I enjoy historical architecture. But ordinarily if there's a service involved, I feel suffocated. And I hate organ music (unless it's the Phantom of the Opera). Oddly enough, I attend a Unitarian church regularly. And what a difference from the church when I was growing up. Unitarians are pretty much Humanists -- a non-creedal "religion" of freekers and non-theists. And believe me, that was a relief to find in the conservative South.

Um, based on the architecture, stained glass, maybe the organ pipes...... nothing more than that.

I hate being there for any reason. I joke that my feet will catch fire for touching the building. It burns! It burns so bad! fuck religion and the fake reasons for gathering.

I get that people need community, to do it for a fake and even harmful reason is not a virtue.

As so many have already commented, the architecture of some churches and cathedrals is breathtaking. However, since those are a rare occurrence in my life, when I walk into a church because I feel I must to honor someone I care about (as in funerals or weddings), I feel a bit like Mata Hari. I feel like an imposter because so often I have found that if I'm in a church that others assume I agree with their dogma. I do not correct their views in these ceremonial occasions because I don't want to distract attention from the focus of the ceremony. So I sit or stand there thinking most irreverant thoughts and wondering about whether or not there'll be interesting food at the reception.

From an architectural point of view, old Gothic churches are beautiful.

Depends on the church. I grew up with the church so no sense of discomfort for me now. As a child I used to dread spending half my day sitting there. Some structures can inspire a sense of awe, such as cathedrals. If my life is particularly turbulent I can feel a sense of peace going there because I know the members of the congregation will welcome me and support me even if I don't agree with their views (this would not be the case in all churches).

Sometimes l like the architecture, other than that nothing. They are just buildings.

A few years ago my wife and I went on a Danube River Cruise, every day it seemed we visited another cathedral, yes the construction and architecture were awesome.

But, by the end of the cruise we were calling it the ADC tour, ADC = Anorher Damned Cathedral

I don't enter churches. If I did I would be watching for the roof to cave in

I'm a master builder, 4th in my line, so I can see the beauty of the architecture and the craftsmanship that went into the construction of some of these churches, I respect that. However, I also see the underlying point of the architecture, to inspire a sense of awe and with that a sense insignificance in the church goer. Some of the older churches I visited in South America were brilliant works of architecture and engineering, they have survived massive earthquakes for centuries and they are lined with gold and ornate carvings - they always have a crowd of beggars and hawkers of religious trinkets out front as well. So I dread entering into those spaces for the evil and oppression they represent.

It depends on the church. I usually only pop into fairly ornate ones, at which point my mind starts asking things like "okay, where's the nave, apse, and transept? Where's the basilica, if there is one? Do they have an impressive pipe organ? What about the chevet?" Then there's the stained glass (is it real?), whether the pews are impressively hand carved, and the rose window (again, if there is one). It could count on the poll above as awe, and there can be peace found within, but also indifference if the structure is kind of blah.

I usually think about how the building could be better used and lament the fact that it isn't something more useful like or a school a library

The only time even consider entering a church building is because a family member or friend has died that that is the site of the service.

I feel like I wonder how it could be repurposed for a living space. LMAO /always stalking churches for sale. Sadly most of the really great ones are in the middle of fucking nowhere

Yes I have to say none of the above also. I approach any architecture or art apart from the impetus for its creation (other than for context in understanding it).

I enjoyed Westminster Abbey for example for its architecture and acoustics and as a way of honoring the various "greats" interred therein. I attended an Evensong service there and found it rather refreshing in its lack of commentary; it was just some choral music and reading of scripture without exposition. I also on another occasion attended a pipe organ concert there and found it to be presided over by a snobbish prig with very strange ideas about what constitutes musicality and who deprived me of an opportunity to expose my son to the best of what a large instrument in a big space could evoke. So, like everything else in human enterprise -- it has both the sublime and the ridiculous.

A sense of interest in the art and architecture.