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RE: Atheist "church" in London.
February 4, 2013 at 3:18 pm
Is there anything that the Greeks didn't do?
Seems to me we are in a worse off place than 300 BC.
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RE: Atheist "church" in London.
February 4, 2013 at 3:27 pm
QUICK, TO ANCIENT GREECE, COMRADES, FOLLOW ME...
We must leave our church in London behind.
We shall bury it as a practical joke for future archaeologists.
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RE: Atheist "church" in London.
February 4, 2013 at 3:27 pm
I can't say I'm against the idea - to be honest I've had thoughts of a similar thing myself, more a sort of hive of free thought and education, if ever I won big on the Lottery. The odds against that are probably higher than usual, however, since I don't actually play the thing. No, the only red flag I have is the inevitable crowing demonstrated in the article, as in "Does it feel a bit like a new religion?" But since that stuff is in the mind of the beholder, it's just a matter of perception and thus their problem; except inasmuch as we'll end up fielding all that crap.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: Atheist "church" in London.
February 4, 2013 at 3:42 pm
I actually have about 250 index cards' worth of ideas regarding starting a "congregation" of sorts. I think the only thing, really, stopping me is the struggle with removing religion from the idea of church. I'm sick of defending my non-belief to the religious as not a religion.
My idea is sort of like a church: membership-based, donation-run, community, charity. But, there would be heavy emphases on science, music, and education in general, along with other fun stuff, such as pot lucks, beer tastings, and comedy. And no supernatural stuff unless it's a class about fiction.
There are people like me out there, I know, who really like church, but could do without the woo and bigotry that tend to follow religion around.
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RE: Atheist "church" in London.
February 4, 2013 at 3:43 pm
(This post was last modified: February 4, 2013 at 3:44 pm by Zone.)
We can adhere to sacred Epicurean doctrines such as the of the "Tetrapharmakos"
"Don't fear god,
Don't worry about death;
What is good is easy to get, and
What is terrible is easy to endure."
Epicureans would engrave this on hand mirriors and haircombs and such.
Apparently Julias Ceasar leaned toward Epicureanism and rejected the idea of an afterlife and Constantine the Great (founder of the Roman Catholic Church as a state religion) gave it his seal of approval as well. So there's an ancient hertiage here. But to be honest all I'm really doing is rejecting claims that aren't based on evidence of beyond flimsy eyewitness testimony and "feelings" about something.