• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Atheist Mega Churches ----- WTF?

Believers would just love that, wouldn't they? Lots of atheists in the same building at the same time.

If I were a member, I would propose a pancake breakfast where everyone tries to identify a deity in their food. The elected winner gets to call bingo numbers next Thursday, and said miracle is posted to the website.
 
So I grew up Unitarian Universalist. UUs sometimes call their meeting places churches, sometimes fellowships, etc. The idea, as noted above, is to gather and share and be part of a like-minded community. Generally this time was used to discuss various recent events, coordinate responses such as helping various charities with work, share life events, and celebrate life. Some UU fellowships are more 'religious' than others; some are practically atheist 'churches', if you want to call it that. I enjoyed having a place to go to be with people who were more like-minded with me than practically anybody else I interact with, even if not exactly.
 
I used to attend the North Texas Church of Freethought. Initially I thought using the term "church" was a pragmatic way to undercut hostile attitudes toward unbelievers, promote positive views, and help gain tax exemptions for unbeliever community gatherings.

Unfortunately, I found the church's founders were very serious about presenting freethought as a religion. In their view, for instance, Christianity would be a faith-based religion and freethought a fact-based religion.

To me, arguing that freethought is a religion seriously mangles the language. It didn't stop there, however. Bloggers at the church's web site considered using the language of faith, terms such as "spirit" or "soul," to advance the views of an alleged fact-based "religion."

In the end, I decided the "church" wasn't promoting freethought unvarnished; it was erecting an odd hybrid "religion" of faith assumptions and secular thought. It wasn't for me.
 
Is the principle of the church, atheism?...as opposed to atheists being members of like a club? If its an atheist church, is there the equivalent of a pastor who is in a pulpit who say preaches evolution and how baseless Creationism is? I havent gone to church since a young man. But when i did, i never heard a pastor give a sermon about how evolutionists are wrong. I mainly was brainwashed(for lack of a better word) to believe that both the Big Bang and evolution were not to be believed, as being silly concepts based on a presumed fact that a watch dont make itself and things dont happen without a maker...from religious tracts i was given, or from religous people that gave such views on tv...say like Jack Van Impe or Dr. Duane Gish, or Dr. Carl Baugh. Dr. Gish was the first guy whose tracts i read when in my late teens. The other 2 guys i saw later in life on tv. And more stuff from the Creation Museum founded by Ken Ham. All of this stuff can be googled.

Anyhow, i didnt really here this preached in church. I dont think they felt they needed to. People came to church because they were believers. That being said, do atheists then feel a need to preach how say creationism is wrong? And people actually come to a ``church`` like this on a regular basis to be told things just happened....and when you die, that`s it for you?, lol. And people actually care enough to go, and hear such sermons or speeches?
And is that why they attend? Or do they really attend because they play cards, bingo, darts, drink beer, or whatever? Also, do they pass around a collection plate?, or pay dues, like a club? And are their `services`(lol) usually held on a certain day? And do they have any particular festive holidays that counter to say Christmas and Easter? Say Haloween is their day? :)
 
zooterkin said:
What would you call it instead? Serious question. People know what church is about; how would you convey the same sense of getting together on a regular basis to celebrate life and community, but without god or other irrational beliefs?
Click to expand...

Plenty of different words you could use, but the word "church" is linked to religion by definition. An atheist "church" that has religion are not skeptics, they are Scientologists or Raelians. If there is no religion, it should not be be called a church.
Atheists often emphasize the irrationality of religion, what sense or good does it do to co opt all their terminology and practices? All this is is a desperate attempt to feel something they miss from actual church, the social group aspect.

Well, you've already got the one in your avatar, though I prefer this one, which is providing alternatives to religious weddings, for example.
Click to expand...

This is satire.
 
Last edited:
Edx said:
Plenty of different words you could use, but the word "church" is linked to religion by definition. An atheist "church" that has religion are not skeptics, they are Scientologists or Raelians. If there is no religion, it should not be be called a church.
Click to expand...
Right, but what would you call it, that conveys the same information about what it is that "atheist church" does?

All this is is a desperate attempt to feel something they miss from actual church, the social group aspect.
Click to expand...
I don't see that it's desperate. That certainly is something that most churches provide, and it don't think it's "desperate" to look for a secular way of providing it.

This is satire.
Click to expand...
Only partly. They really do provide celebrants for non-religious weddings, for example.
 
zooterkin said:
Right, but what would you call it, that conveys the same information about what it is that "atheist church" does?...
Click to expand...
Well for one, the very name, by definition, would restrict the atheists to only not believing in Christianity.
Church
noun : a building used for public Christian worship
​
My suggestion for an alternative to church:

Atheist Weltanschauung.
​
 
Last edited:
EHocking said:
Well for one, the very name, by definition, would restrict the atheists to only not believing in Christianity.
Church
noun : a building used for public Christian worship
​
My suggestion for an alternative to church:

Atheist Weltanschauung.
​
Click to expand...

