New York Times, Can I Go to Church When I Don’t Believe?:
I grew up in the Catholic tradition, but after obtaining several university degrees — including one in religion — it became clear to me that Jesus wasn’t divine and that the cobbling together of the Bible in the fourth century was a consummate work of spin-doctoring. I have about 20 arguments in defense of this, not the least of which is Christ’s inefficacy. After 2,000 years, his followers have split into thousands of sects, many of whom have shot and killed members of rival sects. Think of Northern Ireland, World War II. It doesn’t seem to me the way an omnipotent deity should operate.
But boy, oh, boy, do I love the artistic output of Christianity. Bach’s B-minor Mass, the Fauré Requiem, St. Paul’s Cathedral — all these lift my spirit. I love a beautiful Christian service.(Where else do you hear an organ like that?) Actors talk about ‘‘working from the outside in,’’ in which a physical position unlocks inner emotions. For me, kneeling does this. I don’t pray, but the act creates humility and gratitude. It does me good. Then there’s the lovely sense of community in a congregation.
I’ll never be converted. So I guess I’m lying when I turn up at a service and recite the Creed and sing the hymns as lustily as anyone else. Am I hurting anyone by doing this? Is it, for want of a better word, a sin? — Name Withheld
From the Ethicist:
A church represents a confluence of practices, beliefs and community, and its congregants will be drawn for all sorts of reasons. No doubt you’re participating in these services in a different frame of mind from many others who are there, but Catholics have long been aware of the aesthetic appeal of their tradition’s art, music, architecture and liturgy — an aspect of the via pulchritudinis, or way of beauty, that Pope Francis has invoked. …
If the issue of faith comes up, you can freely tell your fellow congregants, ‘‘I’m not really a believer, but I love these services.’’ They’re unlikely to object to your being there. Some might be in your situation; some might hope that your attendance could, contrary to your expectations, change your mind. Many clerics advocate ‘‘meeting people where they are.’’ They may think that you’re appreciating God’s work in your own faltering way.
From the Archives
Back in 2016, the Ethicist answered a similar question about distinguishing Christian culture from religious belief. [Do I Have to Tell My Family I’m No Longer Religious?]
Ryan Burge (Eastern Illinois University; Author, The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going (2d ed. 2023)), Substack:
At some point I'm going to write a book called, You Should Go to Church Even If You Don't Believe In Any of It.
From a purely pro-social, pro-democracy perspective, attending a house of worship regularly is a very good thing.
Bonnie Kristian (Christianity Today; Author, Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (2022)), A Take I Haven’t Written Elsewhere: ‘Can I Go to Church When I Don’t Believe?’:
Perhaps you’ve seen the headline on the New York Times advice column making the rounds among online Christians: “Can I go to church when I don’t believe?”
And perhaps you’ve seen it thanks to Ryan Burge, Substack’s resident religious math expert, who shared here and on X it with a brief argument that the answer, from “a purely pro-social, pro-democracy perspective,” is yes: Go even if you don’t believe, because you will make friends and learn to function in a society.
Of course, I understand this perspective. Church is a really good place to meet people—one of very few left in our Bowling Alone situation. …
I get Burge’s argument. But I want to push back on it, and I want to do it by teasing out the four responses I’ve see here:
1. No, religion is fake or worse.
[If you are vehemently opposed to (and perhaps interested in doing some light crimes against) a house of worship, you oughtn’t go there week to week to find new buddies for board game night. …
2. Yes, religion is fake but useful and/or beautiful.
The Times advice columnist, often sensible, kinda flubs it on this one. At a Catholic service as a committed, dismissive unbeliever, “you shouldn’t feel as if you don’t belong, however deep your doubts,” he writes. “There’s no saying what a service means to any one of its participants.” Devout Catholics would beg to differ—and we haven’t even gotten to the question of whether this (probably baptized but also apostatized) art lover would receive the Eucharist.
3. No, the church is not a tool for your social or aesthetic goals.
Jesus Is Not Your Fried With Benefits: The gist is that I’ve no objection to people outside the faith recognizing its practical benefits, and I certainly want to welcome seekers to church. But I do object to people treating Christianity as convenient cultural tool for their costless, casual use, whether to build a cozy liberal society or to manufacture a more magical Christmas.
4. Yes, the church welcomes potential converts.
No one should be screening church visitors for sufficient belief. If the letter writer wants to come and sit quietly and respectfully in the pews each week, if he neither deceives nor disrupts, no one should stop him. But if I were to answer his question as written, answering what he should do as someone only interested in using church for his aesthetic interests, my answer would be no, because what he’s proposing is selfish and rude, maybe even exploitative.
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