Could I tolerate the idea that some people at my church may actually be agnostics? Of course. But in reality I would be surprised that anyone would give up a couple of hours on a Sunday to be with people who believe something they do not believe simply because they feel aligned with and influenced by the ethics of Christianity.
I think it's telling that you say 'to be with people' there because I wonder if one thing you haven't considered is people going to church for other reasons than to be with people? I don't mean they don't want to be with people (although some won't), but rather that they don't have any desire to talk about their beliefs with those people. Don't some people come to church to try to reach God just because they see it as a special (even sacred) place?
I know some go because they support husbands or wives who go and they themselves are not Christians, not in my current church but in previous ones. And some kids may still go but not want to yet are too young yet to be left at home.
There are side-effects to religious people taking their children along to church, and of putting them in faith schools, and not letting them stay at home until they're quite old. One is that those children, if they have no active belief, end up with direct personal experience of taking part in religious services without belief, and may find that they can be comforting or inspiring or otherwise valuable, despite that lack of belief. It is possibly easier for someone like that (like me) to see value in that kind of churchgoing that doesn't depend on belief, than for someone like you to whom belief is so central that you simply wouldn't be there without it.
By the way, when I said 'rituals' I didn't mean incense swinging and so on. I was thinking of all sorts of things, everything from walking through a porch into church to taking communion to putting money in a collection plate to the prayers and responses.
spiralbound Please could I ask, ...what puts people off, what do you mean by evangelism puts people off? Please do explain because it would be good to know what people mean. Would a leaflet through the door put you off? A knock at the door to sat we are local and you are welcome? An invite to a free meal or picnic? An invite to a fair? Either in person or by flyer?
Offputting = anything where I can tell that the ultimate aim of the person doing it is to get me to believe something. Don't you find that puts you off, if it's other things? It taints everything, like discovering that a friend has joined a pyramid selling scheme and started twisting all conversations round to getting you to sign up too.
I'm a bit more comfortable with the idea of churchgoing being quite openly promoted with no belief strings attached, than I am with belief itself being promoted in a half-hidden way through drawing people in under false pretences, even though I'd know that ultimately the vicar would ideally prefer true believers.
"We are your local church and would love to see you at any service (times below) - you do not have to be a believer, and even if you can only come once or twice a year we will still welcome you. We also run the fete, the .. and the ..."
I would be happy to receive that, but it would have to be sincerely meant.