BENEFITS OF RITUAL AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY 
It is instructive to compare the intoxicating effects of addictive substances (e.g alcohol, drugs, etc.) and behaviors (e.g. gambling, sex, etc.) with religion. Religion always includes rituals of many kinds that vary in form from one religion to another.

STUDY TIP: Read more about the toxic, addictive effects of religion in Toxicity.

Everyone understands that alcoholics and other addicts re-intoxicate themselves on a more or less regular schedule because the benefits of the intoxicating highs (physical, emotional and social) they experience do not last. No religious person would admit, however, that his/her faithfulness to repeatedly participate in religious rituals/worship (e.g. morning devotions, grace at meals, prayer at bed time, reading the Bible according to a schedule, public worship, communion, etc.) is inspired by any motive other than the sincere desire to intimately connect with their god and secure favor — whether short term or long term — from their god. They are deceived into believing that their religious activities are pure and effectual because their religious culture tells them that it is.

Always taking their cues about their religion from their religious leaders, they rarely, if ever stop to consider or evaluate the many other personal and social benefits of religion that may, or may not, float through their conscious minds from time to time. The following links isolate and elaborate on those many other benefits that are usually only perceived at the subconscious level:

Religious people do not need social scientists or psychologists to tell them that religion is food for them. They know it to be true because they experience the benefits on a regular basis. They may not articulate in their conscious minds what those benefits are, but they intuitively know that they are real and they value those benefits — even though the religious food they eat only nourishes their souls and not their spirits. So, they ignorantly keep going back to church or synagogue for food that does not satisfy because they are deceived about the truth that the food religion offers is unclean.

STUDY TIP: See Pride for a deeper discussion about the benefits of religion.

But religion is not the only place that offers soulish food. Atheists who attend godless churches have learned the value of a non-religious community in which they fellowship with others to replicate the benefits of religion in non-religious venues.

People who attend these secular gatherings understand the value of community and ritual. Even though they have rejected Bible-based religious doctrines and teachings, they recreate and embrace the principles of ritual. What they do still fits the definition of religion, but it is religion without God. They have simply created new idols and rituals.

STUDY TIP: See this link for an insightful essay on the value of belonging to a religious community.

It can be said that one reason people drop out of religion is because they pay too high a price (e.g. freedom, financially, etc.) for the benefits they receive, and/or, they learn that those benefits can be achieved/acquired without selling their souls to religious institutions. That is what atheists who attend Sunday Assemblies have discovered.

We can’t be sure, why individuals drop out of religion, but it is reasonable to assume that for many it is because they learn that religion just cannot deliver on its promises of unconditional love and acceptance. They have seen too many examples of abuse, rejection and hypocrisy to be convinced that their religious community is really a safe place. They still believe that God is love, but they doubt that true love is available in religious communities. So they drop out hoping to find a safe, secure alternative to religion.