Belief is a spectrum and there is no way to externally verify it. In fact, even if you could externally verify, you'll find that there is a wide range of beliefs even among those who "legitimately" believe.
A cult of personality around a magic man in the sky is in the grand scheme of things not much different than a cult of personality around some celebrity or politician/party.
A requirement to "believe" in god has the advantage to provide a common ground for members as well as a set of baseline manners/behaviors. In retrospect, this is actually an advantage. Most social clubs/etc always need some common ground and a shared activity/belief they can congregate around. Whether it's a celebrity or a magic man in the sky doesn't particularly matter, but something is needed.
Unless the very tenets of the religion are so revolting to you (or if you actually believe in something else and this religion would be against what you believe), just fake it. Unless it's a very secluded and "practicing" religious group, you may find that a lot of other people have also varying beliefs but choose to play the game because the value of being part of the group outweighs the downside of faking it.
Also, most mainstream religions have at least some tenets you can get behind, even as an atheist. Just that the atheist would agree with them because it's just good morals as opposed to having to follow some magic man's orders, but they don't have to know that.
I was borna Muslim but I consider myself a "cultural Muslim" and do not look into it any further.
It does not stop me volunteering at my local mosque food bank etc. The social interaction and doing some good for the community trumps any views I have on the religion.
A cult of personality around a magic man in the sky is in the grand scheme of things not much different than a cult of personality around some celebrity or politician/party.
A requirement to "believe" in god has the advantage to provide a common ground for members as well as a set of baseline manners/behaviors. In retrospect, this is actually an advantage. Most social clubs/etc always need some common ground and a shared activity/belief they can congregate around. Whether it's a celebrity or a magic man in the sky doesn't particularly matter, but something is needed.
Unless the very tenets of the religion are so revolting to you (or if you actually believe in something else and this religion would be against what you believe), just fake it. Unless it's a very secluded and "practicing" religious group, you may find that a lot of other people have also varying beliefs but choose to play the game because the value of being part of the group outweighs the downside of faking it.
Also, most mainstream religions have at least some tenets you can get behind, even as an atheist. Just that the atheist would agree with them because it's just good morals as opposed to having to follow some magic man's orders, but they don't have to know that.