So You Think You're Not Religious

If you are actively trying to make some sense out of existence, you may be more religious than you think you are. If you think you're not religious because you don't (or can't) believe certain propositions put forward by religious groups, you may be surprised to learn that Christianity is not necessarily about believing stuff. According to James Rowe Adams, the primary focus of Christianity may not be about believing but about living in a community--a community in which you find companions in the search for meaning, a community where you can celebrate your triumphs and joys and can find support in failure and in sorrow, a community that provides rituals for the transitions of your life, a community that tells a story in which you can find a place for yourself. It is a story beginning with the recollections of the Hebrew-speaking people and of the early followers of Jesus, the teacher from Nazareth in Galilee.
You may think you're not regilious because you see yourself as an agnostic or atheist, as a humanist or secularist, as a skeptic or doubter, or as a person who is spiritual but not religious. However you see yourself, you may find yourself feeling right at home among Christians who use the word "God" as Adams does in reference to certain kinds of experiences but who resist talking about "God" as a sort of being who occasionally intervenes in nature or in human history.