Atheist 'mega-churches' taking root across US
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r.prince18
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LOS ANGELES – It looked like a typical Sunday morning at any mega-church. Hundreds packed in for more than an hour of rousing music, an inspirational sermon, a reading and some quiet reflection. The only thing missing was ? .
Dozens of gatherings dubbed "atheist mega-churches" by supporters and detractors are springing up around the U.S. after finding success in Great Britain earlier this year. The movement fueled by social media and spearheaded by two prominent British comedians is no joke.
On Sunday, the inaugural Sunday Assembly in Los Angeles attracted more than 400 attendees, all bound by their belief in non-belief. Similar gatherings in San Diego, Nashville, New York and other U.S. cities have drawn hundreds of atheists seeking the camaraderie of a congregation without religion or ritual.
The founders, British duo Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, are currently on a tongue-in-cheek "40 Dates, 40 Nights" tour around the U.S. and Australia to drum up donations and help launch dozens of Sunday Assemblies. They hope to raise more than $800,000 that will help atheists launch their pop-up congregations around the world.
They don't bash believers but want to find a new way to meet likeminded people, engage in the community and make their presence more visible in a landscape dominated by faith.
Jones got the first inkling for the idea while leaving a Christmas carol concert six years ago.
"There was so much about it that I loved, but it's a shame because at the heart of it, it's something I don't believe in," Jones said. "If you think about church, there's very little that's bad. It's singing awesome songs, hearing interesting talks, thinking about improving yourself and helping other people -- and doing that in a community with wonderful relationships. What part of that is not to like?"
The movement dovetails with new studies showing an increasing number of Americans are drifting from any religious affiliation.
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released a study last year that found 20 percent of Americans say they have no religious affiliation, an increase from 15 percent in the last five years. Pew researchers stressed, however, that the category also encompassed majorities of people who said they believed in ? but had no ties with organized religion and people who consider themselves "spiritual" but not "religious."
Sunday Assembly -- whose motto is Live Better, Help Often, Wonder More -- taps into that universe of people who left their faith but now miss the community church provided, said Phil Zuckerman, a professor of secular studies at Pitzer College in Claremont.
It also plays into a feeling among some atheists that they should make themselves more visible. For example, last December, an atheist in Santa Monica created an uproar -- and triggered a lawsuit -- when he set up a godless display amid Christian nativity scenes that were part of a beloved, decades-old tradition.
"In the U.S., there's a little bit of a feeling that if you're not religious, you're not patriotic. I think a lot of secular people say, `Hey, wait a minute. We are charitable, we are good people, we're good parents and we are just as good citizens as you and we're going to start a church to prove it," said Zuckerman. "It's still a minority, but there's enough of them now."
That impulse, however, has raised the ire of those who have spent years pushing back against the idea that atheism itself is a religion.
"The idea that you're building an entire organization based on what you don't believe, to me, sounds like an offense against sensibility," said Michael Luciano, a self-described atheist who was raised Roman Catholic but left when he became disillusioned.
"There's something not OK with appropriating all of this religious language, imagery and ritual for atheism."
That sentiment didn't seem to detract from the excitement Sunday at the inaugural meeting in Los Angeles.
Hundreds of atheists and atheist-curious packed into a Hollywood auditorium for a boisterous service filled with live music, moments of reflection and an "inspirational talk, " and some stand-up comedy by Jones, the movement's co-founder.
During the service, attendees stomped their feet, clapped their hands and cheered as Jones and Evans led the group through rousing renditions of "Lean on Me," "Here Comes the Sun" and other hits that took the place of gospel songs. Congregants dissolved into laughter at a get-to-know-you game that involved clapping and slapping the hands of the person next to them and applauded as members of the audience spoke about community service projects they had started in LA.
At the end, volunteers passed cardboard boxes for donations as attendees mingled over coffee and pastries and children played on the floor.
For atheist Elijah Senn, the morning was perfect.
"I think the image that we have put forward in a lot of ways has been a scary, mean, we want to tear down the walls, we want to do destructive things kind of image is what a lot of people have of us," he said. "I'm really excited to be able to come together and show that it's not about destruction. It's about making things and making things better."
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/11/atheist-mega-churches-taking-root-across-us/
Comments
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I don't know why these atheists would want to associate themselves with being a "church"...unless they are trying to see if they cash in on it.
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Are Atheists not Satan worshippers? If one isn't for Christ he is against him, no? i.e. like Satan?
? be with you all, the time is nigh. -
And how is being an atheist not a religion?
