I find churches strangely comforting, Yet I'm not religious.

[Deleted User] · 04/06/13 - 01:55

I live right by one. The bell goes on the hour 24/7. I love it. I love the church, I love the kind of peace it gives out. Yet I have never been religious. Just wondered if anyone else has the same experience.

NoFussNoFrills · 04/06/13 - 01:56

Yes I totally get where you are coming from.

annette kurten · 04/06/13 - 01:57

i like the peace and the history.

BastardBeaver · 04/06/13 - 01:57

Yea i understand. Whenever i go to Salisbury Cathedral i always just feel safe and a bit in awe and wish i was religious.

edEx · 04/06/13 - 02:00

Where we live in Sitges we hear the bell from the church striking every 15 minutes (they tell the time in quarters of the hour there). It's nice at night especially, when we have the terrace doors open and you can hear the low rumble of the sea too. It's almost like a connection with all the generations that went before.

[Deleted User] · 04/06/13 - 02:01

I enjoy a good church service and find comfort in them but I'm not in the least religious .

Fred E Star · 04/06/13 - 02:04

Not a fan. I do like Chvrches though.

Doji · 04/06/13 - 02:05

I definitely believe in a higher power but i haven't been to church for a long time. I agree though, a church usually offers some kind of calm, especially on a rainy night.

Stormwave UK · 04/06/13 - 02:05

I don't particularly like Churches. They make me uncomfortable.

Valeron · 04/06/13 - 02:09

I understand totally. I've been an atheist for all of my adult life but love the history of churches and theeace and solitude inside them,

darkjedimaster · 04/06/13 - 02:13

Agreed everything from the pews to the stained glass windows makes them very comforting. It is just a shame about the ultimate bs that is spread in them buildings that ruin the whole beauty of them.

trinity2002 · 04/06/13 - 02:15

Some of the more modern ones leave me a bit cold tbh.

Michael_Stein · 04/06/13 - 02:16

They're too cold and hardened places. Go into a Mosque or Sikh temple and you'll notice a vast difference.

Welsh-lad · 04/06/13 - 02:20

I think it's perfectly natural to feel that

And despite the bad press extreme wings of the church cause, most churchgoers in my experience are benevolent and kindly people. So it's little wonder that most churches have a peaceful and welcoming atmosphere.

[Deleted User] · 04/06/13 - 02:31

darkjedimaster wrote: »

Agreed everything from the pews to the stained glass windows makes them very comforting. It is just a shame about the ultimate bs that is spread in them buildings that ruin the whole beauty of them.

I am a Christian (but I am not religious) and I love churches, minsters, cathedrals, monastic buildings and even abbey ruins (Barrow Abbey for example) there is a calmness that doesn't seem to be present in other ancient/medieval buildings like Castles and Keeps.
The only other place that seems to have a similar effect on me is an old book shop. The feeling there though seems more one of secretiveness or anticipation.
I find it quite interesting that different buildings can engender different emotions.

Just to clarify Christian but not religious. I have no real interest in most of the traditional expressions of Christianity (or any religion) I feel very strongly that real Christianity is a relationship with Jesus, more like a close personal best friend, than one of 'fear' (the being scared of God type).
I am not saying my understanding is right and others are wrong. It's a personal understanding and experience that has been my good fortune to know.

jzee · 04/06/13 - 02:36

It's not strange, they were designed to be imposing, awe inspiring, to foster a mesmerising presence, with the addition of good acoustics & imagery.

marianna01 · 04/06/13 - 02:56

VOICEINTHENIGHT wrote: »

I am a Christian (but I am not religious) and I love churches, minsters, cathedrals, monastic buildings and even abbey ruins (Barrow Abbey for example) there is a calmness that doesn't seem to be present in other ancient/medieval buildings like Castles and Keeps.
The only other place that seems to have a similar effect on me is an old book shop. The feeling there though seems more one of secretiveness or anticipation.
I find it quite interesting that different buildings can engender different emotions.

Just to clarify Christian but not religious. I have no real interest in most of the traditional expressions of Christianity (or any religion) I feel very strongly that real Christianity is a relationship with Jesus, more like a close personal best friend, than one of 'fear' (the being scared of God type).
I am not saying my understanding is right and others are wrong. It's a personal understanding and experience that has been my good fortune to know.

Like some on here so far, I too have been an athiest throughout my adult years and have been overwhelmed when visiting certain churches, cathedrals, etc. (the last one being Canterbury Cathedral and before that Lincoln, which was awesome!). I think it was more of the fact that such vast buildings could have been built all these hundreds of years ago and they have so much history rather than the religious side of things.

flower 2 · 04/06/13 - 03:04

I think of all the people that lived and entered the building before me, be it a church or any ancient building, all the people that smiled and cried in their own era.

[Deleted User] · 04/06/13 - 03:05

I like hymns and i'm an athiest:)

sodavlac · 04/06/13 - 03:12

I can certainly appreciate the architecture and the crastmenship that went into them.

marianna01 · 04/06/13 - 03:32

sodavlac wrote: »

I can certainly appreciate the architecture and the crastmenship that went into them.

Yes, and having just seen the BBC news and their filming of the Parliament buildings and Big Ben it just makes me wonder what happened to the real architects of this country (or rather their offspring!).

Although on a lighter note, if there is a River Thames flood, will the Parliament building float away across the North Sea to Europe? The building does look like something akin to Venice!

NightFox_Dancer · 04/06/13 - 03:38

I'm not religious either but I love the architecture of churches both on the outside and inside. I think the vast amount of old style churches we have in this country are just one of the many things that make Britain great.

[Deleted User] · 04/06/13 - 03:40

Valeron wrote: »

I understand totally. I've been an atheist for all of my adult life but love the history of churches and theeace and solitude inside them,

Same for me.

drykid · 04/06/13 - 03:40

I'd describe myself as a highly sceptical agnostic, but I love visiting churches. I think it's the feeling of travelling back in time they give you. I guess there's no fundamental reason why I get that from churches rather than other old buildings though. Maybe it's down to the general hush and the feeling that you need to speak in whispers, which you don't particularly get from walking around a stately home or wherever.

I find cathedrals in particular pretty awe inspiring.

benjamini · 04/06/13 - 03:42

Churches offer a lovely quiet solitude to contemplate big questions even Google cannot answer!

[Deleted User] · 04/06/13 - 03:42

the Notre Dame in Paris is always pictured from the outside, but the inside is amazing.

Hey there!

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I find churches strangely comforting, Yet I'm not religious.

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