“Chris Bell” wrote:

When being a member of the church was a social necessity or could lead to advancement at work or help to get a job etc, then I can see this was a problem.

If you are working as a teacher in a Christian School then part of your contract is that you MUST be a regular church goer. What happens if your beliefs change? No job.

As to  ¨beliefs ¨, I suggest you look at the National Church Life Survey results for what churchgoers say they believe.

http://www.ncls.org.au/