Unschooling Religion

I think we are finally able to really call ourselves "whole life unschoolers" or "radical unschoolers" since we are no longer planning to force church(the last aspect we are finally letting go of). I have been reading a lot of books lately, I mean A LOT! They have been all unschooling or peaceful parenting related and the more I read, the more my thoughts have been swayed to believe that religion and radical unschooling really don't go together. This go round at the LDS church hasn't gone like I expected. My kids quickly embraced all their friends, but they have simply not embraced the church part of it. They hate sacrament and show disrespect during it no matter how many pleas I make and really I don't want kids who comply with something like this if they are truly not enjoying it. I am realizing that in order to really continue following unconditional/peaceful/authentic parenting, I cannot force my kids to go to church and if they do not want to go, I don't really have much desire either especially watching their distaste and Nate sleeping in the pew. The next order of business is Nate who has always jokingly called himself a "Natist" when it comes to religion. He is not into the lovey dovey parts of religion and it has always made him uncomfortable. I guess religion is something I have always searched for because its something I feel society expects of us and our homeschool group is uber religious as well, but I just don't know if its right for us at this time. I read my Bible and of course I believe in God, but for us, for our family, I think we need to give up organized religion. It feels wrong even though we are told it is right. Its inspirational and very moving many times, but something deep inside me feels it isn't right for us. Maybe this is why we searched out so many churchs, I was looking for somewhere that made us comfortable when in the end, none of them did because its not right for our family. My kids know who Jesus is and we talk lots and pray lots together, however, I just think our family has had a few interesting/annoying/hilarious/uncomfortable years in and our of different church's and many aspects of the Christian faith. I think my kids have had an amazing experience getting to pick out different church's to try, but ultimately, none of us can stand anywhere we go. The "teaching" for kids in church is so undermining of who my children are and they are smart little cookies because they complain incessantly about how the teachers talk to them like they are their pets or two year olds or something. They are quick to pick up on stuff like this because that isn't how we treat them. My kids are used to being respected as an equal, not some unknowing babies or dogs awaiting training so I believe this part of our lives makes church very hard on the kids. I think radical unschooling and institutional church settings just are not mixing well. Nate says we are naturists and we believe in nature and God and that's it. lol, who knows, but its funny to think about. I hate letting church friends down by not being able to commit to it all, but ultimately our family isn't going to work out in any church I don't think. That's alright though and I have really begun coming to terms with that being a high possibility over the past year. Some good books I have read lately that have helped me in my thinking about anything institutional including church are:

• Unconditional Parenting
• Learning All the Time
• Homeschooling our Children, Unschooling Ourselves
• The Happy Child: Changing the Heart of Education