while; and I was in charge of the acolyte program for ten years.  Church was a big part of my life.

That has all changed now.  These days I no longer attend church except on special occasions when my sons are somehow directly involved in the service.  My last appearance was when my oldest son was confirmed. I most likely will not be back until Christmas, when I suspect one or both boys will have some role in the Christmas Eve play.

I’m sure some have wondered why I went from being a die hard, every-week attendee, who had a direct role in the production of the service to a total absentee. I will explain why.

The first reason I no longer attend church is a personal ethical decision which has to do the basic beliefs of the Christian religion. In the early 1990’s I discovered Bishop John Shelby Spong (ret.) of the Diocese of Newark, New Jersey.  Spong has written many books which basically summarize modern-day biblical scholarship .  According to Spong – and I agree with him wholeheartedly – the Bible is basically a collection of myths written for the purpose of relating deep, profound truths.  That is, after all, the whole purpose of myth: to explain a deeply-held truth through a story.  This means that I don’t literally believe one word of the Bible.

There are others who are not and cannot be fundamentalists, who respond to the mismatch between traditional religion’s worldview and today’s scientific understanding by simply walking away from religion.  They enter…the Church Alumni Association.  At first, they miss the supernatural God on whom they once relied; but gradually that sense of loss fades…and they set about living as religionless people in a religionless world.

– John Shelby Spong

As the Christian belief system is based upon a literal reading of the Bible, I found myself in a quandary.  How is it that I could keep attending church with people who subscribe to a belief system which I found to have no merit?  I at first thought I could just translate the literal words of the creeds and scriptures so that they would have some personal meaning to me; but this still didn’’t seem like the ethical thing to do.  Besides, it was really a lot of unnecessary trouble.  It seems disrespectful on my part to attend church, read aloud the Nicene Creed, and take communion with people who believe the dogmas when I found them to be unbelievable.

The second reason is a matter of money and tithing.  I believe that if you are going to attend a church, then you should support that church with a weekly, monthly, yearly – whatever – offering, so that the bills and staff get paid.  To attend church without doing so is, in my view, unethical.  The expected amount of offering/tithe (and this has explicitly been made known to me on numerous occasions) is ten percent of one’s income.  Organized religion is simply not worth that much to me, and I will not pay it.  The amount I was giving the church each month was not sufficient.  I was therefore forced to decide between two options: continue to attend and hand over ten percent of my income to the church or simply stop coming to church.  I chose the latter.  I would not be able to live with myself if I had continued attending without giving the expected amount.  It wouldn’’t seem right to me.

Some may wonder why it is I allow my kids to continue to attend church and take advantage of that which it offers and not tithe.  Well, I don’t take my kids to church; the wife does.  If she wants to keep them in church and pay whatever amount she contributes, whether its a full-blown tithe or less, that’s between her and the church.

The third reason I don’t attend church anymore is because I don’t agree with the whole concept of worshiping a deity.  Think about it: Isn’t worshiping a deity nothing more than kissing the deity’s ass?   I mean these people – these worshippers – bow down before their deity, tell it how great it is – praise it they would say – and how lowly and awful they are, ask the deity to pardon them for petty stuff  that was committed since the last time they asked forgiveness for their “sins”, and of course they drink its blood and eat its flesh.  There are actually verses in their Bible that say that we humans were created for nothing more than glorifying – kissing the ass of – this deity.  The whole concept just seems stupid to me.  Why would an all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipotent, infallable, perfect, holy deity without beginning and without end give a hoot about having its butt kissed.  Would this deity really produce a race of sentient beings for no other reason than receiving praise? Jeez…what a stupid idea!

The final reason I stopped attending is over a matter of human interaction. While at work, I am forced to listen to a bunch of ego-based, nonsensical talk all the time .[1]  I deal with this for about fifty-five hours a week.  It seems that humans are the same no matter where you go, and that includes church.  I simply don’t want to hear a bunch of insincere, unnecessary ego talk when I don’’t have to.  If you go to church, you have to deal with the human ego because…, well, …humans make up the majority of sentient beings at churches.

Endnotes

1. People laughing at their own silly statements and comments is a perfect example of this. You know what I’m talking about: you’’ve heard it before too.

About Professor Twist

I'm just a regular guy who likes to write about that which I find interesting. I am keeping my identity undisclosed because I am a small business owner and am well known in the community I serve.