I don't really understand why this is such a terrible thing. I mean, I wouldn't be part of an atheist church, but if others do, what's wrong with that? Surely there are enough atheists nowadays that there's room for more than one varietal/expression of atheism. guys like de Botton were starting to look at the atheism and skeptic communities as a new, secular faith. They were trying to turn atheism into a church.
Honestly, its more of a "you had to be there" thing. The problem with churches is that you get into building dogmas that cannot be challenged, holy books of faith and unquestionable prophets. I started to get a real weird vibe about this time where they did not want us to worship god anymore, but we have this stuff over here to bow towards instead. Myself and a few others in the friend circle who grew up in very religious families all had the same shudder when they started getting prominent. It's ancient history now, but in the wake of that era, there are millions of people out there without a faith or religion who now know they are not crazy, they are not alone and that there are places to go and talk. That is the most important thing in all of this.I don't really understand why this is such a terrible thing.
That's fair. I don't think this is necessarily the case at all churches, though I could see that it would be at some. That's fair, I definitely wouldn't disagree that this is a good thing. I do also think that atheism needs to move forward from always seeing itself as having to do battle with organized religion, although I'm sure that many would disagree. Honestly, its more of a "you had to be there" thing
The problem with churches is that you get into building dogmas that cannot be challenged, holy books of faith and unquestionable prophets.
there are millions of people out there without a faith or religion who now know they are not crazy, they are not alone and that there are places to go and talk. That is the most important thing in all of this.
I've not met a Unitarian yet that has been an asshole. Anyone asking me about a church, I tell them to go find a UU group in their city. If I had to go to a church, that is the one I would pick. And this is the diversity we need: diversity of opinion. There are people now in the 'atheist' movement who have had real violence done against them; I'm talking bullets through windows etc. Those folks have a different take on the argument than we do. In many parts of the country being an open atheist is a social death sentence and the courts have to get involved to let these people raise their kids and go to schools. The latest crapfest, just to show you a glimmer of what is sort of going on, there is going to be another reason rally in 2016. They have a code of conduct that prohibits the mockery of organized religion I think they are talking about Tim Minchin's screeds here where he basically called religious people idiots. Interesting to me, is the Issues page. Note that there is LGBT issues and Climate change, but no separation of church and state. I saw a few people talking about this elsewhere but have not had time to digest, and honestly, I don't care. Well, I care a little bit. It's one of the reasons I stopped giving money to the ACLU and dumped my cash into the EFF instead. Gay issues are still (sadly) needed to be talked about and acted upon. So are Women's reproductive rights. I'm still in shock that we are having this fucking fight still in 2016. But, the ACLU went full on gays and abortion because those issues generate donations, and spent the last 20 years forgetting that the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments are being shredded and turned into toilet paper. If you want to support free speech today, join the EFF and give them money. I'd love to see the ACLU fight asset forfeiture laws, and if they started working on the insane parts of the drug war that would be nice too, I'd even start giving them money again. I've gone on a ramble again, sorry. The point in there is that in the US, roughly 40 million people claim "no faith" and they fit every political and cultural box you can think of. And every year it gets better for them.I don't think this is necessarily the case at all churches, though I could see that it would be at some.
That's fair, I definitely wouldn't disagree that this is a good thing. I do also think that atheism needs to move forward from always seeing itself as having to do battle with organized religion, although I'm sure that many would disagree.
The Reason Rally Coalition recognizes that mockery of religion occurred at Reason Rally 2012, and we welcome such discussion. However, the harassment of individuals for their religious beliefs will not be tolerated.