Atheist 'church'?

[Napoléon]

So I get home, and the first thing I see on the news is bullshit about there being an atheist church:

http://news.sky.com/story/1185876/church...f-atheists

Am I the only person who finds this completely fucking stupid? Just reminds me of Atheism+.

[StoryBook]

Yup, fucking dumb. Church is for worship,atheist don't worship.
My internet sucks so I only watch the first minute, but that was enough to annoy me. What the fuck is with the stupid singing. They look like a bunch of crazy Christians, just singing different words.

[Kayenneh]

Eurgh, no.

[NoraBrimstone]

They have one of those near here somewhere. I've been meaning to check it out for a while now. Just out of curiosity, to see if they're as dumb as they seem.

[là bạn điên]

This just gives ammunition to Christians who state that atheism is a religion.

My non beleif in a divinity does not give me anything else in common with other atheists

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

I'm cool with it so long as they meet in the afternoon, have couches instead of pews, and do human sacrifice.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Puts me in mind of the old joke:

Have you heard about the agnostic terrorists? They go round burning question marks on peoples' lawns.

Boru

[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). In my area, some Unitarian Universalist churches serve much the same purpose, allowing secular people to enjoy each other in a religiously neutral space, and work towards common social activist goals (usually having to do with poverty and the environment). It works for me. I'm a Hindu, but I find such a space more welcoming than a temple (granted, most temples are run by a different kind of Hindu than what I am; there aren't really any local temples to the goddess that I know of).

[Raeven]

One of the things I most enjoy about being an atheist is not having to go to some structured kerfuffle of a service every week. My meet up group more than serves my need for a sense of community -- only we do really fun things, like have parties, meet for coffee, drinks, pee wee golf, do altruistic good works and the like. Most of us meet outside the group activities as well.

I agree with là bạn điên, it just gives the Christians some faux ammunition to assert that atheism is "just another religion." I really hate that.

[Angrboda]

I agree with là bạn điên, it just gives the Christians some faux ammunition to assert that atheism is "just another religion." I really hate that.

Like Christians are going to treat you fairly if you avoid doing certain things. Sounds like you're surrendering some of your autonomy and freedom to avoid false persecution, when doing so won't actually save you from false persecution after all. Standing up to them tends to be more effective than trying to avoid coming up on their radar.