Monday, November 11, 2013

New-time religion


A new movement is afoot...atheist churches, spearheaded by the British comedy duo of Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, and using the springboard of social media. Jones originally came up with the idea after attending a Christmas carol concert:  "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?"
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," said Luciano, who blogged about the movement at the site policymic.com.
I think Luciano makes an interesting point about about basing an organization on what you don't believe. That would be odd, but is that what the new 'churches' are doing?  I don't think traditional churches have a monopoly on people gathering to sing songs, tell stories, and encourage each other. I can think of at least two organizations that do that. In this coming age of insularity it will be important for people to interact and talk about the type of society they wish to have. 
Hundreds of atheists and atheist-curious packed into a Hollywood auditorium for a boisterous service filled with live music, moments of reflection, an "inspirational talk" about forgotten - but important - inventors and scientists and some stand-up comedy.
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.
This reminds me of an article I read a few years ago about the rise in the interest in the supernatural in Britain. One point from the article (exact memory faulty) was that as church attendance was falling, the sporting of crucifixes and supernatural or pagan symbols was rising. The author supposed that these things filled some sort of need in the young. 

Are we spiritual creatures?

32 comments:

YoungHegelian said...

I thought folks who wanted to go to an atheistic church became Unitarians.

bagoh20 said...

Everybody believes in something, including atheists. There are things unknowable, and so for those things we have only belief.

Now maybe you could say us agnostics don't believe in anything, but that wouldn't be true of me. I believe stuff, I just won't be surprised if I'm wrong. An atheist would be.

bagoh20 said...

OK, I'll be surprised if God has a big white beard, or the devil has a goatee.

bagoh20 said...

"Are we spiritual creatures?".

I dunno, but we clearly are obsessive ones. Politics, religion, and love, are things we obsess over with little effect. You would expect that after millenia of it, we would get better at that stuff.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Atheist Church? I thought that was called going to brunch?

Michael Haz said...

Atheist church? A Chinese restaurant on Christmas Day.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Michael Haz, that is Jewish church! Followed by a movie.

ricpic said...

Speaking of Chinese restaurants: the won tons in Won Ton Soup are a cheap Chinese knock off of kreplach.

deborah said...

That's a great movie. Would you believe I hadn't seen it till about five years ago?

I have family members who go to the movies on Christmas day...and shop on Thanksgiving! Infidels.

deborah said...

I'm an atheist/strong agnostic, but I believe an afterlife is not an impossibility. I mean that our consiousnesses/spirits/? could possibly live on past death.

deborah said...

YH, I think Unitarians still take communion, though they do it symbolically.

Trooper York said...

It is perfectly fine to be an atheist or an agnostic as long as you don't mind burning in the fiery pits of hell.

Just don't attack those of us who believe and force us to pay for abortions or gay marriages or multiple partner marriages or whatever new bullshit that they come up with.

Leave us alone.

YoungHegelian said...

@deborah,

YH, I think Unitarians still take communion, though they do it symbolically.

I know, Deborah. I'm mostly chain-yanking, but if one wants a church that doesn't make oppressive doctrinal requirements, oh, like believing in the existence of God, well, the Unitarians are certainly one place to go.

Sadly, de facto if not de jure, many Reform Synagogues aren't far behind the Unitarians in the percentage of atheists in their pews. American Jews are the least religious ethnic group in the country. American blacks are the most.

ampersand said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paco Wové said...

'an "inspirational talk" about forgotten - but important - inventors and scientists'

Quant Suff!

Unknown said...

How about - atheist party. Why co-opt the word "church"?
If people want to gather and sing songs - fine by me. How long, however, until this dissolves into Christian bashing sessions? Esp in Hollywood.

Methadras said...

Once again, this is nothing more than God hate masked as something else. That's fine, but I wish atheists would stop acting like children and skirting the issue. I've said this before, any and all atheists, should go about their business as if nothing else matters since they don't believe in any divinity, so in essence why should they care if anyone else does. If they want to assemble, more power to them, but to stick their fingers in the eyes of religious people and start their own 'churches' of emptiness then I would just call it spite.

Paco Wové said...

"to stick their fingers in the eyes of religious people and start their own 'churches'"

What should they call them, then? I agree 'church' seems pretty silly. But the urge to, um, congregate with other like-minded people seems reasonable enough.

Personally, though, as a fairly atheistic kind of guy, I would be much less uncomfortable in a lot of regular churches than I probably would be at one of these things.

edutcher said...

Sounds like somebody misses God.

If the external trappings are good, why not the internal ones?

In any case, I'm betting some of this is a letdown from a false messiah.

Icepick said...

Paying a different price.

deborah said...

bago:
"I dunno, but we clearly are obsessive ones. Politics, religion, and love, are things we obsess over with little effect. You would expect that after millenia of it, we would get better at that stuff."

I think maybe we are spiritual. Imagine a kid raised in a way that he never heard adults or TV talk about any sort of religion or spiritualism. I think he would still have magic moments, like when he finds a secret place in woods, or finds a fossil.

The things you mention, I think are just the business side of life...achievement, approval seeking, power, etc.

deborah said...

I know you were semi-teasing, YH :)

Meth, according to the article this is about being positive. Though you're right, there'll always be ones that speak disparagingly about believers.

April, yes, they should address that if they are serious about not coming across as condescending.

deborah said...

Paco, Ed, yes. I think something is going to get lost in translation for those who want it to feel 'real.' It will be interesting to see how they handle religious holidays...and Festivus.

lol Icepick

Trooper, these things are COMPlicated.

bagoh20 said...

" I think he would still have magic moments, like when he finds a secret place in woods, or finds a fossil. "

Yes, I did this often, and it had no relation to the Christian background I grew up in, so I think you are right. Also I don't think there has ever been a culture without a strong spiritual aspect, and it's usually the strongest force in a society, so it must be very central to us in a deep way, and unlikely to be just walked away from through "reason".

Palladian said...

Just don't attack those of us who believe and force us to pay for abortions or gay marriages or multiple partner marriages or whatever new bullshit that they come up with.

I'm so glad political people on both "sides" have forever attached gay rights to fetus murdering. Thanks guys!

Revenant said...

I thought folks who wanted to go to an atheistic church became Unitarians.

Yeah, that was my first thought as well. This is nothing new.

Revenant said...

they don't believe in any divinity, so in essence why should they care if anyone else does

After all, it isn't as if people's beliefs have any effect on their behavior.

Icepick said...

It got worse, deborah, before it got better. Religion is tough.

deborah said...

Bago, maybe at the heart of it, wonder is an acknowledgment of the unknowable. It doesn't require a deity to be spiritual, I think.

Palladian, you remind me of blacks finding it irksome when prejudice against them is equated to prejudice against gays being allowed to marry.
Each should be considered on their own grounds.

deborah said...

Rev, I think it's very new. The mega-church aspect of it has the possibility of ushering in new movements or new opportunities of scamming people. There are endless possibilities if this really took off.

Believe, Ice!

ken in tx said...

Everybody's got to believe something. I believe I'll have another beer.

Icepick said...

Oh, I believe, deborah. I believe that my teams stink this year. I mean, they're really stinking up the joint.