Would you care what denomination of church you attended?

Rick and I attended a church briefly. I don’t think it was any particular denomination. I liked it because it was totally integrated. It was about half black and half white, some Indians and Asians. The preacher and other church heads were black, so it had that soul flavor through the church, but it wasn’t over the top. It wasn’t sedate either. And they had a pot luck dinner once a month. Good food!
One Sunday they invited a black female preacher from Wichita in. I will never forget how she was exhorting people to yell out, but we just weren’t loud enough or excited enough for her, I guess, and at one point she scowled in disapproval and said, “I’m not used to this kind of congregation.” I felt like she was talking directly to the white people. I didn’t got back there again. Eventually the church died.

why are some people insistent on what kind of church they attend, and why do they look down on people of other denominations?

Because for the vast majority of adherents, it’s tribal, not a deliberate choice based on researching the options.

“Tribal.” Interesting. Thanks @Call_Me_Jay.

I am going to agree with @Call_Me_Jay on this.
I think it was mostly what you were brought up on and the beliefs of your family .
If you were brought up Catholic for the most part you are not just going to one day start attending a Muslim Mosk.
I do believe in God but really don’t like man’s religion and all the idiotic rules that go with it.

But there are some who actually believe, with all their heart, that if you don’t go to their congregation you’re going to hell! Such silliness.

I would only attend a Church of Satan.
I like the attention. All those people worshipping me.

Well if you are a believer, and your church has specific instructions to get to heaven, it follows that people outside aren’t going to make it.

I find it weirder that people follow a very specific creed, but take an attitude that other beliefs are equal.

I would want to belong to a group that was close to my belief system, that was welcoming and broad minded, and open to both its own beliefs being challenged, and challenging my own belief structure.

I attended Pentecostal churches mostly. I don’t know that they had any specific instructions on how to get to heaven beyond the most common one…you have to believe in all the miraculous nonsense. I sucked as a Christian.

@zenvelo me too.

The only time I experienced prejudice over other denominations was when I went to High School that was 97% Jewish and I was called a Nazi for 4 years. I remember times when my Catholic peers were equally exclusive. Religions/denominations IMO are exclusionary by design.

And that is exactly the opposite of what they’re supposed to be.

The only time I go to church now is on Christmas eve. I wouldn’t go to a church that’s not my denomination because they do things and believe in things that I don’t believe in. For example, I wouldn’t go to Catholic church because they genuflect, they believe in mortal sin, they preach about going to hell and stuff like that. The church I go to is not like that at all.

If I were religious, yes. Denominations can differ a lot among each other.

But I’m not religious, so…

I’m going to assume that by churches, you also mean temples or synagogues for Jews.

And the answer is Yes. I was raised a liberal (i.e. reform Jew) – somewhat of a free thinker. I am uncomfortable in a Conservative synagogue and I wouldn’t set foot in an Orthodox synagogue because their outlook is much more like the Taliban are to Muslims – very rule bound and living in a world of 300 years ago.

My religious view would be closer to Unitarians or Agnostics than they are to people of the conservative (small c) branch of my own religion.

Back in my mid-20’s I made one last, sincere effort at embracing the faith of my community. Even at that, however, I knew from previous experience that just any church would not suit me, so I looked at the denominations of those churches that were in my town and picked the one that came the closest to matching my social views. That church happened to be Methodist.

(Believe it or not, however, I would probably have went to a Catholic church, had there been one, because I really kinda like the pomp, ritual and ceremony.)

Ultimately I ended up leaving because I just didn’t believe in any of it and couldn’t make myself believe. Couldn’t as a kid, sure as shit couldn’t as an adult.

Having been reared in a church and attended churches, I make a strong distinction between churches, synagogues, and various types of belief systems. Just a day ago, I mentioned to my husband that if my present place of worship ever dissolved—ceased to exist—I would go nowhere.

I’m one of those types that believes the Bible and believes, from experience, that we are very faulty people. I’m tired of those who tend to read into the Bible their preferences while trying to be leaders, using their own little rules and ideas.

I don’t think I would like a Catholic church. I’ve only been to a few services but they seem so archaic and steep in some sort of magic rituals. There is no warmth or spontaneity.
I don’t think I’d care for a Baptist church. I think they’d be too militant.
I think a Methodist church, or the Pentecostal churches, would (and were) be more up my ally.