So what's up with these 'atheist' churches?

[clydefrand]

church [church]

noun

1. a building for public Christian worship.


2. public worship of God or a religious service in such a building: to attend church regularly.


3. ( sometimes initial capital letter ) the whole body of Christian believers; Christendom.


4. ( sometimes initial capital letter ) any division of this body professing the same creed and acknowledging the same ecclesiastical authority; a Christian denomination: the Methodist Church.


5. that part of the whole Christian body, or of a particular denomination, belonging to the same city, country, nation, etc.

[Luminous Animal]

1. What atheist churches?

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Well, mine for example, I guess.

I'm a Unitarian.

I like to tell people we're just like any ordinary Christian group, except we replaced the 10 Commandments with the 7 Suggestions.

Unitarian Universalists hold the Principles as strong values and moral teachings. As Rev. Barbara Wells ten Hove explains, “The Principles are not dogma or doctrine, but rather a guide for those of us who choose to join and participate in Unitarian Universalist religious communities.”

1st Principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
2nd Principle: Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
3rd Principle: Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
4th Principle: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
5th Principle: The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
6th Principle: The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
7th Principle: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

[Luminous Animal]

5. The entire congregation of your church are atheists? As I understand it...

Unitarian Universalists will welcome atheists and agnostics but their foundation is not atheist. They do promote "faith" in their ministries.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. You're right.

There is no particular belief set that distinguishes UUs. Many are atheists or agnostics, some are Pagans, many of us have a vaguely Buddhist world view, etc.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Nah they mean this

http://www.10news.com/news/atheist-megachurch-arrives-in-san-diego-11112013

And do go to the link and enjoy the video of that mega-atheist-church. After you do, I will join you with the real chuckle.

(At times news editors drive me nuts with the agenda setting)

[sendero]

2. Yeah..

... perhaps they should be called something else, like mosque or synagogue or temple. Each, along with churches, enjoy specific tangible benefits (mostly tax wise) that should not accrue only to the "believer".

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Technically they are called ASSEMBLIES

but the press dubbed them mega churches.

The latter makes me laugh, you know why? The one here in San Diego for example, would hardly qualify as mega anything.

So go complaint to the news desk. I am as serious as can be.

[spanone]

7. tax cheaters

[loli phabay]

9. that was my thought as well, may as well take advantage of church exemption.

[Luminous Animal]

10. Except for that pesky fact that they don't exist.

[rug]

11. They will.

Once you’re confident about how it all works, how the get the right balance of entertainment and inspiration, then you’ll be accredited to continue to run assemblies in your town by Better Often More (‘BOM’, the core Sunday Assembly charity/body – the name will change soon as we continue the process of becoming a charity), and to start to help others get involved.

http://sundayassembly.com/accreditation-process/

[Luminous Animal]

12. That's not a church nor is it defined as such. Now you'll be trying to convince me that

Girls Scout meetings are churches.

Churches, as the OP pointed out, have a specific meaning. Groups of like minded people organizing to do good works sans religion or spirituality are not church gatherings no matter how much the religious like to believe so.

Believe it or not, atheists like to be hands on involved in social and economic justice issues and it would be refreshing to band together with people who don't throw god into the mix.

[rug]

13. Thge reply was about their tax empt status.

But, since you bring it up . . . .

"We wanted to do something like a church for people who don't believe in God," said Sanderson. "Life is such a wonderful thing to have been given -- and frankly, it's as transcendent as any one god. We come from nothing and go to nothing and in between we have these short glazing moments of awareness and consciousness to love and sing and mess up and try again. We should celebrate it."

http://www.askatheists.com/forum/discussion/53/sunday-assembly-a-godless-service-coming-to-a-church-near-you

Oh, and they're also in the middle of a drive to raise £500,000.

http://mobileatheist.com/atheist-church-seeks-500000-in-crowdfunding-to-build-online-platform-wired-uk/

[Luminous Animal]

14. Yes. Do something "like" a church for people who don't believe in god. Ergo... not a church...

And plenty of orgs that are not churches nor religious are tax exempt. I used to belong to an activist org called Women's Action Coalition that was tax exempt. Tax exempt does not = religion.

[rug]

15. Was it transcendent?

[Luminous Animal]

16. In terms of: a: exceeding usual limits, or

b: extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience

Yes.

