Salon.com reports that the Church of Atheism is growing:
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.
Wait, isn’t the appeal of atheism supposedly the lack of rules and structure?
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.
I’m telling you, I’d be a much better atheist than these guys. They hate all the rules and structures of Church so they go ahead and create a Church with rules and structure. These guys are the worst atheists ever.
September 24, 2013 at 6:51 am
"[Christian] morality is not self-evident. This point must be exhibited again and again, in spite of the English flatheads."—Friedrich Nietzsche
But actually the "Shinto" of Japanese Imperialism was atheist (it was an outgrowth of a Neo-Confucian nationalist movement, and Neo-Confucians are atheists who prop up state cults for the sake of social utility), as was Korea from 1392 to the Japanese invasion (its persecution of Buddhists has been likened to the French Revolution), and China at least from the Qing Dynasty on (part of why they persecuted the Zen monks at Shaolin, although another part of that was the monastery was backing the Ming loyalists).
September 24, 2013 at 7:04 am
Just like liberalism. Progressive tenents are more sacred to some catholics than their own faith.
Ideas becomming as strong as a belief in the divine. Atheism was already a religion since it can not disprove the existence of God. So really it is a belief system that God does not exist.
September 24, 2013 at 11:42 am
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I wonder how long before they're worrying about falling numbers and how to hand on their lack of belief to their children?
September 24, 2013 at 12:41 pm
It does take a lot of faith to be an atheist.
September 24, 2013 at 1:28 pm
I just finished "Lord of the World" by Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson. Despite the fact that it was first published in 1907 (and has not been out of print since!) it has some very, very chilling parallels to our current world situation. Including the "Church of Humanism" which starts in London! Boom!
September 24, 2013 at 2:15 pm
It is apparently a faith with elements of sanctification. VII's dynamic reading of the Gospel is ever so handy.
September 24, 2013 at 2:55 pm
I think the most amusing aspect of this Atheist church thing is that the article I read about this same group states clearly that they are in the process of fundraising. Considering the number of times I've heard complaints (numbering in the thousands, at least) from the atheists I know about the Christian Church being a big scam to swindle people out of their money, I got a good chuckle out of that.
September 24, 2013 at 4:52 pm
I thought of "Lord of the World" as well — the humanists end up with churches, services based on Masses, everything because they are really worshipping you-know-who whether they know it or not, and go from hating religion to espousing one without really noticing it.
September 24, 2013 at 5:02 pm
They worship themselves. The ultimate form of idolatry. To recreate God in their image.
September 24, 2013 at 6:57 pm
Atheists could take a tip from me.
I am the Founder, Chairman, and sole member of ABE Ministry (Against Basically Everything) and at my first meeting I proposed a resolution that the Ministry be abandoned but I could find no person to second the resolution and so I cited the fact that while a quorum was present it made no sense to appeal to it for I would be forced to object to anything it suggested.
And so now I am all ruled-up with nowhere to go.
I suggest that is somewhat what life will be like in Hell for atheists except that in Hell there will be an endless political campaign for Hell's Captain and it will be a contest amongst Mao, Stalin, and Hitler and Stan will deliver a 666 year lecture explaining the voting procedures after which Mao, Stalin and Hitler will each have 666 years to deliver one campaign stump speech after which there will be a 666 year election after which Satan will deliver a 666 year speech detailing in excruciating detail the reason why he was required to vacate the vote and he will call for a new election and the process will begin again and it will be endlessly repeated.
September 24, 2013 at 7:41 pm
O, and, of course, the election will take place in the
midst of an endless fire that will burn, but not
consume, the men, body and soul, perpetually
imprisoned there.
September 24, 2013 at 11:37 pm
To me this belief that somehow atheism is a religion is just plain impossible. Why? Because there is no belief in a supreme being or a deity. It is an ideology not a religion or faith in my own view.
September 25, 2013 at 12:05 am
Faith is a gift from God. The mistake The Supreme Court made when they banned prayer was that a belief in no God was a religion. Religion is man's response to the gift of Faith, a gift of Faith from God. Faith, is a theological virtue,, along with Hope and Charity. Virtues are of the metaphysical world denied by those who call themselves atheist. In any case, Faith and religion are First Amendment freedoms. Only Truth and the virtues have freedom, as vices and perjury do not and are to be prosecuted by the state as are slavery and addiction. Atheism is nothing more than addiction to evil without end.(The Big Bang theory in reverse.) The atheist is free but the atheist is not free to impose his nonsense on any other individual sovereign person.
September 25, 2013 at 1:31 am
@Katalina: Atheism is a religious view, rather than a religion strictly speaking. It is to religion as anarchism is to politics—but "X should be abolished" is still in the category "views of X", so for convenience atheism can be thought of as a religion. It also requires infinitely more faith than all other religious views, since "God does not exist" is logically equivalent to "sugar is not sweet"—no other religions are actually based on self-contradictory, meaningless propositions.
September 25, 2013 at 10:52 am
The atheist himself is the single most effective proof of the existence of God. Man exists because God is existence.