That's what congregations like the Unitarians are like. I go once a month to the local one, and I've been an atheist my entire life. I'd guess about half the people that there are, too, but no one really seems to mind one way or the other, as long as you're friendly and civil to everyone else. Mostly it's a discussion group, and I quite enjoy it.
The hard thing about (some) interest groups is that sometimes they have people "way out there" in political opinions, "different" view of the world (think the views that include the usage of aluminium headwear) or just maladjusted to normal living.
Maybe the reason people are so lonely is that we're at an unprecedented time in history where people can "opt out" of interacting with anyone with whom they disagree?
It seems to me like everyone is opting out of talking to people across the political aisle. It's become so dire that we see articles teaching people how to deal with "that one uncle" at family gatherings [1].
Why is this so hard, though? It might be a little tedious to sit through their ramblings, but it seems to me a sign of the times that this would be considered hard to do.
I know what you mean. But (and I think this is genuinely, deeply important) listening to people's thoughts and opinions when they are far outside how you see things is vital if you want to make sure that your own perceptual bubble isn't vastly out of sync with the rest of society.
I have friends from across the political spectrum, and one of my primary concerns of the modern time is how many of them have incredibly inaccurate strawman conceptions of what 'the other side' is like. The only solution I know of is to actually talk in person.
With the caveat that fellowships vary significantly between one another, most of the ones I've gone to follow the pattern of:
show up, prepare some coffee/light snacks,
as soon as a critical mass of folks have arrived, sing a short welcoming hymn,
brief discussion of happenings since the last meeting (ie, which scholarship got the most votes to support last time, so that's the one we'll fund, etc),
main service, usually someone giving a talk about some aspect of what they've done (ie, my father was a diplomat focused on human rights, he would talk about a few select issues, and how things did or did not work out)
discussion following the presentation, with a focus on the morality aspects (it is a church meeting, after all)
passing of the hat to fund stuff like scholarships & pay the minimal expenses that come with meetings
closing hymn, everyone says goodbye with a smile.
So it's a lot like a nominal Christian service you'd find in a lot of churches across the US, with the difference being that the actual God part of the discussion is greatly minimized, and the social aspect emphasized. I genuinely enjoy going.
> ...with the difference being that the actual God part of the discussion is greatly minimized...
With all due respect, the main focus of a Christian worship service is "the actual God part", so removing the content creates an entirely different thing altogether.
It's also worth noting that the Christian content... actual belief in the teachings of the Bible, does reinforce certain aspects of church that might be essential to long-term (millennia) health of that form of spiritualism. Perhaps some of: mandatory evangelism, canonized moral codes, commandments to humility, recognition that humanity is ultimately flawed, belief in perfect justice in eternity (reduces the need to enforce certain norms), and the list goes on.
>With all due respect, the main focus of a Christian worship service is "the actual God part", so removing the content creates an entirely different thing altogether.
99.x% of Christian services are morality instructions, which one is free to ponder regardless of any particular belief one might hold.
The why of it in a traditional Christian service is 'God'. That's where many Unitarians (and myself) veer from older religious institutions. But I'm still happy to talk about morality with a regular Christian, in the the same way I'll talk about it with anyone else who has an interest in such things.
