Atheist ‘Church’ Launches In Usa

[naomi24]

Atheists – what do you think of this? Do you feel the need for a sense of community - or to 'Come Out' as an atheist?

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/global-mission-atheist-church-launches-in-usa-8708733.html

Personally, I abhor the way in which this appears to be emulating Christianity. These people don't speak for me.

[Davethedog]

They don't speak for me. The antithesis of secularism.

[chrisgel]

Missnemesis - Stating an opinion is not imposing your will on anyone. If you take on face value what an atheist is you would see that some feel obliged to point out flaws in religious arguments.
If you had an adult friend who still believed in Father Christmas then I would hope that rather than humour him you would try to persuade him of the folly of his beliefs.
This is the way it is with some atheists. We feel obliged, not out of spite, to persuade those we can of the flaws in their beliefs.

[chrisgel]

Octavius - //Do atheists help or support people of (other) religion(s) ? //
No - Atheists help and support "people". Their religious beliefs are totally irrelevant.
As Matt Dillahunty of The Atheist Experience puts it. "When we run our soup kitchens we don't make people pray with us before we give them food"

[Davethedog]

Another thing that occurs, is would they exclude someone of religion, because of their churches dogma?

Think people getting together for charitable means is great. Saying look at us we are "Atheists" and charitable, is just another purile religion.

Next the will have a table with a picture of Carl Sagan on it, maybe sitting on a chair, then comes the gift shop, with badges of fish with legs etc.

Its really not on.

[Octavius]

Interesting how you use the word 'persuade' Chrisgel.

I think the main brand of atheism used on R&S is to beat religion out of people. A sort of 'depart, ye fiends of hell! Begone, religionists' militant atheism.

Thats fine by me, but why pretend it is any different.

The Atheist Experience - is that like the God Channel, but without God?

[joko]

robkep - by that i mean we would be wasting even more of our lives on religion than we do already, and allowing the legacy of a past religious society to continue to affect us - and for no other reason that to stick two fingers up to theists.

the effects of our religious history is still running through all our lives, and in some respects governing elements, whether we realise or accept it, or not ... there are many things that have some religious basis or link, even those that are not immediately obvious - weddings, christenings, church services, various charities, xmas, easter, lent, many laws, swearing on the bible, marriage laws, school assemblies, changing a wife's name, our speech and language, our calendar is full of religious dates, sunday hours etc etc ... and lots of other smaller ways we barely notice because they are so ingrained in our society.

[Octavius]

Joko, those things have - more or less - been 'ingrained in our society' since the paleolithic age and the dawning of paganism or before. How much history do you want to wipe out?

[Khandro]

As I see it, the big drawback of becoming a member of the atheist church is that you don't get any holidays.

[joko]

i don't want to wipe any history out. That is not what i said.
I want the future to be different

I made the reference to explain my point to robkep about the legacy of religion being deeper in our lives than many realise - I have heard people adamantly claim religion has zero effect on their lives... simply because they don't believe or go to church etc, ie, do the 'big' things... and only when it is pointed out how much our society is entrenched in religion do they realise.

[Octavius]

Ok, so how are you detrimentally affected by lent, xmas and easter?

And would you abolish them in the future?

[jomifl]

'every moment is special'.. Cliché of the week, give the man a badge.

[chrisgel]

Octavius - //The Atheist Experience - is that like the God Channel, but without God?//
No it's more like Answerbank with logic. ;o)

[Octavius]

So AB is illogical ? Point noted.

[chrisgel]

Khandro - //As I see it, the big drawback of becoming a member of the atheist church is that you don't get any holidays.//

Why would you think that. We have the best of both worlds. We can take the holidays and enjoy ourselves instead of going to church. - Result!

[chrisgel]

Octavius - Good. Happy to clear that up for you.

[Octavius]

Yes, pity you side-swiped the other part though.

[chrisgel]

Octavius - Apologies for missing a point. //I think the main brand of atheism used on R&S is to beat religion out of people.//

That may be true for some. As I have pointed out before there are as many types of atheists as there are people. My own favoured approach is ridicule but there are several people on here who have obviously studied religion and offer, to my mind, reasoned and persuasive arguments against religion.
Having said that, I'm not aware of any converts to atheism on here so it seems we may have to resort to beating it out of people in the end. ;o)

[Octavius]

Well as said at 14.30, the atheists are ...challenged. :)