A church service without God.

The Blaze ran this story today about how some atheists have sought community in Great Britain - through a church service, oddly enough. (Tip of the kappa to "Rabbi" David Snyder for this link.)

The whole thing seems rather odd on one hand...

But then again, maybe it isn't so odd. Humans were created for community. That's why we worship God together, anyway, isn't it?

May these folks' frivolity begin to ignite their real burning hearts for the Father who loves them.

Den
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‘GODLESS CONGREGATION’: ATHEIST CHURCH STEALS FROM CHRISTIAN TRADITION TO LAUNCH RAPIDLY-EXPANDING HOUSE OF WORSHIP
Feb. 12, 2013 8:40am Billy Hallowell

The concept of an atheist church is certainly a curious one. An ideological movement that rejects the existence of a higher power would generally seem, at least on the surface, to shun houses of worship. However, British comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans recently decided to launch The Sunday Assembly, an atheist church in the United Kingdom that has quickly gained hundreds of members and international attention. Already, the response has been so monumental that church leaders are planning to travel to Scotland for special performances.

The Sunday Assembly describes itself as “a godless congregation that will meet on the first Sunday of every month to hear great talks, sing songs and generally celebrate the wonder of life.” It provides non-believers with the opportunity to experience church community without buying into God and other related elements that secularists overwhelmingly reject. The church’s success after just one month has been mind-boggling.

 

Originally, Jones and Evans hoped that 50 people would attend the first service in London. Instead, 200 congregants showed up, with this number growing to 300 at the second meeting.

Perhaps most striking are the patterns The Sunday Assembly follows, as it uses traditional church practices and adapts them to a non-believing audience. Take, for instance, this recent description from The Guardian:

The Sunday Assembly may be godless, but a churchgoer who stumbled through the wrong door would find much they recognised.
The service opens with a song, led by Evans and an enthusiastic band at the front; instead of a hymn, however, it is “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen (“We’ve chosen something that allows hamming it up to the max”). The service features a reading, a moment of reflective silence, even a collection to pay for the rental of the church, during which people are invited to turn in the pews and greet those sitting beside and behind them. The plan in future is to engage members in community-based good works.

There is also a sermon, of sorts, on the day’s theme of “wonder”, which sees Dr Harry Cliff, a particle physicist from Cambridge, talking about Dirac’s equation predicting antimatter (“the most amazing theory in history”) and the enormous statistical odds against the universe existing in the first place. The congregation then stands to sing Superstition by Stevie Wonder.
See some scenes from inside the church, below (caution: language):

The church’s founders believe that they have tapped into something that has gone unsatisfied for quite some time in the non-theist community: The urge for a sense of togetherness. This is a phenomenon in the atheist community that the TheBlaze has analyzed extensively. Examining past events that activists have organized like the Reason Rally and Rock Beyond Belief, it is clear that many non-believers are seeking community and a cohort of others who, like them, reject belief in a higher power.

“It is intended to tap into a feeling of wonder, that atheists have like believers, to challenge beliefs and give you something to think about for the week ahead,” Jones recently explained. “People also love to feel part of something and in a sense you lose that when you lose God. Our view is you don’t need to believe to get that back.”

As the church grows, one wonders whether others will sprout up in Europe and across the globe. As atheists seek community and use theistic blueprints to achieve their goals, they’ll likely be faced with increased scrutiny when it comes to denials that atheism has become a faith system in its own regard.

What do you think about The Sunday Assembly? Let us know in the comments section, below.

(H/T: Scotsman)

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MRBIGBILLYB
Posted on February 12, 2013 at 10:19am
I would LOVE to see this in the US. It would be perfect! That would confirm the fact that Atheism is indeed a religion (they have their own church and everything.) And since they are a religion with their own church, there would have to be a “separation of church and state.” Therefore, schools would have to stop teaching the ridiculousness of Evolution since that is one of the main beliefs of the Atheist/Humanist religion. Therefore the choice would have to be made, either allow creationism to be taught, or disallow evolution. You can’t play favorites on which religion is OK to teach, right?

Comments

[Collin Lapp]

This is just a thought I had about the article that you posted about the "Godless Church". I think that the key thing that they are missing, and honestly a lot of regular churches are missing, is that we as christians and together as a community, called a church, are supposed to help people. Gathering and singing together and having a sense of community is great but the true meaning of church is a group of people coming together to spread the love of God to the people in greater numbers. We as a church need to help people that are suffering not stand in a building for 2 hours a week and hear someone talk at us and sing some songs. Jesus didn't come to start churches he came to love people and save them. so then why should we get upset about them coming together and singing songs when they are really missing the true meaning of church. Maybe the reason we get upset is because they are exposing how we ignore the call that God has for His church.

[CdAHumanist]

As an atheist, I totally understand why they have created this "church" and why it is wildly popular. The article nails it with this: "The church’s founders believe that they have tapped into something that has gone unsatisfied for quite some time in the non-theist community: The urge for a sense of togetherness." While we have historically experienced mostly societal exclusion, this type of gathering helps to transcend that.

[Joe Jaszewski]

Makes a lot of sense, Dennis. One of the things I miss the most about being part of the Catholic community is just that, the sense of community. As an atheist, I've often wished I could experience that feeling of communal experience every Sunday but without having to pretend that I am a believer. I wish there was something like this in Boise.