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going to religious services doesn't make anyone more of a religious member than standing in a garage makes you a car.

i attend church with my family because i have to. in fact, i'm an acolyte at the christmas eve service this afternoon. my family is episcopal btw. i'm an atheist, but my parents could very well disown me if they were to find that out. i go to church just so they'll be happy about it. i have the whole service memorized and probably understand the things in it better than a lot of religious people.

going to church doesn't always mean you're a better believer. a lot of people only go because they think that is all they have to do. plenty of people i know haven't been a part of a church in years, but actually live by the morals and whatever that they preach better than the majority of people claim to be christians.

In my opinion, we don't really need to operate under the assumption that god exists.

I personally do no need religious service; I am not religious.
Whether there is a god or not; IMO, it's a good thing that people have access to religious services even if just to satisfy the "Everyone has the right to freedom of belief/religion/practice those religions" commandment/rights.
Also, I don't think they need to understand exactly what the pastor/whatever is saying to have belief in the subject mtter or to follow said religion. It's more so being in the "house of god" alone that makes them feel closer to him/her/it in times of need or during regular service.

If people want to practice religion, they should, and they should be able to have religious services to attend if they wish to, I just don't wish to be a part of it and I also don't think you need to follow certain religion "morals/rules" in order to be a "better believer", same goes with attending services.

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Agreed.

"A toothache, or a violent passion, is not necessarily diminished by our knowledge of its causes, its character, its importance or insignificance".- T.S. Eliot

Why do people who don't get it or aren't very "strict" believers go to religious services? A couple of reasons, I think... some go for the social side of it, some go just to learn, and some go because it makes them feel like they are "good" believers. There are quite a people who go for this last reason, I think, and I'll be open and say that I am fairly critical of people who go to services and claim to be religious, but don't really know anything about their religion and its doctrine.

Assuming (for example) Christianity to be true, church services can be genuinely harmful for those who honestly believe their religion to be true. From my observations, people just tend to suck up whatever it is that their pastor tells them in the sermon without ever actually comparing the gospel preached to that of the Bible or considering that it might be wrong. This is potentially very dangerous for those attending churches that preach universal salvation or other false doctrines that have the potential to prevent the reception of salvation. Personally, I consider it wise to be a member of more than one congregation: receiving two different "points of view" helps to prevent such blind acceptance, and questions regarding teachings can be asked of ministers at both churches.

Does going to church make one a "better" believer? Potentially. Again from my own observations (so criticise this if you will), those Christians who don't go to church tend to slowly drift from their religion. God ceases to be a big part of their lives, and many of these people don't study scripture in their own time. Essentially what this results in is the same as the preaching of false gospel: people believe false doctrine and begin to stop glorifying God with their lives. Now, I'm not saying that this always happens - I think it's 100% possible to be a strict Christian and not go to church, and it's also possible to be a devout atheist or liberal Christian and go to church - rather, I'm saying religious services tend to help believers maintain their beliefs. I think it is largely to do with the teaching at religious services, but it is also partially due to the company of those of the same religion.