Oxymoron ‘o the day: Atheist “Church”
by digby
Uhm, no thanks:
Yesterday, The Sunday Assembly—the London-based “Atheist Church” that has, since its January launch, been stealing headlines the world over—announced a new “global missionary tour.” In October and November, affiliated Sunday Assemblies will open in 22 cities: in England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, the United States and Australia. “I think this is the moment,” Assembly founder Sanderson Jones told me in an email last week, “when the Sunday Assembly goes from being an interesting phenomenon to becoming a truly global movement.” Structured godlessness is ready for export.
The Assembly has come a long way in eight months: from scrappy East London community venture (motto: “Live Better, Help Often and Wonder More;” method: “part atheist church, part foot-stomping good time”) to the kind of organization that sends out embargoed press releases about global expansion projects. “The 3,000 percent growth rate might make this non-religious Assembly the fastest growing church in the world,” organizers boast.
There’s more to come: In October, the Sunday Assembly (SA) will launch a crowdfunded indiegogo campaign, with the ambitious goal of raising £500,000 (or, about $793,000). This will be followed by a second wave of openings. The effort reads as part quixotic hipster start-up, part Southern megachurch.
…As of now, Jones is still tweaking the message. But he’s confident in the model: “It’s a way to scale goodness.”
Fergawdsakes. That’s exactly what’s wrong with religion in the first place, the idea that humans who adopt its teachings are somehow “good” in ways that others aren’t. The line between good and evil lines within each human being, regardless of what they “believe.”
I’m an atheist. The last thing I want to do is join some “church”. I was raised in one and I didn’t leave simply because I realized that I don’t believe in God. I also left because I don’t like dogma and I don’t like hierarchy and I don’t like hypocrisy, which I realize defines every human institution to some degree, but seems to permeate these “believing” organizations a little bit more than most. I need to be paid to put up with that crap.
And anyway if I did want to join a church, I certainly wouldn’t join one that features a slogan saying it’s a “foot-stompin’ good time”. I’m almost certain I won’t like the music. And that’s the best thing about church.
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