What happens at an atheist church?

[Sirius]

I fully admit to being an atheist, however i don't think i will be attending any of these meeting. I have better things to do with my time on this earth than sit in a church what ever the religion.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21319945

An "atheist church" in North London is proving a big hit with non-believers. Does it feel a bit like a new religion?

Not many sermons include the message that we are all going to die and there is no afterlife.

But the Sunday Assembly is no ordinary church service.

[Mr_love_monkey]

Is there beer?

[TheDaddy]

meh atheists, they're just popeless romantics...

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by Mr_love_monkey

Is there beer?

That's like asking if there is any pretty blondes dressed in nuns uniforms.

[Sirius]

It looks pretty boring just like any church

There is a reading from Alice in Wonderland and a power-point presentation from a particle physicist, Dr Harry Cliff, who explains the origins of dark matter theory.

OMG that would send me to sleep just like the last sermon i heard before i left the forces.

What's the point ? is to prove to religious types that Atheists can gather in a building and talk about stuff that isn't religion because people have been doing that forever

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by martyh

What's the point ? is to prove to religious types that Atheists can gather in a building and talk about stuff that isn't religion because people have been doing that forever

Indeed, I dont see the point in it to be honest.

Atheism isn't a topic on which to form a community. It's that simple. How do you build a sensible community around the non-belief in something?

This is why this 'church' has tenuous links to atheism. There is a talk by a scientist? That's got little to do with atheism and is there more to reinforce a smug perception that atheism is a synonym for scientist.

This isn't a church for atheists. It's a meeting for young, middle-class, Londoners that like slightly alternative interests. As well, maybe, for people with a slight superiority complex.

/rant.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Damien

Atheism isn't a topic on which to form a community. It's that simple. How do you build a sensible community around the non-belief in something?

This is why this 'church' has tenuous links to atheism. There is a talk by a scientist? That's got little to do with atheism and is there more to reinforce a smug perception that atheism is a synonym for scientist.

This isn't a church for atheists. It's a meeting for young, middle-class, Londoners that like slightly alternative interests. As well, maybe, for people with a slight superiority complex.

/rant.

agreed

I wonder if they are so determined to not believe in a deity that they are starting to believe in Atheism as the one true ..........

Originally Posted by Damien

Atheism isn't a topic on which to form a community. It's that simple. How do you build a sensible community around the non-belief in something?

This is why this 'church' has tenuous links to atheism. There is a talk by a scientist? That's got little to do with atheism and is there more to reinforce a smug perception that atheism is a synonym for scientist.

This isn't a church for atheists. It's a meeting for young, middle-class, Londoners that like slightly alternative interests. As well, maybe, for people with a slight superiority complex.

/rant.

This.

Also, I thought it oddly lacking in imagination. They want to celebrate their view of the world as distinct from religion, then choose to do so on the day, time and venue as used by (a) religion and by copying the format of a typical meeting of that religion, almost to the letter. Except by singing Mercury instead of Wesley.

[Halcyon]

How can they call it a church?

If you look up the word church it is described as:

1. A building used for public Christian worship.
2. A particular Christian organization

If you are athiest then you are not christian.

[Gary L]

3. A church is technically a term for a gathering of citizens in a town

might be why there's the phrase "Church of God"
some are, some aren't?

The reason we have the word "church" in the English language is because it is the word used to describe a gathering of Christians, but as with all words its meaning shifts and more recently it has been used to describe other gatherings of like-minded people, usually religious but not always. Much as "bible" is used to refer to any book that contains all you need to know on a particular subject.

Still, I think it adds to the point I was making earlier. They had the opportunity to create something completely original, but instead ended up making a poor copy of the very thing they profess not to believe in.

Originally Posted by Chris

The reason we have the word "church" in the English language is because it is the word used to describe a gathering of Christians, but as with all words its meaning shifts and more recently it has been used to describe other gatherings of like-minded people, usually religious but not always. Much as "bible" is used to refer to any book that contains all you need to know on a particular subject.

Still, I think it adds to the point I was making earlier. They had the opportunity to create something completely original, but instead ended up making a poor copy of the very thing they profess not to believe in.

Exactly..