Social Network

[JadedAtheist]

Alright, my mum has been hassling me about why I haven't been going to church and for the most part I haven't answered. Mainly because of the fact I don't feel comfortable discussing it (a sore spot I guess) and secondly because I guess it's a bit of a pride issue (admitting I fucked up). I was dumbfounded as to why she was hassling me so until she made a comment today that shed light onto the inquiry.

 

Basically the issue is my mother doesn't really have much of a social network (to summarize the problem, she deals with mental illness and all her friends abandoned her when she went "crazy") and she enjoyed the few times she has gone to church with me because the people there have been genuinely friendly. She basically wants to go there to socialize and make friends because she can't really do that much of it at the moment. Otherwise she is thinking of going to an Orthodox church near by with some people she knows. The problem is my mother is like me in the sense of having trouble putting herself out there. She really wants me to go along.

 

I would much rather my mother go to the Orthodox church than my old one for obvious reasons, especially since it's more of a social hub than a place of worship (I guess all churches based on ethnic background are the same. I.E. Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox et cetera). Since she herself isn't religious I see it relatively harmless for her to go to this church but I'm wondering how wise is it for me to go, at least to encourage her to build some sort of a social circle with people of her age, background et cetera? At the moment I think it's relatively harmless but I want to see what others think.

 

Thanks,

[Vixentrox]

Why oh why surround yourself with the deluded? Surely you can find something else? Are you in a really small town? Persoannly I would rather be completly isolated than put up with the den of vipers that churches contain.

[Vomit Comet]

In Italy the Catholic churches serve the same function. Basically, little old ladies who sit through the Mass so that they can go have tea afterwards. Probably half or more of them don't take that shit seriously at all, and more than a few of them are bound to be atheists.

 

Here in Las Vegas, the locals casinos serve that function. (See, there's casinos for tourists and there's casinos for locals.) That's the number one thing by far that gets lonely old people out of their houses and gets them socializing. I imagine that's also true in areas that are near the tribal casinos geared towards locals.

[Voice]

If you have to use church as the hub, I would recommend a Unitarian one (UU) since people of all religions tend to pool there. This provides some diversity. It's not always focussed on christianity. Each one of the UU's sets its own standards, so if you're in a christian community, it will be christian. Might be worth looking at.

I do tend to agree with Vix on this one though. Try meetup.org or something like that. See what else you could do besides church going. Is there a music scene?