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Been thinking about taking my atheist ass to a local church just to get more in touch with my neighbors

That's actually a huge part of what makes conservatives effective recruiters. Often times, people join these local gatherings for that sense of community, and then adopt their viewpoints to maintain that community. I feel like liberals and leftists have fallen very short on these incentives.

the irony poisoned always make fun of people who like, go to coffee shops and read and work and stuff because they think that they want to be "seen" working when in reality it's just nice to be around other people sometimes, man. for all its ills, church was a good way to get that need filled

I'm not saying religion needs to come back as a cornerstone of Canadian society. I'm saying that other third places need to fill in where Church was previously. Like it's legit one of the reasons I want to get involved in the local FGC again. Just to have that connection to community.

i long for a future decade in which sundays are for bringing hotdish and a flask of rum to the church’s Smash tourney the wizened biddies tsk at the teenage upstart demanding fox only, final destination

grew up in that world and honestly, yeah, that's a big thing I miss and was influential on my entire upbringing / quality of life

It sounds very very boiler plate and pointless to iterate but the loss of physical third spaces has been a tragedy for our towns and culture.

I worked for 5 years 6pm to 630 am and making time do do things with folks on regular 1st shift was genuinely hard even on my days off(3.5 days/week) Also you're expected to move to get any advancement as no one promotes from within and so you gotta swap jobs every 3 years if you want good comp.

It does seem that a key part of community is being physically around people

the guy laughing and having a good time at the potluck also spouting some of the most putrid bigotry you could imagine.

Honestly if not for vrchat friends creating a proper mental 3rd place for me - idk if i would've survived the pandemic isolation days, and the current.. everything

I miss third spaces...

As someone from the rural US, I’ve been bemoaning this a lot recently. People truly are pickling their brains within their homes and not engaging with culture outside of conspiracies and groceries. Rural society has turned into a ghost town, and it’s not like there was a lot to do to begin with.

The library and the local cafe are my favorite 3rd spaces

this is also why gym/yoga/whatever group class thing related to arts or sports rock, in general. it's nice to meet people sometimes, no matter how reclusive I tend to be

I wasn't either?

Can I just say it makes me happy to see this being acknowledged in a way that doesn't sound completely sanctimonious? A lot of people are so driven by religious trauma that they resist acknowledging how instrumental it is to unity. I hope more people go to them even just to gain more perspective!

No word of a lie: this is the reason I started playing magic the gathering. getting out of the house and being around other people. It helps a LOT.