My wife, who is Catholic, and her mother, who is also Catholic, were having a discussion about preferring one church in town to another because they like the priest who gives good homilies.
It made me think of all the Masses I ever attended, all the homilies I ever listened to, even when I was really into religion. I never once heard a homily that I responded to in a way that they respond to homilies. It never scratched me where I itch.
Later that day, I was reading a Slate Star Codex column (Against Murderism, if you must know), and I remember hoping that no one would come into the room and interrupt me so I could finish the lengthy column.
And I also remember how much I liked the column, how much it scratched me where I itch. And I thought: this must be what it feels like for Catholics to hear a good homily.
If church provides people with meaning and an ethical framework to live by, then I guess I'm just looking for the same thing.
It made me think of the David Foster Wallace line about how "In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism." And if Scott Alexander is my pastor, I guess that makes rationalism my religion.
One thing this "faith" cannot replicate is the built-in social infrastructure that churches have. I don't get the benefit of regular face-to-face interaction with a community of like-minded believers.
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