Wow, ok. So it's meant as an idea which in today's world is often unconventional yet used to be very normal not very long ago. Whether we/you like it or not, organizing around faith is quite foundational to humans in general.
Obviously the OP and any reader needs to evaluate their personal situation and appetite for this and also evaluate any church they attend. Not all churches are cults. Most modern churches with younger crowds have steered away from preachy aspects and see themselves as building a faith based community. Being good citizens in a community that loosely believe in the same thing. That's why nondenominational christian churches are increasingly popular. The concerns you raised are true of traditional and culty type churches, certain denominations, etc that make waves and I think you're projecting the headlines/horror stories you've heard onto religion as a whole while ignoring Millions of people have healthy relationships with their church so this blanket statement of terrible advice is just ignorant.
FWIW, I consider myself agnostic and can filter away BS that isn't aligned with my personal take or just avoid the stuff that I have no interest in (eg. bible school). It's very much like politics. I don't have to believe what you believe we can coexist and maybe we have some minor overlap that we can connect on.
Obviously the OP and any reader needs to evaluate their personal situation and appetite for this and also evaluate any church they attend. Not all churches are cults. Most modern churches with younger crowds have steered away from preachy aspects and see themselves as building a faith based community. Being good citizens in a community that loosely believe in the same thing. That's why nondenominational christian churches are increasingly popular. The concerns you raised are true of traditional and culty type churches, certain denominations, etc that make waves and I think you're projecting the headlines/horror stories you've heard onto religion as a whole while ignoring Millions of people have healthy relationships with their church so this blanket statement of terrible advice is just ignorant.
FWIW, I consider myself agnostic and can filter away BS that isn't aligned with my personal take or just avoid the stuff that I have no interest in (eg. bible school). It's very much like politics. I don't have to believe what you believe we can coexist and maybe we have some minor overlap that we can connect on.