TimesEcho

There's a distinction between child-ish and child-like. So far I haven't seen anyone say they enjoy anything child-ish (except maybe alternative song lyrics?), but all the lovely child-like responses warm my heart. I eat "sugar cereal" for dessert. Because I'm an adult and I can. Also, I make up silly songs all the time and talk to myself and my cats in silly voices.

I put olive oil on the popcorn first, make sure it's nice and coated and then sprinkle on a mix I previously stirred together in a little bowl:
1/2 teaspoon Chicken Bouillon powder
shake in as much of the following as I want:
Italian Seasoning (usually more of this than the others)
Cinnamon (couple shakes)
Taco Seasoning (or any other kind of premade seasoning mix - the Chili flavor packet from Top Ramen is good) about a teaspoon, maybe
And finish with a lot of nutritional yeast.
Stir really well. I use the end of a wooden spoon kind of like a pestle in the bowl to break up the nutritional yeast flakes.

I'll pop a cup of popcorn at a time and put on maybe 1/3 to half a cup of seasoning. I made it last night for dinner. It takes about a minute to do the seasoning mix.

If you have an -ism (and some would argue that we all have -isms) there is likely a 12-step group for that. What is needed for friendships to develop:

1. Repeated exposure over time. This means being able to count on seeing someone regularly, like once a week at a thing during which you actually talk to each other (so movie nights don't work).
2. Trust. This comes either from how an event is structured (like the meeting format and principles found in a 12-step group, or the Unitarians have Small Group Connection Circles that function similarly, but without the -isms) OR from spending enough time together that sharing sensitive stuff is accepted and encouraged.
3. Reciprocity. Both people have to put in the same amount of effort. (And share the same level of sensitive stuff. One can't overshare about their personal life if together they've only ever talked about books.) This means you both commit to being the one to ask to meet up if the other one did it last time, or what have you.

I've spent a lot of time in my adult life trying to find ways to bring people together and develop friendships. It isn't easy and most people aren't willing to commit to one of the three things above, so you'll have to go to places where they do.

If you want a community without the religion, I suggest trying out the Unitarians. Each congregation is different, but they don't have any dogma and each person is free to believe what they like. They have all the good social aspects of belonging to church without any of the toxicity in other religions.