LOS ANGELES (AP) — It looked like a typical Sunday morning at any mega-church. Several hundred people, including families with small children, packed in for more than an hour of rousing music, an inspirational sermon, a reading and some quiet reflection. The only thing missing was God. Related Stories Congregation celebrates assembly - without religion Reuters Nearly three dozen gatherings dubbed "atheist mega-churches" by supporters and detractors have sprung up around the U.S. and Australia — with more to come — after finding success in Great Britain earlier this year. The movement fueled by social media and spearheaded by two prominent British comedians is no joke. On Sunday, the inaugural Sunday Assembly in Los Angeles attracted several hundred people bound by their belief in non-belief. Similar gatherings in San Diego, Nashville, New York and other U.S. cities have drawn hundreds of atheists seeking the camaraderie of a congregation without religion or ritual. The founders, British duo Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, are currently on a tongue-in-cheek "40 Dates, 40 Nights" tour around the U.S. and Australia to drum up donations and help launch new Sunday Assemblies. They hope to raise more than $800,000 that will help atheists launch their pop-up congregations around the world. So far, they have raised about $50,000. http://news.yahoo.com/originals/
In the absence of God, they can emphasize meditation, even yoga practices. There are things they can do with architecture to create a feeling of awe. They can also borrow from Budhism which is atheist anyway. Depending upon what country their in, and what the laws are like, they can always turn to cannibus or magic mushrooms to facilitate a spiritual experience.
Here is a question. Let's say the atheists start a church, a First Church of Atheism. What happens when a bunch of cute girls show up with party drugs, then a goat, then suddenly it morphs into the First Church of Satan? How will atheists resist the temptation? I mean, isn't this the ultimate destination of atheism? http://www.churchofsatan.com/ Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Here we go again with the demonization of Atheists by stupid theists. Mazulu Are you so intellectually challenged that you don't know that those who do not accept the existence of god also do not accept the existence of the devil as well? So how could that be a destination an Atheist would seek? You are not only offensive, you are STUPIDLY offensive. Do you need drugs to have a spiritual experience? Then why would anyone else? Again, STUPIDLY offensive. Do you never learn anything. Are you always such a stupid person? As far as the OP, I too miss the fellowship of church services, but a church of Atheists strikes me as an oxymoron. GrumpyPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I haven't heard of anything like that here in the San Francisco bay area. We have countless atheists around here I guess, but they already have plenty of things to do on Sunday. Like watching football! Or participating in any other kind of social, cultural or entertainment activity that could be imagined. The malls are filled with women shopping, trails are filled with hikers... An atheist church seems a little 'unclear on the concept' to me. Maybe an atheist church would be attractive to some subset of new atheists, to people who have recently given up their religious adherence and who feel some kind of resulting void in their lives. But I'm sure that the great majority of atheists (or anyone else for that matter) don't have enough interest in something they don't believe in to want to join a social group that's devoted to not believing in it. Atheists have better things to do with their Sundays.
From the link: "Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years!"
Two things: 1) you are unnecessarily demonising and misrepresenting atheists. There is no need for that kind of attitude. You don't need to believe in deity to be a good person, to be part of a community, to have meaningful spiritual practices, and so on 2) you are doing the same to the Church of Satan. They're really not bad folks. A little dour sometimes, and somewhat more right-wing that I'd like.
Sounds like the makings for a BBQ! Seriously, the myth of Satan was specifically designed to denigrate the pagan religions of the time, which included plant based hallucinogens. Unlike god, they actually deliver. Satanism is for morons.
Whether or not I am demonizing them is beside the point. Satanists consider themselves atheists. If you take some atheists, put them in an atheist church, and some sexy girls, I think it's going to devolve into an orgy, drugs and then satanism, like a slippery slope. I think that's what happens, as if some natural animalistic force of human nature takes over.
Whether or not satanists are morons is unknown. But satanists get into drugs, have wild orgies (with a goat) and probably then have a bbq (with the goat).
Then, it should be no problem for you to confirm that from the link to the website YOU provided... http://www.churchofsatan.com/
It's baffling how little you know of the world around you and how much of a fantasy world you've created for yourself. Truly delirious.
Actually the people the church accused of being witches were not against Christianity. They were in fact Christians who happened to incorporate folk herbal concoctions into their practice. These were vestiges of an earlier time. Some of these recipies were taken internally in the rectum with the help of a broomstick. Of course this gnostic practice challenged church hierarchy, after all if people can connect with god directly rather than through a priest, that would ruin the whole cash flow...
Don't turn this around. Atheists don't believe in any of that. They routinely ridicule such things. Satanists are atheists. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanism
