I've been a trumpet player for 25 years and used to do many gigs at local churches. I stopped performing several years ago as I found it harder and harder to reconcile my personel religious beliefs with the various denominations that I was playing at. It seems that most of the time that the churches I played at assumed and some virtually insisted that I share their beliefs.

This came to a head for me during a sermon where the minister was insisting that the earth was only 5,000 years old and that the scientific community was lying and producing false evidence to make the world appear millions of years old in order to discredit religion. After encountering more than a few churches that have belief systems contrary to mine I decided to stop playing churches. I felt guilty nodding my head and taking their money when deep down I was in complete disbelief.

Now a few years later I'm thinking about doing more performing and I'm considering getting back into church performances. I guess my question to the community here is:

"Do you believe it is ethical to play in churches even though you may not share their beliefs and to keep the gigs you have to 'go along' and basically patronize them?"