I have very negative feelings about most organized religion but I have to say the community aspect is something I hate throwing out with the bathwater. I have pretty much fully replaced it with a good group of friends that gets together a minimum of once a week for a potluck. In a lot of ways it's better: less drama, no internal-politics, etc and it ticks all the boxes for me but I can imagine if I had kids I'd feel that they weren't getting the same experience I had growing up w.r.t. kids/friends their age (not that they'd need to have the same experience as me and I'd look for other outlets for friends/peers for them).
In the meantime my friend group half-jokes about buying some land and all living on it together (really, I think with the right prompting/circumstances we'd do it), a commune if you will. We have also joked about starting our own "religion" for tax purposes. I wonder if this is how some cults start? I think a lot of people in my generation yearn for this kind connection/community/closeness since church is a non-starter (at least for people I associate with).
Don’t worry, capital c Cults require some more intense personality traits and manipulative/abusive practices, preying on those in some kind of need. Usually accompanied by a strong whiff of narcissism :)
In the meantime my friend group half-jokes about buying some land and all living on it together (really, I think with the right prompting/circumstances we'd do it), a commune if you will. We have also joked about starting our own "religion" for tax purposes. I wonder if this is how some cults start? I think a lot of people in my generation yearn for this kind connection/community/closeness since church is a non-starter (at least for people I associate with).