While literally accurate, it doesn't really flow off the tongue. Sounds almost like an affliction or malady. Perhaps atheist atrium to describe a dedicated building and atheist communitas for the gathering itself. Though, that sounds like it might be contagious!!!

ETA:

Yeah it may be taken as "commune" but I am a throw-back to the 60's
 
Last edited:
To be honest, I'll throw my vote into the "Why the <bleep> use religious terms?" box.

It seems to me like one of the top 10 arguments to dismiss atheism and critical thinking is the "it's just another religion too" argument. And it's popping up all over the place.

Would I want to give them more ammo? Do I want to end up saying with a straight face something like, "no, see, we're registered as belonging to a faith, and we are registered as a religion, and we do go to church every sunday, and we do have a pastor, but... erm... it's still totally different from what you folks doing."?

It seems to me like when a major point against your world view is that it's just another religious superstition, no real moral or intellectual high ground there, the last thing you'd want to do is exactly fit that made up stereotype.

And what for?

It's not like the religious will love you for being a religion too. It's the same guy who want to bomb the Muslims, for example. Or being a religion too didn't make the Jews loved by the Christians.

Being a religion that denies their stuff is just as offensive anyway.

And sense of community is good and fine, but do we really have a shortage of ways to find a community in this day and age? Frankly, I don't understand that community argument even from Christians, much less from atheists.

I mean, the church and pub may have been the only gathering places in the middle ages, but nowadays Google can find you a group for whatever interests you actually have. It can be an atheism or skepticism group, or some cat lovers' association, or a book club, or a Star Trek fan club, or some Star Wars stormtrooper chapter, or a bridge club, or some local gun owners' club and/or shooting range, or really whatever. WTH do you even need a church for? Can't you just pick some group you're interested in and go there?
 
zooterkin said:
Right, but what would you call it, that conveys the same information about what it is that "atheist church" does?
Click to expand...
Well, this is partly why the Sunday Assembly use the term 'Assembly'. It's to emphasise the community aspect, and anyway the people who come are not necessarily atheist either - we have quite a few people of various faiths attending ours. We have a christian on the committee, for example, and another who does not identify as atheist.


zooterkin said:
I don't see that it's desperate. That certainly is something that most churches provide, and it don't think it's "desperate" to look for a secular way of providing it.
Click to expand...
I think there is some negative connotation around the word 'desperate'. Certainly many people who have given me feedback on our Assembly have said they had been desperate to find some way of bringing back the community feeling they had experienced as children, or when they attended churches for other reasons, but that they could not find anything they did not consider exclusive or clique-y. They did not want to be preached at, but they did want to have regular get togethers; family friendly (so not pubs).

Usually social gatherings have a defined common cause - sewing clubs, reading groups, Skeptics in the Pub, and so on, but the Sunday Assemblies step aside from that to just provide meeting space, and some social fun.
 
chillzero said:
Usually social gatherings have a defined common cause - sewing clubs, reading groups, Skeptics in the Pub, and so on, but the Sunday Assemblies step aside from that to just provide meeting space, and some social fun.
Click to expand...
That's something I don't get about an atheist counterpart to churches. I can't picture what they would actually DO there. I've gone to a Lutheran church, so I know what happens there: people listen to a preacher preaching. If there's no preacher preaching, there's nothing for everybody else to focus on. Other kinds of clubs I'm familiar with are based on activities, so when you go there, the club's defining activity is what you do; so what would, for example, a cooking club be without any cooking?
 
Skeptics in the Pub, for example, usally has a guest speaker and Q&A afterwards.

The Q&A session doesn't occur in church!
 
Delvo said:
That's something I don't get about an atheist counterpart to churches. I can't picture what they would actually DO there. I've gone to a Lutheran church, so I know what happens there: people listen to a preacher preaching. If there's no preacher preaching, there's nothing for everybody else to focus on. Other kinds of clubs I'm familiar with are based on activities, so when you go there, the club's defining activity is what you do; so what would, for example, a cooking club be without any cooking?
Click to expand...

We have speakers. Some people call that section the sermon, but I personally don't like that term - it's not preaching; it's spreading some knowledge, or joy, or ideas. For example, we had Dr David Bramwell talking about postal mischief - the history of a Mr Reginald Brey who used the Victorian postal service to hilarious effect, and how he (Dr Bramwell) and a friend had tried some of the same 'pranks' out for a while.

There's no formal Q&A, but after the Assembly we all have tea, coffee, cake and so on, and talk during that, and then after that we go to a local pub for lunch and further discussion.

We focus on simply being, really. The strapline for the Sunday Assembly is "Live well, help often, wonder more" and each Assembly has a theme - one that will support one or more of those items.

We have a laugh, and relax in a gathering with a sense of community. The format includes:
- singing
- a reading on the theme of the day
- a guest speaker on the theme of the day
- a regular slot where someone "tries their best" - a brief chat by someone about how they attempted something, and about what they learned even (often especially) if they did not succeed
- in Brighton we are considering a proposal from a member about including a 5 minute science slot
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom