I don't know much about Buddhism, but your suggestion about joining a Christian or Muslim church is likely to backfire. If you're joining out of purely a desire

I don't know much about Buddhism, but your suggestion about joining a Christian or Muslim church is likely to backfire. If you're joining out of purely a desire for social connection, you may find some difficulty if you discover the philosophical requirements are too much for you to bear. In other words, you might make friends, then realize you're not on board with the theology, then end up with a very rough break up. This happened to me in college at least. Led to the worst time of my life.