# Atheist Churches, Good or Bad Idea. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 7, 2013, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579 "2013-02-07T12:10:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/141 "2013-02-08T18:09:13Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Damn anarchists got the good “A” one. I thought I couldn’t hate anarchism more than I already do, but you’re right, they did take the good one. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/142 "2013-02-08T18:13:23Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > I don’t think there is a recognizable symbol for atheism, just a handful of sad attempts that’ve never caught on. So, that’s probably part of it. Not sure if [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Veterans_Affairs_emblems_for_headstones_and_markers) is entirely accurate. I’d suggest care in discussing UU churches as monolithic. Each congregation reflects its own covenent among its members. Some UU churches are extremely Humanist. Others are christianity-lite. Others reflect pagan/wiccan/newage influences. Some impress me as primarily social action organizations. The longer I spent associated with UU, the less I felt the UUA reflected my personal beliefs and values. I pretty much broke association over my distaste for UUA Pres. Sinkford whom I considered to be a deist. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/143 "2013-02-08T18:14:48Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > … We did both in Hebrew, but I know Reform does it in English. … Not in any Reform congregation I’ve ever been at. Torah and Haftarah are chanted in Hebrew. With the prayers chanted by those getting that honor before and after each section is read. Yes, the Torah Service is just one part of the complete service. The Jewish version of Church for atheists (which is NOT Reform) just replaces prayers like the “Sh’ma” (“Hear O Israel The Lord Our God, The Lord is One”) with things like: “Where is my light? My light is within me. Where is my hope? My hope is within me. Where is my strength? My strength is within me, and in you.” Believing that Torah (or for that matter the New Testament) was human-created (as opposed to divinely dictated or revealed) does not diminish its greatness as a catalyst for thought about morality and ethics. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/144 "2013-02-08T18:16:04Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > I don’t think there is a recognizable symbol for atheism, just a handful of sad attempts that’ve never caught on. So, that’s probably part of it. Yes, I particularly like - for certain very limited and snarky values of like - the startrekky one. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/145 "2013-02-08T18:19:35Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Not sure if [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Veterans_Affairs_emblems_for_headstones_and_markers) is entirely accurate. Never seen that one before; it’s rather hideous (and misleading, by seemingly conflating science and atheism). ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/146 "2013-02-08T18:20:44Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Yes, I particularly like - for certain very limited and snarky values of like - the startrekky one. Is [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USVA_headstone_emb-16.svg) the startrekky one? (from **Dinsdale** ’s link). ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/147 "2013-02-08T18:21:45Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Some atheists however do share common beliefs and recognize the functions (social, intellectual, and, dare I say, spiritual) that congregations serve other than worship of a greater power. The implication of **pchaos** ’s posts and OP is that there’s some kind of common core of atheist belief and a “church” would be a useful place to disseminate this belief. I don’t deny some atheists desire some kind of fellowship. But that just allows the picture to continue being muddied about the idea of some kind of common “Atheist Church” where the tenets of athetic belief (or non-belief) are expounded. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/148 "2013-02-08T18:24:40Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Never seen that one before; it’s rather hideous (and misleading, by seemingly conflating science and atheism). It’s pretty great if you’re an atheist who really likes _Watchmen_. And it’s the symbol for American Atheists, I see. The government has options for people of just about every option (too bad agnostics didn’t get a question mark), so someone needed to suggest something for atheists and that’s the result. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/149 "2013-02-08T18:33:04Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Is [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USVA_headstone_emb-16.svg) the startrekky one? (from **Dinsdale** ’s link). No, that one’s just awful. This is the one I’m thinking of; do a Google image search for “atheist symbol” for some more fully rendered ones. They all seem to be in blog posts and thus hard to link to. [Beam me up, Captain Nonbeliever!](http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/08/11/atheism-symbol/) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/150 "2013-02-08T18:33:27Z")
That one’s awful too. It’s just an upper-case @. I don’t want to be an “at”. > [@NitroPress](#): > > Frankly, only a religious believer unable to comprehend the nature of atheism could suggest something so self-cancelling as an “atheist church.” It’s like proposing a big stadium without a playing field so people who don’t follow sports would have somewhere to go. Remember, this is in Britain, where nobody really cares if you’re openly atheist. Hell, the Church of England is really just a bunch of religious mummery for agnostics. It’s only in America that atheists are defined by Christianity. Well, not _only_ here, but moreso than in the UK at any rate. