My latest newsletter! It's the second half of last week's essay about what I learned from being an atheist singing in church choirs.
https://buttondown.email/charliejane/archive/i-was-a-religious-icon-for-a-dozen-years-part-2/
@charliejane - really resonated with this a lot as former PK (preacher's kid) who is agnostic now (about everything) and a current member of the Unitarian Universalist Association because there is something to having a spiritual community and doing rituals together - even in the UUA where we're none of us believing the exact same things about the divine - that feels right and good and whole.
@sophygurl Yeah, I've spent some time in Unitarian circles and like them a lot! If the Unitarians had better music I'd consider joining... <g>
@charliejane - ha, yea, it came out of 2 progressive protestant traditions so some of the shared culture is very ... basic, though that is slowly changing over time. The CLF (the non-physical mostly online congregation I belong to) shares some really cool music sometimes. One night they used I'm Coming Out by Diana Ross in a service about queerness, for example. But overall, yes, I absolutely get what you're saying. lol
@sophygurl Yeah... classical European choral music is the main thing I miss about church, and I make a point of seeing performances of it when I can!
@charliejane @sophygurl If you're ever in Providence, RI during a holiday, check out the First Baptist Church in America (basically adjacent to Brown + RISD campuses). Fantastic organ + choir music the few times I've been (and the history is pretty awesome too)
