Atheist "Church"?

Atheism is not a religion. It does not spell out a way of life. It, in and of itself, offers no theory of morality, no hope, and no philosophy of life or meaning. Atheism at minimum means not having a belief in God.

Yet, many atheists, such as myself, can see the advantage of having a system of morality, a source of hope, a philosophy of life, and a way to give meaning. In addition, many atheists see the benefit churches provide in the sense of community. Communities are important for celebrating births and marriages, for commemoration during deaths, for support during hospital visits, for exchanging ideas in developing one's philosophy of life, for examples and mentors for your children, for a broader perspective and lessons in cooperation, and for opportunities for growth and to give service. I also enjoy feeling elevation with others, that transcendent emotion (warmth in the chest, love in the heart, peace in the mind).

So, to meet these needs for those who don't believe in god, atheists have created something akin to atheist churches, although they would not call them that. There are many "churches" in which atheists may feel at home, both real brick and mortar churches and internet communities. Here are a few:

http://www.communityofreason.net/

http://www.atheistalliance.org/aai/members.php

http://www.churchofreality.org/wisdom/

http://www.godlessgeeks.com/

I personally, attend a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Not all UU's are atheists, but a good number of them are and many atheists feel very comfortable there.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why I left the LDS Church

[Last edited 1/28/10] I was a very deeply spiritual person and easily moved to tears when thinking of the Savior and the sacrifices I believed he made for me and the rich blessings he bestowed upon me. I was born in the covenant to convert parents who were very active in the Church and true believers. I had a strong testimony of Joseph Smith and the restoration even before turning eight for I had recognized the joy of the Spirit and the love for mankind I felt when reading the Book of Mormon. And after turning eight, I had an experience which I considered to be a visitation of an angel. When I was 14, my mother passed away. I felt very much alone and learned through that experience to lean on the Lord even more. I decided that I would do what was right because it was the path to happiness, not to please my dad or because of fear of punishment. I felt particularly close to Heavenly Father over the next few years, having had countless experiences of answered prayers, premonitions that w
Read more

The Most Influential Factor That Led Me To Leave

The following came from a thread on PostMormon: Hiram: While we may disagree regarding some topics, I am interested to hear what the most influential factor was that led you to leave the church. I'm not interested in changing your belief system or world view or arguing doctrines, I just want to respectfully hear the points of view of anybody willing to share them. Hiram, your post makes me very happy. I rejoice whenever I see a person earnestly inviting others to share things that currently go against what that person believes. It is a hallmark of maturity and wisdom when we invite those kind of dialogues, for that is how we set the stage to learn. We listen and consider. It doesn't mean that we will necessarily give up our beliefs, but we will be better for at least having considered and weighed another's point of view. We might even find that we did not know as much as we thought we knew and in light of the new info must change our thinking
Read more

The 'Good News' is only good if we buy the 'Bad News'

I use this analogy. A salesman comes to your town and tells you that everyone in this town has a terrible, awful disease which no one knew about until this salesman shows up. Although the salesman can offer no proof of this disease he swears we will all suffer and die from it. However, he says the "good news" is he has the cure, and one can only get the cure from him, but he will save you and you will be eternally grateful to him if you but buy his product. Meaning: Christians tell us that we all have sin and that sin will bring us a terrible awful fate. Nevermind that until they came along, no one ever suspected we had this terrible condition and the Christians can't offer one shred of proof that we have 'sin' or that a terrible fate awaits us. But, the 'good news' aka Gospel is they have the only cure and we can only get it from them - one can only be saved from sin and hell through Christ, not by living a good life or practicing peaceful Buddhism, etc.
Read more