Atheist 'church'?

[Angrboda]

It serves to allow otherwise marginalized people, atheists, to get together and share a sense of community and feel not so marginal. I see nothing wrong with that. Plus, it allows atheists to learn from and support each other (not everyone has this forum).

It's more the religious connotations that come with labelling themselves as a 'church' which pisses me off. And the fact they are trying to represent all atheists with this bollocks. Or at least they seem to be.

It's a double edged sword. That previous identification makes it easy to understand and resonates with pre-existing memes in a way that "atheist community center" or what have you does not. You can leverage that identifiability, or you can let the lack of a structured meme to use to bind people be your enemy. Personally, I see nothing wrong with rebooting the concept of a church to secular ends, the way the UU's rebooted conventional spirituality. And it seems more a reaction based on emotional revulsion than practicality to diss on using the church idea for atheism or humanism. I get together with a group of Buddhists for meditation in what they term a Sangha. The word Sangha typically refers to a community of monks. They've rebooted it to make the purpose of their organizing once a week to meditate both appealing in terms of traditions, as well as a way to communicate a lot of information about the weekly meeting without a lot of explanation. I generally dislike Buddhists, but this shared communal activity is something I'm glad to take advantage of. Am I repulsed by the fact that they call it a Sangha instead of something else? No, it served it's purpose in helping me find this group that shares an interest in deep meditational practice. And I've been to many "meditation groups" that were just amateurish introductions to meditation, designed to draw people in. If I have to choose that* kind of two tiered approach to just using the framework existing in the concept of a Sangha, I'll take the mild discomfort that I feel being part of an ostensibly Buddhist "community" when I'm not Buddhist and don't care for Buddhist religious beliefs. We share community without sharing belief. I could care less that some might misunderstand an anti-Buddhist Hindu being part of a Buddhist Sangha. It sounds to me like you prefer throwing out the baby with the bathwater, provided you dislike the bathwater enough.

[là bạn điên]

It's more the religious connotations that come with labelling themselves as a 'church' which pisses me off. And the fact they are trying to represent all atheists with this bollocks. Or at least they seem to be.

It's a double edged sword. That previous identification makes it easy to understand and resonates with pre-existing memes in a way that "atheist community center" or what have you does not. You can leverage that identifiability, or you can let the lack of a structured meme to use to bind people be your enemy. Personally, I see nothing wrong with rebooting the concept of a church to secular ends, the way the UU's rebooted conventional spirituality. And it seems more a reaction based on emotional revulsion than practicality to diss on using the church idea for atheism or humanism. I get together with a group of Buddhists for meditation in what they term a Sangha. The word Sangha typically refers to a community of monks. They've rebooted it to make the purpose of their organizing once a week to meditate both appealing in terms of traditions, as well as a way to communicate a lot of information about the weekly meeting without a lot of explanation. I generally dislike Buddhists, but this shared communal activity is something I'm glad to take advantage of. Am I repulsed by the fact that they call it a Sangha instead of something else? No, it served it's purpose in helping me find this group that shares an interest in deep meditational practice. And I've been to many "meditation groups" that were just amateurish introductions to meditation, designed to draw people in. If I have to choose that* kind of two tiered approach to just using the framework existing in the concept of a Sangha, I'll take the mild discomfort that I feel being part of an ostensibly Buddhist "community" when I'm not Buddhist and don't care for Buddhist religious beliefs. We share community without sharing belief. I could care less that some might misunderstand an anti-Buddhist Hindu being part of a Buddhist Sangha. It sounds to me like you prefer throwing out the baby with the bathwater, provided you dislike the bathwater enough.

Interesting. I am an(atheist) Buddhist and I think their use of Sangha is incorrect and is just affectation. If you are not monks then it is not a sangha. It is a meditation group.

