http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21319945

Atheists have joined together to hold meetings in a former church (where else?). Does this make sense to those of you who deny the truth of all religions? Or is it just the first step towards creating a new religion, denomination, or perhaps a 'not a church?'

Perhaps someone could write a hymn for it.

There are some nice SOCIAL parts about participating in religious communities. I think this a great idea for people of like minds, people who reject the religious belief poppycock, coming together to enjoy their HUMAN community. I would go to a group like that. No need to call it church. Better not to call it church.

Some might say atheists are "hostile" to religion. That's very unfair and hypocritical considering both the history and current reality of many religion's policies towards both non-believers or even non-believers in their so called "one" truth.

There are some nice SOCIAL parts about participating in religious communities. I think this a great idea for people of like minds, people who reject the religious belief poppycock, coming together to enjoy their HUMAN community. I would go to a group like that. No need to call it church. Better not to call it church.

Some might say atheists are "hostile" to religion. That's very unfair and hypocritical considering both the history and current reality of many religion's policies towards both non-believers or even non-believers in their so called "one" truth.

I think it would be fair, and certainly not hypocritical, to say that Richard Dawkins is very hostile to religion! Not that many religions aren't hostile to atheists.

I find it a nice irony that the speaker in the picture has a row of crosses as a background!

I don't get your point. To an atheist (or non-Christian), a cross is just a two lines intersecting.

IB, they don't need a hymn. They have Queen and Stevie Wonder.

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...from the linked article...

Instead of hymns, the non-faithful get to their feet to sing along to Stevie Wonder and Queen songs.

There is a reading from Alice in Wonderland and a power-point presentation from a particle physicist, Dr Harry Cliff, who explains the origins of dark matter theory.

It feels like a stand-up comedy show. Jones and co-founder Pippa Evans trade banter and whip the crowd up like the veterans of the stand-up circuit that they are.

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Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I think it a great thing and I hope that it spreads all over the world, like Islam and Christianity. Why should religious people have a monopoly on weekly fun community meetings with music, feelings of togetherness, and sometimes meeting sex partners or even life mates?

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I think it a great thing and I hope that it spreads all over the world, like Islam and Christianity. Why should religious people have a monopoly on weekly fun community meetings with music, feelings of togetherness, and sometimes meeting sex partners or even life mates?

I'm all in favour, JT. Put 'em all together in one place. But I cannot see this lasting for very long.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I think it a great thing and I hope that it spreads all over the world, like Islam and Christianity. Why should religious people have a monopoly on weekly fun community meetings with music, feelings of togetherness, and sometimes meeting sex partners or even life mates?

I'm all in favour, JT. Put 'em all together in one place. But I cannot see this lasting for very long.

I don't agree. Atheism is growing rapidly. Religions meet other human needs other than their fantastical supernatural myths and stories. Take the best from religion and leave the rest. Now that we're on the subject I would like to see atheist missionaries. I generally don't like missionaries but since the major religions employ them so widely and effectively, it would seem atheist missionaries are justified merely as a DEFENSIVE force. Having weekly atheist meetings that are way more fun than religions could possibly offer could be a great weapon in the missionary arsenal.

I make stained glass windows and would love to do one for the atheist church, that atomic particle logo in place of a cross and a double helix border I think.

I don't think it would last long because it needs a leader and an aim. Someone has to organise the meetings too. Just generally to get together and enjoy oneselves is not a recipe for permanency.

Missionaries for what? Missions, by definition, have to be sent out by some person or organisation... and all to preach a negative? I don't really think you could have a defensive missionary! If you try to put a positive spin on it, you would find too many people wanting different things.

It's not preaching a negative. That's how religious people would see it, but the non-religious are growing year after year especially in the more advanced nations. Atheists don't need to preached to anyway. The idea of organizing makes sense especially in America where atheists face obnoxious discrimination.

I don't think it would last long because it needs a leader and an aim. Someone has to organise the meetings too. Just generally to get together and enjoy oneselves is not a recipe for permanency.

Why not? We do it most Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at the Green Dragon.

(One of the oldest pubs in Cambridge)

(Sorry, Kayo, not your mission house, is it).

I don't deny the truth of all religions. I'm simply not interested. Does that make me an atheist?

They are meeting at a pub then?

Or at some other non descript venue?

I am confused now.

I don't deny the truth of all religions. I'm simply not interested. Does that make me an atheist?