Belief in science/man's knowledge - check
A church - check -
this is nothing more than a way for atheist to annoy theist, also notice they are mocking christanity they would not dare have an atheist mosque
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I don't see the purpose of this besides what @zombie said. This is ridiculous.
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Atheist fellowship... smh.
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alissowack wrote: »I don't know why these atheists would want to associate themselves with being a "church"...unless they are trying to see if they cash in on it.
It's definitely a cash cow and a banner to get behind for more recognition, to pull the closet atheist out in an attempt to unitize atheism in a similar way the Unitarian and "non-denominationals" do with Christianity.
Anytime any groups organize it is for public recognition and most times for ulterior motives. To control the masses by destroying individuality. Don't label yourselves a Christian or Humanitarian, "live it" as actions are what define who and what you truly are. -
Why call them churches if they are trying to separate themselves from religion?
I understand the desire to want to have a place to organize with like minded people but they could have at least chosen a way to do it that furthers their goals of removing dependence on religion by structuring it differently.
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Why call them churches if they are trying to separate themselves from religion?
I understand the desire to want to have a place to organize with like minded people but they could have at least chosen a way to do it that furthers their goals of removing dependence on religion by structuring it differently.
Recruitment, and to identify with a common idea. Why call it Church? Indeed, I would guess it is a way to compete with existing religion, opposition opens doors for resolution. Maybe they just think they deserve as much of the public eye and a voice in the expected moral rights and wrongs of society? Then again as said before maybe it's just a way to ? off the established religions of the world. Is buddhism a religion or a philosophy? Maybe since it has been considered a religion, they feel their philosophies deserve a similar light?
It is a highly debatable subject. More differences humanity creates the more room for prejudice and indifference there will be. Why does it matter if you are atheist and go to say a "Christian" church, especially if you are flying that flag of humanism. You don't have to "believe" in order to gain from the fellowship with "humanity" it provides. Structure is changed from the inside not outside. Just more conflict and contradiction in my opinion. -
Athiest are doing the very thing they claim to detest about people of a certain faith. On one end, they don't give a ? about who believes or doesn't but then they at the same time have formed congregations in effort to spread their teachings of self righteous non belief.
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Don't see why people would have an issue with this.
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I don't understand the need for a church to be atheist.Are Atheists not Satan worshippers?
No. That doesn't make any sense. An atheist doesn't believe in Satan to worship him.SouthpawSour wrote: »And how is being an atheist not a religion?
Belief in science/man's knowledge - check
A church - check
Well a religion mainly revolves around a belief in a ? or gods. Atheists don't believe in gods so it isn't a religion according to Webster Dictionary. Atheism is simply a disbelief in something. Atheists don't have to have a church or a unified belief in one thing. -
Atheism is and antonym for religion, they could religiously follow a certain set of beliefs, though a religion they are not. Therefor by definition they aren't a Church, they do have all rights to form an organization calling themselves such, but religion is what they stand and fight against.
Now that brings us back to why? Because they can, it is ironic and wrong by definition, and just a way to openly insult the existing body be they Buddhist, Neo-paganism, Christianity, Islam and any others. Why would I say an insult? Maybe that is a bit extensive a word, my question is: if you do not believe in some form of cosmology and our lives here are finite, what purpose does it serve you to "save" the rest of humanity from something you do not "believe" in? You are not a humanist you are self serving and as someone said before self righteous.
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Being an atheist does not cancel you out of being humanist or even make you self righteous or more self righteous than any religious person. Where are you all getting this from?
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@Oceanic I was giving a hypothetical to Elrawd's questions of why, chill out man, it's just a forum. We really do not know their intentions as fact, unless an atheist here has joined one of these alleged churches and can offer insight. I was just looking at what the rationale could be behind this movement.
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This is why I seldom respond to any of these discussions, if I was taken out of context I apologize, I will leave you all to it. Let the R&R forum burn and die for all I care. Peace and Grease.
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I'm chill. I'm just letting you know where you're mistaken. I didn't come at you disrespectfully. I don't understand your frustration.
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atheist swine.
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Who cares? Is it really hurting or changing any part of the world? If they are doomed so be it, if the believers/religious of the world were wrong, what did it matter anyway? "Oh no the atheists are making a church, the sky is falling the sky is falling", who cares. Most atheist I know are probably more versed on the bible than most Christians I know, if they end up wrong then they already read the consequences, if they were right...well you know the rest.
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They trolling by calling it a "church", from the description of the service it sounds more like a mockery than anything but maybe that's how FOX NEWZ presented it.
In any event, it's just a social organization like all social organizations.