It would serve us all extend our usual limits that give us experiences beyond them.

[hrmjustin]

17. I think it is the term that just comes to mind for most people. Assembly might be a bbetter term.

[Luminous Animal]

20. Assembly is the term that is being used to describe meetings of atheists who want

to do good works.

[hrmjustin]

21. Ethical Culture is also a great organization.

[Luminous Animal]

22. Indeed. And I believe they are involved with the NY atheist assembly.

On edit: Yep...

http://www.nysec.org/calendar-date_nysec

[LadyHawkAZ]

24. I think that's what the first one was called

"Church" was something the media started, IIRC.

[Initech]

18. That sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it?

[Luminous Animal]

19. Truly. And they don't exist. And the OP provides no evidence that they do.

Do you believe that there are atheist churches? And if you do, could you provide a link?

[wickerwoman]

31. I used to live down the street from the Rationalist House in Auckland

http://www.nzarh.org.nz/rathouse.htm

Their cafe is called Rations FTW.

Great way to meet guys with approximately similar world views to mine, which, to be honest, is really the point of most churches.

[Luminous Animal]

35. Perhaps you should have addressed this to the OP.

[JI7]

23. one of the good things about being an atheist is not having to go to some church, temple etc

[liberal_at_heart]

25. Some people just like to be able to gather as a community, whatever community that may be.

[Luminous Animal]

32. A lot of the social justice work that I have done involves working with the religious...

There is so much god involved with social and economic just work it would be refreshing to do it without the religious framework.

[sakabatou]

26. No idea

I really don't get the idea of an atheist "church." It almost goes against what atheist means.

But as LadyHawkAZ said, they're just group gatherings.

[LadyHawkAZ]

27. Your "liberal" media at work

the atheist "churches" are not churches. Just group gatherings.

[backscatter712]

28. Atheists have the right to build community, do they not?

Churches do two things: spread woo, and build community.

Atheists are borrowing an idea from religious people, to do the useful one of the two.

[Warpy]

29. I have a couple of friends in London who went to the atheist fellowship there

and reported back that it was a decent time, everybody singing sinful rock songs and having discussions of humanist issues. It was only loosely led.

They're generally not joiners, so I don't know if they'll go back unless they are awake and really, really bored when it's scheduled.

[BlueStreak]

30. What's up with the churches that are supposed to have Christians in them?

Last edited Mon Dec 2, 2013, 09:56 AM - Edit history (1)

I wouldn't worry so much about the places that are honest about their beliefs. I'd be a lot more concerned about all those people who think they have the power of god endorsing their every move -- even though they rarely show any resemblance to the legend of the lord they worship.

And the premise of your rant is fallacious. Here's what Webster says:

1: a building for public and especially Christian worship
2: the clergy or officialdom of a religious body
3 : a body or organization of religious believers: as
a : the whole body of Christians
b : denomination <the Presbyterian church>
c : congregation
4: a public divine worship <goes to church every Sunday>
5: the clerical profession <considered the church as a possible career>

Only 1 of the 5 definitions is linked specifically to Christianity.

If the Unitarians want to call their gathering place a "church", that is their own business. The only issue any of us should have is the tax free status. And again, I'd be a lot more concerned about religious abuses of the tax code by Christians than anybody else.

[liberal_at_heart]

34. thank you for that. I thought the OP sounded a little possessive of the term.

[defacto7]

33. It's a word...

..so I don't give a damn.

In Portland, OR there was a First Church of Elvis... It was a church in the form of an ATM machine. People got a lot of spiritual enlightenment from that church....

and no one complained that it was called a church then.

[Mariana]

38. Reminds me of the Repukes freaking out over same-sex marriage.

"They shouldn't call it "marriage"!! It's only a "marriage" if it's between a man and a woman!!!"

[Mariana]

36. Why don't you visit one? You can find out for yourself. nt.

[Nye Bevan]

37. Why should atheists miss out on steeple restoration funds,

raffles, jumble sales, and bingo nights?

Seems like a good idea to me.

[Riftaxe]

39. While a firm agnostic

*be damned if i settle for monotheism anyways*

If they actually go to the next step (I betting they won't), to charity as in the existing schemes, more power to them.