You may be agnostic. For a small fee I can determine which....send me a PM for more details.

I don't deny the truth of all religions. I'm simply not interested. Does that make me an atheist?

You may be agnostic. For a small fee I can determine which....send me a PM for more details.

I'm not interested enough to bother finding out - especially if it's going to cost money.

I don't deny the truth of all religions. I'm simply not interested. Does that make me an atheist?

You may be agnostic. For a small fee I can determine which....send me a PM for more details.

I'm not interested enough to bother finding out - especially if it's going to cost money.

Ahhh....you are a lapsed Catholic then.

If I were to be press-ganged into Christianity the only mob I'd feel comfortable with are the Society of Friends and lots of people reckon they aren't Christians anyway. Mind you they do make exceedingly good chocolate.

I don't think it would last long because it needs a leader and an aim. Someone has to organise the meetings too. Just generally to get together and enjoy oneselves is not a recipe for permanency.

Why not? We do it most Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at the Green Dragon.

(One of the oldest pubs in Cambridge)

(Sorry, Kayo, not your mission house, is it).

I thought you went to a pub for the booze (when I was at Cambridge, it was for Worthington E... but I guess that has gone the way of so many good things).

If I were to be press-ganged into Christianity the only mob I'd feel comfortable with are the Society of Friends and lots of people reckon they aren't Christians anyway. Mind you they do make exceedingly good chocolate.

Great people, the Friends. You could be a Trappist monk and they wouldn't find you out.

I think Worthington is still around, but I'm for the Greene King (The Abbott or IPA) from the nearest major brewery, or Marston Pedigree (draught) when I can find it.

It's like the UU church.

I don't deny the truth of all religions. I'm simply not interested. Does that make me an atheist?

No, it makes you disinterested person. Which you are not, otherwise you wouldn't be posting in this topic.

I don't think it would last long because it needs a leader and an aim. Someone has to organise the meetings too. Just generally to get together and enjoy oneselves is not a recipe for permanency.

Missionaries for what? Missions, by definition, have to be sent out by some person or organisation... and all to preach a negative? I don't really think you could have a defensive missionary! If you try to put a positive spin on it, you would find too many people wanting different things.

You are a step ahead here. Did you watch the video on the BBC website? This man, labelled a comedian, is in for some big business if he does it right. He should just give his "movement" (don't call it a "religion", for marketing reasons) a fancy name. I have dreamed of starting my own religion (even if you call it a non-religion or anti-religion) ever since I learned about Baghwan Shree Rajneesh back in the 1970s, and met lots of his followers in the 1980s. Had he chosen blue instead of orange for the compulsory clothing, I might have joined.

Only, in the 21st century, you don't call it a religion. Say that you are against religions, but use the exact same techniques that have been successful for millennia: Community feeling, common location, songs (hymns).

Clothing rules for the clergy: In this case, the priest ("comedian") dresses for power, even with a necktie, bowing to the modern world and probably his followers. But he combines this with a bad haircut and a beard, as Jesus is often described to have had. Smart.

Anyway, once his marketing campaign works in the UK, he can go abroad. You can call his foreign marketing executives "missionaries" (as the Christian churches do), but it is really a big step, going international.

I don't deny the truth of all religions. I'm simply not interested. Does that make me an atheist?

No, it makes you disinterested person. Which you are not, otherwise you wouldn't be posting in this topic.

You appear to be confusing my interest in the subject of this thread with an interest in religion - two different things altogether.

If I were to be press-ganged into Christianity the only mob I'd feel comfortable with are the Society of Friends and lots of people reckon they aren't Christians anyway. Mind you they do make exceedingly good chocolate.

If Mr Kipling did religion....

@ Isanbirder....so long as they do not collect money they can not be described as an organised religion in my opinion.

@ Isanbirder....so long as they do not collect money they can not be described as an organised religion in my opinion.

I don't see how this connects with any of my posts.... I didn't call it a religion!

But of course they collect money, if only to pay for the tea and biscuits.

I'm sorry but if they provide tea and biscuits they are, by definition, a religion (in the UK at least).

I'm sorry but if they provide tea and biscuits they are, by definition, a religion (in the UK at least).

Endure, you must be a coffee-drinker!

I'm sorry but if they provide tea and biscuits they are, by definition, a religion (in the UK at least).

Endure, you must be a coffee-drinker!

I drink tea by the bucketful. Does that mean I'm religious