I grew up in small-town southern Wisconsin. My hometown, Richland Center, was a dry town at that time with one of the highest ratios of churches to people in the whole state. My mother sent my brothers and me to a non-denominational church, mostly as a way for us to fit in better. We went to Sunday school, and occasionally to church.
None of it really "took," probably because neither of my parents were religious. Today I'm an atheist with a pretty dim view of most organized religion, especially in the U.S.
I "felt" community, at least for a time when I was rather young and attending catholic mass, or rather the remembered coffee and doughnut after-mass get together. And my parents certainly had a close sense of community with other church parishioners for many decades. However, that feeling came at the cost of having to profess supernatural belief, which I could not reconcile after my teen years. And so I had to give up both belief and community.
All that said, it seems that a concept of community has been expressed in popular culture, even if it has become weaker in actual culture. All those Westerns had the town, church, saloon, barber shop, and sometimes a brothel. Congretatin' everywhere, pardner! And those "communities" figured prominently in the story lines. Gone With the Wind showed the Southern concept of community, both the slave holders and the slaves, and how all of that was violently blown away.
And perhaps the "missing" sense of community is a driver of the cultural attacks we now see from nationalist-MAGA-supremacists; they perceive that "their community" is being "diluted" and react with hostility at the perceived loss. That is rather sad, if true. And it suggests that maybe we just need a bigger, better community that includes all humans so we can get beyond how skin color and supernatural belief tend to limit us.
I grew up in small-town southern Wisconsin. My hometown, Richland Center, was a dry town at that time with one of the highest ratios of churches to people in the whole state. My mother sent my brothers and me to a non-denominational church, mostly as a way for us to fit in better. We went to Sunday school, and occasionally to church.
None of it really "took," probably because neither of my parents were religious. Today I'm an atheist with a pretty dim view of most organized religion, especially in the U.S.
Yeah, most organized religion leaves much to be desired — to say the least. Did you feel any sense of community in your non-denominational church?
My memories of church mostly involve my family, so I guess the answer to your question is no, sadly.
I guess church doesn't always live up to its potential!
I "felt" community, at least for a time when I was rather young and attending catholic mass, or rather the remembered coffee and doughnut after-mass get together. And my parents certainly had a close sense of community with other church parishioners for many decades. However, that feeling came at the cost of having to profess supernatural belief, which I could not reconcile after my teen years. And so I had to give up both belief and community.
All that said, it seems that a concept of community has been expressed in popular culture, even if it has become weaker in actual culture. All those Westerns had the town, church, saloon, barber shop, and sometimes a brothel. Congretatin' everywhere, pardner! And those "communities" figured prominently in the story lines. Gone With the Wind showed the Southern concept of community, both the slave holders and the slaves, and how all of that was violently blown away.
And perhaps the "missing" sense of community is a driver of the cultural attacks we now see from nationalist-MAGA-supremacists; they perceive that "their community" is being "diluted" and react with hostility at the perceived loss. That is rather sad, if true. And it suggests that maybe we just need a bigger, better community that includes all humans so we can get beyond how skin color and supernatural belief tend to limit us.