[Angrboda]

It's a double edged sword. That previous identification makes it easy to understand and resonates with pre-existing memes in a way that "atheist community center" or what have you does not. You can leverage that identifiability, or you can let the lack of a structured meme to use to bind people be your enemy. Personally, I see nothing wrong with rebooting the concept of a church to secular ends, the way the UU's rebooted conventional spirituality. And it seems more a reaction based on emotional revulsion than practicality to diss on using the church idea for atheism or humanism. I get together with a group of Buddhists for meditation in what they term a Sangha. The word Sangha typically refers to a community of monks. They've rebooted it to make the purpose of their organizing once a week to meditate both appealing in terms of traditions, as well as a way to communicate a lot of information about the weekly meeting without a lot of explanation. I generally dislike Buddhists, but this shared communal activity is something I'm glad to take advantage of. Am I repulsed by the fact that they call it a Sangha instead of something else? No, it served it's purpose in helping me find this group that shares an interest in deep meditational practice. And I've been to many "meditation groups" that were just amateurish introductions to meditation, designed to draw people in. If I have to choose that* kind of two tiered approach to just using the framework existing in the concept of a Sangha, I'll take the mild discomfort that I feel being part of an ostensibly Buddhist "community" when I'm not Buddhist and don't care for Buddhist religious beliefs. We share community without sharing belief. I could care less that some might misunderstand an anti-Buddhist Hindu being part of a Buddhist Sangha. It sounds to me like you prefer throwing out the baby with the bathwater, provided you dislike the bathwater enough.

Interesting. I am an(atheist) Buddhist and I think their use of Sangha is incorrect and is just affectation. If you are not monks then it is not a sangha. It is a meditation group.

That wooshing sound you heard was my point going right over your head.

[Napoléon]

Personally, I see nothing wrong with rebooting the concept of a church to secular ends

Well I do. Raeven hit the nail on the head with why. I understand your own point about this Sangha, but I do think it's an entirely different circumstance. I'm not doubting the idea behind this 'atheist church' is probably a good idea, but my contention is entirely with them calling it a church. I don't see that word as being 'rebootable'. The word literally means "house of god". IMO calling an atheist gathering a church just creates completely unneeded confusion. It's almost as though these people have tried to be clever. "Ohh hehehe we've called it a church aren't we smart". No, you're just feeding the negative stereotypes people already have with atheists in the way you're going about it. Many religious people will find this whole thing not only laughable, but see it as though atheists are taking the piss out of their religion, something I'm not exactly keen on encouraging, at least not in such a dumbass way.

[là bạn điên]

Interesting. I am an(atheist) Buddhist and I think their use of Sangha is incorrect and is just affectation. If you are not monks then it is not a sangha. It is a meditation group.

That wooshing sound you heard was my point going right over your head.

No I was supporting your position.

[EgoRaptor]

I like the idea of an atheist church. Reminds me of the Cult of Reason from the French Revolution (which is my all time favorite cult).

[Crulax]

I have heard of them and while I can understand their intentions in wanting to bring atheist together for discussions I don't agree with it since Christians will more than likely use it to define atheism as a religion which it is not.

[Faith No More]

When I first heard of the idea, I was repulsed, but due to my lack of social interaction and living in an area that is predominately full of people that believe in woo, I would actually considering going to one if I could. I find it hard to meet people that I would get along with quite well in a close friendship, and it would nice to go to a place where the demographic has been whittled down to people that aren't religious.

That's not to say that I can't be friends with religious people. It's just that my personality tends to mesh with the personalities of people that are not religious, and those are few and far between where I'm at.

[Crulax]

That's not to say that I can't be friends with religious people. It's just that my personality tends to mesh with the personalities of people that are not religious, and those are few and far between where I'm at.

I understand completely! (I live in the deep south.) Where I am at the saying "One does not discuss politics or religion in polite company" does not apply! I am constantly bombarded and I am constantly biting my tongue and frankly my tongue has grown quite sore.

[Richi1]

Didn't they try something like this under the French revolution?
Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_Reason