Singing hymns at atheist services makes as much sense as celebrating one’s elbow

[rug]

Opinion: Not believing in a deity does not involve subscribing to any particular moral viewpoint

Donald Clarke
Sat, Dec 28, 2013, 00:01

I’m not conventionally religious, but I do like to think of myself as a spiritual person. Only joking. Of course, I don’t. I do not have a “spiritual side”. There is no “spiritual dimension” to my life. It has, in fact, never been clear to me what that overused statement means. One has some notion what a practising Jew, Hindu or Roman Catholic believes. By way of contrast, the “spiritual person” seems to walk through life as an empty bucket, eager to collect the splattered cast-offs from any passing moral philosophy.

Such thoughts are triggered by the unwelcome news that 2013 has seen the emergence of an “atheist megachurch”. It’s hard to know quite how serious Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones are about this enterprise. Last January, the two English comedians launched the first “Sunday Assembly” in an unprepossessing London church. People leapt about, sang songs and testified to their lack of belief in a stubborn superstition.

By November, the Assembly had become a movement. An event took place in Los Angeles and, as you read, a “40 Dates, 40 Nights” tour is snaking its way across Australia and the United States. The aim is to raise $800,000 (€579,000) for the setting-up of atheist churches across the world.

Even if Evans and Jones didn’t tell jokes for a living, you would be tempted to take this for a massive exercise in communal satire. It’s rather as if the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament had taken to launching intercontinental ballistic missiles with custard pies where the warheads used to be. But it looks as if the organisers are not entirely facetious in their intentions.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/singing-hymns-at-atheist-services-makes-as-much-sense-as-celebrating-one-s-elbow-1.1638656

Well, hell, I'm rather taken by my elbow.

[cbayer]

1. Can you imagine how different and more difficult your life would be if

you didn't have elbows?

Pretty funny piece, but I don't think this person has the right to tell other atheists what they should or should not do.

The Assembly movement remains interesting, but I'm not convinced that it is going to get legs.

Most religious people don't even attend services, so it's hard to see how a large number of non-religious people are going to start.

[rug]

2. Bars would shut down overnight.

Droll as it is, he ends up making the opposite point:

No, the really troubling issue here is the apparent assumption that atheism is some sort of belief system that binds its “followers” together in a shared set of values.

[cbayer]

3. I don't necessarily agree with that point.

People may meet for a variety of reason that don't include a shared set of values.

People attend AA meetings, parent support groups and company picnics for a variety of reasons. Sometimes its just the desire to spend time with people who may share some of the same experiences, but not necessarily the same values.

[rug]

4. Do you agree with him that atheism is not something that has a shared set of values?

[cbayer]

5. I think the only thing atheists share is a disbelief in god.

Past that, there is a wide spectrum of shared and unshared values.

Demographically, though, they do clearly fall on the liberal/progressive side politically.

I think the same is true for believers. What they actually share is very narrowly defined.

What do you think?

[rug]

7. I agree with that.

In the neutral sense of the word, atheism is a negative stance; it requires nothing more than the denial of a specific claim.

If the demographics place declared atheists in the progressive camp, I think you'd have to find other reasons.

However, again using the neutral sense of the word, positive claims, be they religious or political, carry conclusions resulting from those claims, impelling actions, good or bad.

[PassingFair]

9. I disagree. In the "neutral sense of the word" atheism is a neutral stance.

Or else you could claim that in the "neutral sense of the word, religion is a negative stance, it requires nothing more than the denial of reality."

[rug]

11. The words described as neutral were "negative" and "positive".

[cbayer]

10. The demographics issue is an interesting one that, imo, needs further investigation.

While there is a clear correlation, causation is not clear.

[PassingFair]

6. I do.

I know libertarian atheists that don't share my "values".

And I bet you know plenty of religionists of all stripes that don't share yours.

[rug]

8. That I do.

[dimbear]

12. I prefer my ankle. I like low joints. n/t