Do Atheists have an emptiness which needs filling?

[Danno 1,228]

‘GODLESS CONGREGATION’: ATHEIST CHURCH STEALS FROM CHRISTIAN TRADITION TO LAUNCH RAPIDLY-EXPANDING HOUSE OF WORSHIP

The concept of an atheist church is certainly a curious one. An ideological movement that rejects the existence of a higher power would generally seem, at least on the surface, to shun houses of worship. However, British comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans recently decided to launch The Sunday Assembly, an atheist church in the United Kingdom that has quickly gained hundreds of members and international attention. Already, the response has been so monumental that church leaders are planning to travel to Scotland for special performances.

The Sunday Assembly describes itself as “a godless congregation that will meet on the first Sunday of every month to hear great talks, sing songs and generally celebrate the wonder of life.” It provides non-believers with the opportunity to experience church community without buying into God and other related elements that secularists overwhelmingly reject. The church’s success after just one month has been mind-boggling.

Originally, Jones and Evans hoped that 50 people would attend the first service in London. Instead, 200 congregants showed up, with this number growing to 300 at the second meeting.

Perhaps most striking are the patterns The Sunday Assembly follows, as it uses traditional church practices and adapts them to a non-believing audience. Take, for instance, this recent description from The Guardian:

The Sunday Assembly may be godless, but a churchgoer who stumbled through the wrong door would find much they recognised.

The service opens with a song, led by Evans and an enthusiastic band at the front; instead of a hymn, however, it is “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen (“We’ve chosen something that allows hamming it up to the max”). The service features a reading, a moment of reflective silence, even a collection to pay for the rental of the church, during which people are invited to turn in the pews and greet those sitting beside and behind them. The plan in future is to engage members in community-based good works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzzThKoe15E&feature=player_embedded

There is also a sermon, of sorts, on the day’s theme of “wonder”, which sees Dr Harry Cliff, a particle physicist from Cambridge, talking about Dirac’s equation predicting antimatter (“the most amazing theory in history”) and the enormous statistical odds against the universe existing in the first place. The congregation then stands to sing Superstition by Stevie Wonder.

The church’s founders believe that they have tapped into something that has gone unsatisfied for quite some time in the non-theist community: The urge for a sense of togetherness. This is a phenomenon in the atheist community that the TheBlaze has analyzed extensively. Examining past events that activists have organized like the Reason Rally and Rock Beyond Belief, it is clear that many non-believers are seeking community and a cohort of others who, like them, reject belief in a higher power.

“It is intended to tap into a feeling of wonder, that atheists have like believers, to challenge beliefs and give you something to think about for the week ahead,” Jones recently explained. “People also love to feel part of something and in a sense you lose that when you lose God. Our view is you don’t need to believe to get that back.”

As the church grows, one wonders whether others will sprout up in Europe and across the globe. As atheists seek community and use theistic blueprints to achieve their goals, they’ll likely be faced with increased scrutiny when it comes to denials that atheism has become a faith system in its own regard.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/12/atheist-church-strips-out-god-but-offers-music-a-collection-and-sermons/

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Gotta love when people who don't know you try to tell you what you need/want in life.

However, I stopped reading after "However, British comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans recently decided to launch The Sunday Assembly"

[Dr. Obvious 49]

Dunno about Britian, but the UU church has been filling this role in the US for a long time. Not anything new here at least.

[Danno 1,228]

Gotta love when people who don't know you try to tell you what you need/want in life.

You really don't have to know every person in a Pizza Hut to know what people go there for.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

You really don't have to know every person in a Pizza Hut to know what people go there for.

I'm an atheist and I don't have "an emptiness that needs filling" like your title claims I do. Sorry!

And a "church" that two comedians formed doesn't change that.

Edited February 12, 2013 by Evylin

[Penny Lane 8,159]

With that said, I really wish people would just stick to the original titles of the articles/sources they're posting instead of coming up with random garbage to fill the subject line with.

[decocker 7,198]

most atheists are tired of being treated like pariahs of the community. people attend church is for a sense of belonging, community with like minded people. as an atheist, i certainly enjoy the company of a like-minded people. i wouldn't be so quick to assume atheists are trying to fill a 'spiritual' void - more like a social void, as it says in the OP - which i'm not sure danno read before choosing his title..

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Why yes, yes I do. That is why I have a boyfriend.

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip your waitress and I hear the cheesecake is PHENOMENAL!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Is it farther to New York or by bus?

[rlogan 2,036]

You really don't have to know every person in a Pizza Hut to know what people go there for.

#######. Talk about reaching for the sky.

Almost none of us meet anywhere and by definition none of us worship anything. It's the exact opposite of going to a Pizza Hut or collecting together for some silly ritual. Each of us is doing our own thing. I was fixing a snowmachine that broke a drive chain and shattered the casing to it. Salvaged both parts off an older snowmachine. God that was a void I REALLY needed filling - a working snowmachine. I had to fabricate one part too - a castle nut. We haul wood with them and we use wood for heat. My time is too valuable to fritter away on a meeting that accomplishes nothing.

For Sunday, I'll bet the largest number of atheist men is watching sports on TV. For women, shopping has to be pretty high up there. Religious people have a hard time seeing how an atheist has purpose or identity without religion. They must be "missing something". Only religious people can be completely fulfilled in life. To me there is nothing more fulfilling than being able to fix stuff without going to town. Fabricate what you need, salvage things from parts rigs - no trips to town. No need to earn income and pay taxes when you can homestead along.

I belong to the Church of the Great Outdoors.

[Danno 1,228]

With that said, I really wish people would just stick to the original titles of the articles/sources they're posting instead of coming up with random garbage to fill the subject line with.

You've been here long enough.... get with the program.

[Danno 1,228]

most atheists are tired of being treated like pariahs of the community. people attend church is for a sense of belonging, community with like minded people. as an atheist, i certainly enjoy the company of a like-minded people. i wouldn't be so quick to assume atheists are trying to fill a 'spiritual' void - more like a social void, as it says in the OP - which i'm not sure danno read before choosing his title..

Did you reveal something in that post?

I never said what that emptiness was ... I just asked if it was there,

you instinctively perhaps reflectively said "spiritual".

Is there something you want to share with the group, no one will judge.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Did you reveal something in that post?

I never said what that emptiness was ... I just asked if it was there,

you instinctively perhaps reflectively said "spiritual".

Is there something you want to share with the group, no one will judge.

You are ridiculous. You post garbage and then when people form logical responses to it, you pretend that's not what you're talking about. Look at the silly topic of your post - it doesn't even match up with what the article is about. Though I doubt you read it.

[decocker 7,198]

Did you reveal something in that post?

I never said what that emptiness was ... I just asked if it was there,

you instinctively perhaps reflectively said "spiritual".

Is there something you want to share with the group, no one will judge.

oh danno, no need to be so coy.

you are under the impression that atheists can't be or are not, spiritual..per usual danno, wrong again.

[rlogan 2,036]

Did you reveal something in that post?

I never said what that emptiness was ... I just asked if it was there,

you instinctively perhaps reflectively said "spiritual".

Is there something you want to share with the group, no one will judge.

What you are revealing is your own deep insecurity. You have this need to project your own emptiness onto others.

You aren't "asking" if it is there. You are beside yourself to inject it where it clearly does not exist.

So the question is why can't you be secure in your own beliefs instead of needing to pretend that others think the same way you do?