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?