I have a friend who is an intelligent, liberal, feminist atheist. She grew up in an atheist household, and her parents are very educated, totally laid-back, open people who drink and swear. (Basically, they are normal people.)

She confuses me because she voluntarily attends the LDS YSA ward fairly regularly. She is what you would call a "dry Mormon" - she never swears, follows the Word of Wisdom, no tattoos etc. She has no belief in God whatsoever but enjoys studying religion. After she read the Book of Mormon, she said it was some of the worst writing she had ever read and that it was complete bullsh*t. She knows the religion is a fraud, but she would never criticize the LDS church or our LDS friends because as she says, "to each his own."

I am trying to understand any reason why she would attend. When I asked her, she just said she goes for the cultural experience. She has said that she would never be baptized. I guess I should note that she is single and is not attending for a boyfriend (not a hormonal convert). Her closest friends are all atheists too. I guess I am worried that she is going to somehow change and start believing the craziness. I just don't want to lose my friend.

Thoughts?

Social reasons. I think Mormons are generally nice people. Were it not for the lies our kids would be taught on a weekly basis, we wouldn't mind going just for the friendships. Even if we sat there as non-believers, the warm welcome in our ward and the kind people are what I will miss most. I'll also miss singing in the church choir and in our women's quartet.

Hm. She is attracted to something there. She sees something she likes. Otherwise she wouldn't go more than once or twice.

maybe she's OCD and likes the order of it all. Something that can def tell her that A.B. and C. will happen on such and such date. ?? just a thought.

Is she interested in rituals or studied sociology or like kind subjects?

I am an atheist, no agnostic-y questions for me, but I do like to go to catholic mass. I like the ritual just as much as the native american rituals I've seen. (i'm native american). I usually go at the major holidays and family events; my husband is a former Catholic now Agnostic and at times we go to mass for family things.

There is no chance that I will ever believe in the christian god but mass is interesting to me.

I don't know if that helps.

type(s) of relationships she has been in?

It doesn't sound too serious. One thing you could do to test the waters would be to look at something like mormonthink.com or "Top 10 mormon problems explained" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ac_fLUHiBw or wivesjosephsmith.org with her. If she agrees that the Mormon church is whacked you are fine - if she starts defending the LDS church you have a problem.

YSA wards can be fun socially. Everyone's the same age, no kids, lots of activities, etc. When I attended it was just like belonging to fraternity/sorority. That could be why she goes.

Hopefully she doesn't get sucked into getting baptized. I would have her read www.mormonthink.com or www.utlm.org just for good measure.

I have heard many atheists (including Richard Dawkins) express a feeling of envy over the "solidarity" of "community" or "united congregation."

"Belonging" is a need that almost all humans have.

She probably likes the feeling of acceptance she has found there.

...the problem is that Mormon acceptance has contingencies.

Eventually she will run into those contingencies, and she will decide she can't keep associating with them.

Give her time.
(getting her ward excited to convert her is all it will take. She'll get an ultimatum to convert in less than a year)

It's probably intellectual curiosity as well as just plain fascination with an alien way of life and thinking. She's there as a tourist. Doesn't sound like the kind of person who would go over to the dark side.