Atheists in church

[ThatNomad]

I personally would only ever wish to be part of something like a Unitarian Universalist church, if I ever returned to one. Most mainstream churches are far too segregated racially, and far too homophobic, even if they do claim to be open and accepting. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church. We had one gay member, who sat in a pew all by himself, never interacted with anyone, and never came to the gatherings we had. It wasn't until much later in life that I found out he was never made to feel welcome, but continued to come because his faith was important to him and he didn't own a car, so since our church was within walking distance he continued to come. We had a single black family who was treated exactly the same way. Sat in a pew by themselves, never interacted, and never came to any gatherings. I can imagine if someone had stated they were an atheist they would have had exactly the same reception. There would have been no open discussion, no debate, they would have simply been shunned. I see no realistic purpose to this that would ever be served in most mainstream churches.