The holiday season is upon us. It is a time of year when people miraculously rediscover their faith. Some would consider myself to be one of these neophytes who cast aside their pagan ways for the holiest of holidays.

Of course, I am referring to what several of my friends refer to as “Chreaster Christians.” For those not familiar with the concept, it is when a person only attends church for Christmas and Easter. This is an accurate description of my church attendance habits.

My parents made a deal with me when I was younger: I had to go to Sunday School every week until I was confirmed, and then I was free to do what I wanted. My mom has the perfect attendance pins to show I held up my end of the bargain for about a decade, and for the past seven years my parents have been holding up their end.

After I was confirmed, my attendance steadily decreased. The desire to sleep in on Sundays and the uncomfortable pews were a few of the factors leading to my disregard for the third commandment, or whatever one says to keep the Sabbath holy.

The main reason I stopped attending church is services are depressing. I’m not talking about boring sermons, the Old Testament and hokey hymns; I’m talking about going to church and looking around at the other people in the congregation. I only saw a few people there looking for inspiration.

I saw people going out of force of habit. I saw people looking for reassurance that they were not the only person who believes in this higher being mumbo jumbo. I saw a scheme to milk people out of their money in the name of the Lord.

Church was not a place where I felt God’s love. Church was a building where people went to every week because there were taking a collection of books detailing events that may or may not have actually happened for gospel.

So I stopped going. Now I’m not saying people who go to church every Sunday are suckers. People should go to church if it inspires them. I have friends that come back from church and say it’s the best part of the week because the service is so inspiring. But I also know there are people who come back from church and it’s the best part of their week because it’s the point of the week that is farthest from more church.

I do go to church on Christmas and Easter. But it is not because I feel I have to. It is because those are the few days I actually feel inspired by church. Every Christmas Eve my church back home holds a beautiful candlelit ceremony that never fails to bring out some kind of emotion.

Faith is different for every person. It is not what somebody said two millennia ago. It is how people feel about their own spirituality. People can go to church and believe in God, Allah, Buddha, etc. and people don’t have to go to church and still believe in whatever they want.

Faith is meant to inspire. If it doesn’t, what is the point of spending an hour each Sunday listening to someone tell me why I’m going to Hell? I have my roommates for that, and I see them every day.