I’ve never gone to one, but I’ll just speculate, they are probably similar to religious churches. Major difference being atheists normally don’t pray. I like the idea of an atheist church.
But on the other hand…if you aren’t religious then why go to church.
What would be preached at an atheist church?
I don’t know that it’s really accurate to call groups like the Ethical Society a church, but I’ll grant that it’s comparable. And the answer is that even if you’re an atheist, you still might want to have a connection to a community of of like-minded people to discuss life and do charity, for example.
Idon’t think any one can lose their faith, they learn the truth about it, and just no longer believe in that particular thing. If one learns the earth is really round when they believed it was flat, is not a loss of belief, but a fact about something else.
Q: What do you get if you cross an atheist with a Jehovah’s Witness?
A: Someone who knocks on your door for no particular reason.
If 300 people out of all of London’s teeming millions want to get together and have a communal sing-along without the excuse of an Invisible Friend, good luck to them.
I think it’s cool that people can get a bit of community going and have a good time without having to cower in the vengeful shadow of an omnipresent sociopath.
It’s not a church. no one is worshipping anything. They are having a good time, learning stuff from guest speakers.
So basically it’s like an internet messageboard where they get to go to the pub afterwards (or indeed during). Whatever makes them happy.
Meh. Sleeping in on Sunday is one of the benefits of worshipping Athe.
What parts do you speculate would prove similar?
For one thing, there’s no supernatural beings present at either one.
How would this be different from a social club?
Or, FWIW, as I come from a Roman Catholic background, the Unitarian Universalists don’t seem to care whether or if you actualy believe in any particular manifestation of the Godhead, but that could just be in comparison to the more structured and dogmatic instruction I received while younger.
I think it’s a good idea.
Certainly they won’t gather to worship or praise anything (most likely- hat the universe ‘just is’ is a pretty awesome idea in it’s own right), but it’s good to develop a community and relationships with like-minded people. Atheists come in many flavors- soft, hard, ambivalent- and having a formal meet up with allow them to gather support and discuss their ideas.
I think that if they do it in the US, they should apply for the religious tax exemption, too. If places like Westboro and their ilk are eligible, then the why not extend that to the non-theists?
Aren’t the Unitarian Universalists pretty close to that?
The sense of community would be similar. Also, the charitable aspect of it would be similar, there may be a basket passed around for donations.
We went to a couple of UU churches for a number of years. At times we debated whether “church” was the appropriate/desireable designation. My personal feeling is that I’d prefer to call it something else, but the name is a pretty small issue compared to so many others.
I’m not sure about the concept of an atheist church, for the same reason I prefer not to refer to myself as an atheist. The word atheism only describes one not terribly consequential thing I reject, and says nothing of what I accept and value. For me, Humanism far better describes my personal philosphy, probably with an emphasis on nature and/or science. And I stress “capital H” Humanism, as opposed to humanistic. IMO&E, there is a significant difference.
A UU church with a strong Humanist bent satisfied my family of nonbelievers. My wife and I also enjoyed participating in a Humanist discussion group. If nothing else, it is very comforting to be in a group where your strongest views are not rejected by everyone around you. And, as was mentioned above, ethical societies fill a similar role.
But we no longer participate as actively as we did. For us, such activities were valuable when raising kids, and when we were younger and less comfortable with our views in the context of our society. Now, I guess we are more comfortable with who we are and what we believe, and we get our affirmation and fulfillment from nature, family, music, and other activities.
What do you think the common beliefs are among atheists, pchaos?
A hypothetical person whose idea of “community” begins at their church might find it difficult to accept that a person who does not belong to any given church is tempermentally capable of being a good member of the larger community. Also, such a hypothetical person might derive their entire ethical system from that which is promulgated by their pastor/ preacher/ shaman and tend to be wary around folks who claim to be “ethical” without the added “authority.”
That being said, the main common belief among atheists seems to be that they are misunderstood and misrepresented by those who are religious.
What kind of topics would the guest speakers cover?
“Who here doesn’t believe in any gods? Me, too!”