The Atheist Churches Are Coming!
…
The Sunday Assembly, an atheist church service dreamed up by British comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans as a “godless congregation that celebrates life” hits U.S. shores today with an appearance in Manhattan.
And there’s more to come: their Indigogo campaign plans to raise £500,000 to bring about a global godless revolution.
While the media outlets like Newsweek tout the “atheistic” side of this godless movement, both Evans and Jones view themselves as post-religious. To quote Jones, “I’d like to make this as un-atheistic as possible. Atheism is boring.”
For those who prefer to celebrate the joys of being an out and proud atheist, the majority of the group that formed the NYC Sunday Assembly also decided by majority vote to launch “The Godless Revival” as an alternative.
As non-theism moves more into the mainstream, will we find further splintering? There are already factions as various as atheist activists and spiritual atheists, not to mention the rise of Christian humanists. Looks like time for a bit of Buddha-killing to me.
For those KtBniks who might want to take in an evangelical show reminiscent of church sans the God bits, here’s the days when the Sunday Assembly will be in the United States and Canada. The specific details of each event can be found on their website.
Monday 4th November – New York City
Tuesday 5th November – Boston
Wednesday 6th November – Washington DC
Thursday 7th November – Nashville
Friday 8th November – Chicago
Saturday 9th November – San Diego
Sunday 10th November – Los Angeles
Monday 11th November – Silicon Valley
Tuesday 12th November – San Francisco
Wednesday 13th November – Vancouver, Canada
Becky Garrison is a satirist/storyteller whose most recent book is Roger Williams’s Little Book of Virtues (Wipf & Stock, March 2020). Also, she edited Love, Always: Partners of Trans People on Intimacy, Challenge and Resilience (Transgress Press, 2015). Her six books include 2006’s Red and Blue God, Black and Blue Church (PW, starred review).