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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I call myself a religious but non-theistic Presbyterian. I do go to church maybe every third or fourth Sunday. It's a liberal church that is definitely accepting of other beliefs and lack of belief. If they were dogmatic, I think that would bother me too much. But it's contemplative and a place to join like-minded people in serving our community and one another. What's not to like?

But I clarify for people, and for my kids, that I do not believe these stories literally, that I believe that religion is a framework for celebrating our humanity and our place in the world. It creates community and ritual, important parts of being human.

In my teens I got sucked into Young Life and a dogmatic, us vs. them view of the world. In my 20s I rejected that and it was very painful. I didn't even want to say "under God" during the pledge of allegiance. In my 30s I wondered, "Could I have the best of both worlds . . . a church community without the dogma?" And I've found a wonderful one. There's something comforting just in the way an old church building smells IMO.

I'm not an expert on Catholicism, but I don't think there are really "non-theistic" or "practically Unitarian" Catholic churches out there. I think a person like me would probably be trying out an Episcopalian church if wanting to find a place of comfort without all the other trappings.[/quote]

Episcopalians and Catholics are very closely aligned in beliefs.[/quote]

Not true really except for the Nicene Creed that many other Protestant churches accept as well. Episcopalians do have saints as well but not always the same and do not have a canonization process.

They are similar superficially in their liturgies and rituals. This is an important part of tradition and shared histories until the Anglican Church broke away from the Catholic Church many hundreds of years ago in order to allow Henry VIII to divorce and remarry repeatedly.

Episcopalians believe in individual reason and allowing members freedom to interpret Bible studies for themselves and usually in very non literal ways. There are no cyclicals issued determining the positions that Members are supposed to take on different issues, such as homosexuality or abortion. It is GbLTQ affirming and allows gays and women to be ordained and serve at the highest levels of the church. It has a democratic structure from the bottom and not just among bishops . Vestries are elected and can fire priests if they are perceived to be acting against the collective will of the church membership. [/quote]

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