Can I go to church when I'm not sure I have faith?

[Nothingbutquestions]

I'm really hoping no one will be offended by my post but I have questions and no one to answer them so I hope you'll forgive me. Religion has never really been part of my life, beyond the Lords' Prayer and hymns at school assembly every day growing up which incidentally I loved. I'm 44 now and still couldn't honestly say I believe (I hope that's the right term) and yet I feel this pull towards the idea of church.

Put simply I feel like I want to be part of something, I want that feeling of singing together, reciting prayers together, feeling like I'm in accord with people around me and that we're sharing something. I'm struggling to articulate this but it's more than that, I feel like I want something to believe in, something to give me comfort during tough times and a shared connection/belief with others. But that would be dishonest when I can't honestly say I believe wouldn't it? I'm so confused, and yet I keep finding myself googling local churches, researching what the various denominations believe, trying to figure out what I believe I suppose

I've been looking at something called an Alpha course with my local CofE church, does anyone know about these and does that seem like a good idea in my position? I think I'm worried I'm more attracted to the structure of religion and fulfilling some need in myself than because I actually believe in God and that seems wrong. Can anyone help please?

What you describe is exactly what I want from church RedRec, perfectly described thank you And yes, the rituals are a big part of the draw for me too Janiah, I've been married 15 years though so that one should be easily put to bed

@Nothingbutquestions

This thread has been interesting for me because I’m new to church and Christmas coming has made even more worried about whether it’s okay

But the church has helped me so much, so....I would help them, so hopefully it’s all good.

Plus in the current world, I’m beginning to think the knots we can tie ourselves in....!

In Edinburgh they have humanist gatherings which provide what you are looking for in terms of regular meet ups, shared beliefs and community involvement.

It might be worth looking for something similar where you are.

Yes I think humanist sounds more like what you are looking fir perhaps

Humanism or general secular gathering was my first choice but there’s no regular groups nearby unless you count four blokes in the pub once a month. No offence to blokes or pubs!

I also looked at Unitarianism but my nearest one has a very different definition of woman than I do. That might be yet more of one of the joys of London.