A few years ago I was helping a friend do research for a college project she was working on.  She had to compare Italy and Argentina and I found something called the CIA World Factbook.  One of the things in it was a review of religion in Argentina.  It said that 92% of the country was catholic but noted that less than 20% were practicing.

IT seems the church is losing its hold everywhere.

(May 28, 2015 at 8:42 pm)Huggy74 Wrote: The Op's question..

(May 28, 2015 at 3:49 pm)Glenn Wrote: My question is do you know of any effort being made to spread awareness down here?  Specifically in Brazil but anywhere in Latin America?  

My question to you SC is...

What is it exactly do you think an "outreach" program is supposed to provide?

Outreach.

Providing a place for a certain type of godless person to congregate is not outreach. Especially with this caveat: "Our vision: a godless congregation in every town, city and village that wants one." Outreach usually comes without an invitation.

(May 28, 2015 at 7:00 pm)SteelCurtain Wrote: As much as Christers try to say we do, atheists generally don't have outreach programs.

Usually the push back against religion comes when a certain tipping point has been reached as far as the percentage of atheists in a population. Except electronically, it seems to mgr that the movement you speak of would come from the people living around you.

I am not at all for "spreading the word" of atheism, but I do wish we had more outreach programs. I recently saw a billboard that said "Don't believe in God? You are not alone" I thought that was kind of nice. If religious people got one thing right, it's that we (as human beings) need community. I always love to see things like secular food banks and moms groups. Just because we aren't organized makes it harder to pull off things like this. 

There is definitely a contingent of atheists who have the congregation thing stigmatised because we don't want to seem "like a religion." I am one of those when it comes to Sunday Assembly.

When it comes to assembling atheists towards a common good, I am all for more of that. Meetup groups, charities, social support---all these things are great.

Yea, I don't care for Sunday congregation (or any day congregation lol) either.

(May 28, 2015 at 11:13 pm)SteelCurtain Wrote:

(May 28, 2015 at 8:42 pm)Huggy74 Wrote: The Op's question..


My question to you SC is...

What is it exactly do you think an "outreach" program is supposed to provide?

Outreach.

Providing a place for a certain type of godless person to congregate is not outreach. Especially with this caveat: "Our vision: a godless congregation in every town, city and village that wants one." Outreach usually comes without an invitation.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/outreach

Quote:outreach

6. the act of extending services, benefits, etc., to a wider section of the population, as in community work.
adjective
7. concerned with extending community services, benefits, etc.:

How does the Sunday assembly providing a place for atheists to get together and worsh... "celebrate life" NOT fall under that definition?

https://sundayassembly.com/public-charte...-assembly/

Quote:The Sunday Assembly

 1. Is 100% celebration of life. We are born from nothing and go to nothing. Let’s enjoy it together.

 2. Has no doctrine. We have no set texts so we can make use of wisdom from all sources.

 3. Has no deity. We don’t do supernatural but we also won’t tell you you’re wrong if you do.

 4. Is radically inclusive. Everyone is welcome, regardless of their beliefs – this is a place of love that is open and accepting.

 5. Is free to attend, not-for-profit and volunteer run. We ask for donations to cover our costs and support our community work.

 6. Has a community mission. Through our Action Heroes (you!), we will be a force for good.

 7. Is independent. We do not accept sponsorship or promote outside businesses, organisations or services

 8. Is here to stay. With your involvement, The Sunday Assembly will make the world a better place

 9. We won’t won’t tell you how to live, but will try to help you do it as well as you can

10. And remember point 1… The Sunday Assembly is a celebration of the one life we know we have

Sounds like they are providing a community service to me....

(May 28, 2015 at 7:10 pm)Huggy74 Wrote:

(May 28, 2015 at 7:00 pm)SteelCurtain Wrote: A much as Christers try to say we do, atheists generally don't have outreach programs.

https://sundayassembly.com/public-charte...-assembly/

Quote:The Sunday Assembly Public Charter

The Sunday Assembly is a godless congregation that celebrate life. Our motto: live better, help often, wonder more. Our mission: to help everyone find and fulfill their full potential. Our vision: a godless congregation in every town, city and village that wants one.

We are here for everyone who wants to:

   Live Better. We aim to provide inspiring, thought-provoking and practical ideas that help people to live the lives they want to lead and be the people they want to be

   Help Often. Assemblies are communities of action building lives of purpose, encouraging us all to help anyone who needs it to support each other

   Wonder More. Hearing talks, singing as one, listening to readings and even playing games helps us to connect with each other and the awesome world we live in.

You were saying?

I think that Steel Curtain meant a program that evangelized others not programs that met the needs of atheist groups.

You get off on being willfully obtuse, don't you, Buggy?

None of those programs are intending on spreading atheism. As I have said, outreach isn't providing congregation or events for other atheists. Outreach is a church mission to go out and convert more Christians. Which was the entire point of my statement.

Quit wasting time trying to define everyone else's position. I have laid out clearly what I mean. If you continue to parse my words for something I clearly didn't mean, you are choosing to do so knowing you are a dishonest moron, as every single person here knows you are when you spend 3 pages trying to define the position of the person you are discussing with even after they correct you 10 times.

Huggy - the Great Derailer of Threads...

(May 29, 2015 at 11:25 am)SteelCurtain Wrote: You get off on being willfully obtuse, don't you, Buggy?

None of those programs are intending on spreading atheism. As I have said, outreach isn't providing congregation or events for other atheists. Outreach is a church mission to go out and convert more Christians. Which was the entire point of my statement.

No, those are missionaries.....  "church mission" should have been the hint. You like to keep digging don't you?

(May 29, 2015 at 11:25 am)SteelCurtain Wrote: Quit wasting time trying to define everyone else's position. I have laid out clearly what I mean. If you continue to parse my words for something I clearly didn't mean, you are choosing to do so knowing you are a dishonest moron, as every single person here knows you are when you spend 3 pages trying to define the position of the person you are discussing with even after they correct you 10 times.

The point is, the word "outreach" doesn't have any religious connotations, Go ahead, type "outreach program" in google and see how many "religious" ones pop up.
A few examples.
FOSS Outreach Program

Quote:Outreachy is the successor of the Outreach Program for Women. Please see its page for the information about the May 2015 round of interships. Outreach Program for Women has been helping women (cis and trans), trans men, and genderqueer people get involved in free and open source software

Street Outreach Program Fact Sheet

Quote:The Street Outreach Program enables organizations around the country to help young people get off the streets. To that end, the program promotes efforts by its grantees to build relationships between street outreach workers and runaway, homeless and street youth. Grantees also provide support services that aim to move youth into stable housing and prepare them for independence.

UCLA Early Academic Outreach Program

Quote:The Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP) is an academic preparation program established in 1976 by the University of California to expand postsecondary education opportunities for California's educationally disadvantaged students.

Do those sound religious to you? What message are they trying to convert people to?  Is it still your position that "outreach" means "religious organization"?

All you had to do was was admit you messed up and we could of moved on, but I'M the "dishonest moron", right?