You've outlined many of the reasons many former practising Christians no longer attend church.

That does not necessarily mean they no longer believe. But may not believe the current version of biblical based belief, but, may in fact look back to the practises of the original esoteric Christians and how they practised their faith in simple solidarity and sharing in their homes minus huge edifices to glorify God. God's own creations does that in huge spades.

Jesus went to some lengths to confirm he was not God the Father but that he was merely an instrument for the Father who worked in him. One only needs to gaze at the night sky to believe in a creator or divine intelligence as the overseeing intelligent designer.

As for the teachings of the master, the golden code is universal to most religious philosophies, as is the good Samaritan parable. I believe if those two evocations guide you through life and try to follow that example, you will be defined as a good person worthy of heaven.

Today's churches (none of which I attend) are little more than very wealthy political organizations seeking to assert power and authority over devotees and their pocketbooks/bank balances. With some even trying, with pulpit pounding persuasion, to influence voting intentions/outcomes.
Alan B.

There are no laws stopping you from believing whatever you wish.
Even though it may fly in the face of Science.

What can "genuine believers" do that they are not already doing? Proselytize? I imagine that would go down as well as harassment from tin-rattlers or Amway distributors .

We just had a poster in the other section whingeing about dastardly "Christians and Jehovah's Witnesses" leaving Bibles at people's "front doors".

And why would a 90 year old bother himself with the 'brave new world" that he won't be part of for much longer. It's like the 85 year old Klaus Scwab trying to ruin the economy and reduce most of the population to serfdom.

The only thing to "steadily fade away" is Christian belief; climate hysteria and Woke has replaced it. I regret that, too; but it is far too late by at least two generations to even halt the decline, let alone resurrect a dying religion. The last time that was attempted was during Moral Rearmament and Billy Graham, who died at the age of 100 in 2018.

Well it looks like churches in general no longer represent religion or God. That is not a blemish on religion or God, it just means that churches today are no longer religious, thus should no longer be misleadingly referred to as "religions".

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Dear Ateday,

«There are no laws stopping you from believing whatever you wish. Even though it may fly in the face of Science.»

What makes you place, out of the blue, such an unrelated statement in this particular thread? Or does it reflect your belief that scientists never commit any crimes and should be considered a moral benchmark?

What passes today for "science" values the material, physical, objective world above all and is not interested in anything else - what a narrow interest, what poverty of spirit!

Alan B
I agree the glorious night sky is something to behold. However my light bulb moment was on a bitter cold day with snow on the ground.
I wandered near holly trees and there snowdrops peeped from the snow, so to this day I remember that day and wondered of creation.
I do not attend church now but glad of my Sunday school, girl guides etc and pleased they continue in my town, as well as boy scouts.

To me Christmas is a day of mourning.

I mourn the suffering due to the hate promoted by the words of Jesus. Possibly he did not say those words and they were ascribed to him by those who wrote the New Testament.

Matthew 12:30 “He that is not with me is against me;” Those words make an enemy of those who do not follow. I do not wish to follow Jesus, but I do not wish to be the enemy of those who choose to follow him. Those words make those who do not follow him an enemy.

Matthew 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Why should Jesus make the unreasonable demand that family bonds should be less strong than bonds to him? Why set up such a competition?

I mourn the loss of history:

Much of human history is irreparably lost to us. In addition to the lost history by circumstances there is loss by design.

From Grayling’s "The History of Philosophy”:

"There is a wall standing between us and the world of antiquity: the period of decline and fall of the Roman Empire and the rise to dominance of Christianity. Edward Gibbon connected the two phenomena, blaming the former on the latter. He is in significant part right. Remember that in 313 CE the Emperor Constantine gave Christianity legal status and protection by the Edict of Milan and not long afterwards, in 380 CE, the Emperor Theodosius I decreed by the Edict of Thessalonica that Christianity was to be the official religion of the Empire outlawing others. The change brought rapid results. From the fourth century of the Common Era (CE, formerly cited as AD) onwards a vast amount of the literature and material culture of
antiquity was lost, a great deal of it purposefully destroyed. Christian zealots smashed statues and temples, defaced paintings and burned 'pagan' books, in an orgy of effacement of previous culture that lasted for several centuries.

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