What is an Athiest Church?

[NJCher]

Church without God: How secular congregations fill a need for some nonreligious Americans

Today, almost 30% of adults in the United States say they have no religious affiliation, and only half attend worship services regularly. But not all forms of church are on the decline – including “secular congregations,” or what many call “atheist churches.”

As a sociologist of religion who has spent the past 10 years studying nonreligious communities, I have found that atheist churches serve many of the same purposes as religious churches. Their growth is evidence that religious decline does not necessarily mean a decline in community, ritual or people’s well-being.

What is an atheist church?

Secular congregations often mimic religious organizations by using the language and structure of a “church,” such as meeting on Sundays or hearing a member’s “testimony,” or by adapting religious language or practices in other ways. For example, there are a growing number of psychedelic churches, which cater to people looking to experience spirituality and ritual through drug use.

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Article at The Conversation

[Maraya1969]

1. The Unitarian Universalist chuch here is very into conservvation and doing good works

There are atheists and pagans and whatever anyone wants to be. They have set up box gardens that people use to grow vegetables and such. There is even a labyrinth.

[3catwoman3]

2. Where is this? It sounds just like the small UU congregation...

…I participate with.

[Maraya1969]

7. Fort Myers FL

[Voltaire2]

5. Sure but Unitarianism is a Christian Protestant

Sect with very liberal beliefs including welcoming and supporting non Christians. It is not an atheist church, it is s christian church that includes atheists and wiccans and just about anyone.

[Maraya1969]

6. I have never heard them talk about any God. Maybe others are like that but the one in my town isn't.

[NeoGreen]

3. There are no 'Atheist Churches'...

... it's a misnomer. There may be Secular Congregations (SCs) of people, fulfilling many of the social functions of traditional 'churches' that have members who happen to be Atheists, but these SCs are not 'Atheist Churches'.

The term Atheist itself is a misnomer, coined by the fantasy/myth enthralled believers of magical things to describe people who are not infected with their god delusion.

There are normal people, who only care about real world solutions to real world problems, and then there are the weirdos who try to mix magic into the discussion. The weirdos coined the term Atheist.

Some day in the future, the terminology used for framing everyday discussion will be about 'people' and the 'deluded'. The term Atheist will be discarded.

[Voltaire2]

4. Eh. If some atheists want to congregate and call

their group an atheist church, it’s fine with me.

Also ‘normal’ applied to people’s beliefs or lack thereof is determined by cultural ‘norms’ not by what one thinks people ought to believe or not believe. We live in a massively theistic culture. Theism is normal.

[NeoGreen]

8. True...

... but would they really call it a 'church'? I highly doubt it.

Plus, the 'normal' I used was referring to is an expected future 'normal'. Shades of the meme quote (reportedly) by Mr. Zappa.

[Warpy]

9. While I agree for the most part that what other people do is none of my business

I do think calling them churches gives aid and comfort to the morons who try to define atheism as a religion.

No thanks.

Call it a meetup, call it a confab, call it a party, cal it Ralph. Please don't call it a church. It's not.

[pandr32]

10. 'St.' Paul (Saul of Tarsus) used the Greek word ekklesia for church.

It is also 'ecclesia', and in ancient Greece was used to describe socio-political gatherings--a gathering of the People.
Interestingly, biker clubs also use the word 'church' to describe their regular meetings.

I think one of the draws of a religious church is that of community. When I was a child my mom explained that's why we sometimes went. There were Teas, rummage sales, picnics, and always fun in the after-the-sermon gatherings in the recreation area with tea and coffee, juice for kids, treats, and lots of adults talking and laughing. We kids got to eat cookies and play. When we moved to a new area that was the first place we made new friends from the geographical community our house was in.

[niyad]

11. An oxymoron?

[DavidDvorkin]

12. A contradiction in terms.

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

13. Spending the year dead for tax reasons?

One might think in the US the tax benefits of calling a collective a church might influence some groups.

On the other hand, there are other non-taxable categories they might apply for.

That's all that came to mind.

[msfiddlestix]

14. The term :"Church" translates to a place of worship for organized religion.

I am very reluctant to identify myself as an atheist. More inclined to identify myself as agnostic.
Regardless, I am quite clear of identifying as Anti-Religious.

Don't know if that's a term generally used within the context of these discussions, just pointing out
using terms I associate with temples of cult worshipers, which all organized use religions gather to burn in their cult doctrines in the minds of worshipers . Temples, Mosques, Churches, it's all the same abhorrent thing to me.

Just expressing my confusion and asking why embrace a term associated with organized religion?

[Martin68]

15. I'm puzzled how someone who is an agnostic could be anti-religion. My understanding is that an agnostic believes

there may or there may not be a God, but they believe no one can ever know with 100% certainty. How could you be against something that you acknowledge might be true?

[msfiddlestix]

16. I'm anti-religion, not "anti-god". A HUGE distinction with a significant difference

I'm personally against ALL organized religions. across the entire spectrum.

All say they are worshiping "God" and doing God's work. Which also includes warfare, in the name of GOD.

It's not who created the universe, it's what created it. The term God feels like a personal deity, a sort of super cosmic human with feelings and intentions etc. That'what I don't believe in.

[Martin68]

17. OK, I get it, and agree with you, although I've always added "organized" before the religion part because religion

has more than one meaning and covers a lot of very different approaches to spirituality.

[Mr.Bill]

18. If they had psychedelic churches

when I was in my 20s, I could have been a Pastor.