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/151 "2013-02-08T18:38:57Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > No, that one’s just awful. This is the one I’m thinking of; do a Google image search for “atheist symbol” for some more fully rendered ones. They all seem to be in blog posts and thus hard to link to. > > [Beam me up, Captain Nonbeliever!](http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/08/11/atheism-symbol/) It beats the hell out of the Christian symbol, which gives you a torture device with or without an optional torture victim attached. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/152 "2013-02-08T18:39:30Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That one’s awful too. It’s just an upper-case @. I don’t want to be an “at”. Here’s me disagreeing with you: “\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” > [@](#): > > It’s only in America that atheists are defined by Christianity. Which is what’s wrong with both of these last two atheism threads: they were defined by believers and we were idiotic enough to engage the questions. So I think I’ll return the favor. Let’s see how they like it. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/153 "2013-02-08T18:48:45Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > No, that one’s just awful. This is the one I’m thinking of; do a Google image search for “atheist symbol” for some more fully rendered ones. They all seem to be in blog posts and thus hard to link to. > > [Beam me up, Captain Nonbeliever!](http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/08/11/atheism-symbol/) That’s a little better, or at least cleaner. Let’s just drive anarchism to the dustbin of history and steal theirs. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > It beats the hell out of the Christian symbol, which gives you a torture device with or without an optional torture victim attached. The non-torture victim cross is aesthetically pleasing, though. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/154 "2013-02-08T18:50:43Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > That’s a little better, or at least cleaner. Let’s just drive anarchism to the dustbin of history and steal theirs. > > The non-torture victim cross is aesthetically pleasing, though. And I’m sure that if Jesus had been hung depictions of the noose would be called something like “The Circle Of Life”. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/155 "2013-02-08T18:58:06Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Let’s just drive anarchism to the dustbin of history and steal theirs. I’d suggest just stealing the Anarchy symbol, but they’d likely unite and attack us! ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/156 "2013-02-08T19:05:50Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It beats the hell out of the Christian symbol, which gives you a torture device with or without an optional torture victim attached. Wait a minute - you mean it ISN’T a plus sign? I thought they were really into math! > [@](#): > > I don’t want to be an “at”. Not sure if an “at” is better or worse than those doofuses who were advocating the term “bright”… ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/157 "2013-02-08T19:11:30Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Is [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USVA_headstone_emb-16.svg) the startrekky one? (from **Dinsdale** ’s link). That reminds you of Startrek? It looks like a generic atomic symbol to me. And I don’t like it much, either. I don’t see the connection. Maybe the Atheist symbol should be a big void. How can you have a symbol of nothing? Should we ask Jerry Seinfeld? ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/158 "2013-02-08T19:13:00Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Not sure if an “at” is better or worse than those doofuses who were advocating the term “bright”… And if you weren’t a “bright”, [you were a “super”.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brights_movement) Decent ideas, horrible marketing. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/159 "2013-02-08T19:15:46Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > That reminds you of Startrek? It looks like a generic atomic symbol to me. And I don’t like it much, either. I don’t see the connection. In that it looks sciency, sure. I’m not a Star Trek fan. > [@Musicat](#): > > Maybe the Atheist symbol should be a big void. How can you have a symbol of nothing? That sounds more like nihilism. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579/160 "2013-02-08T19:16:15Z")
Here’s a collection of possible Atheist Church logos. Pick one: [![](https://signsanddisplays.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/atheist-symbol-logo-set.jpg) ](https://signsanddisplays.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/atheist-symbol-logo-set.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheist-churches-good-or-bad-idea/649579.md?page=9)