Religious people might think that a church could never be atheistic; atheists might think that they would never need a church. But this weekend, the ‘Sunday Assembly’ held their first service in Oxford. Founded earlier this year in London, they call themselves an ‘atheist church’ – and there are now over forty of them around the world.
The structure of the Assembly’s service was modeled closely on a church service, though much more upbeat than what that brings to mind for most of us. In place of hymns, it began with bellowing sing-alongs (Queen, Disney, and others). In place of readings there were poems by Cavafy and W H Davies. In place of a sermon there was a speaker, this time Mark Leonard about mindfulness. And in place of a preacher, it was led by comedian and founder of the Sunday Assembly, Sanderson Jones. The theme of the first meeting was, more or less, loving life. As Jones put it, you can forget about this ‘when your to-do list is not getting to-done’, and it is good to have a space in which to remember how wonderful life is.
There are many atheists who would reject the idea of an atheist church fiercely. They want to distance themselves from anything religious. Religion is irrational or immoral, they say. The best thing is to get rid of all traces of religion, or at least, to realize there are no traces worth keeping. Moreover, they might simply not feel the need for the sorts of community that traditional religions offer. Yet there are three reasons why atheists should welcome the Sunday Assembly, and other initiatives like it.
Firstly, it will make atheism a more attractive possibility to many people. ‘New Atheism’ has tried – and often succeeded – to turn people away from religion through arguments. But this won’t change everyone’s mind. It is clear from the recent resurgence of religion, and other forms of spirituality, all over the world, that many people do search for things that religion can offer: community, a place in which to reflect, a sense of purpose, and so on. But, if it is true that there is no reason that it should only be religion that offers this, then atheists must work hard to show this.
More than that, it is a big statement for many people to call themselves an atheist. It seems like a purely negative statement: how can I be completely sure? And if I don’t believe in god, what do I believe in? But imagine if atheists stopped talk about their lack of belief in god, and defined themselves positively as a community that offered those things that religion provides, though without dogmas or liturgy. This would change the connotation of ‘atheism’, and make it much easier for many people to choose to be a part of.
Secondly, it will help bring a greater quality of life to those people who already consider themselves atheist. At the moment, being an atheist is a major identity statement for a person, but on the whole does not contribute much to them. Someone searching for meaning in their life would have to be an atheist and something else (like an artist, or a meditator) in order to find it. But why can’t atheists try come together as atheists, and make communities where people, just by being part of the community, find meaning?
Thirdly, if atheists define themselves only negatively, they will dwell on their differences from other people, delineating themselves sharply and aggressively. This will lead increasingly to tensions between religious people and atheists. But if they focus on community building, they will focus less on their differences from others, but on how to make themselves the strongest communities possible, and perhaps find positive ways of relating communally to other groups.
All this suggests that atheists should welcome and pursue the idea of community building. That being said, it is probably best to lose the term ‘atheist church’ – that’s just for publicity. Though there is some sense to the term, it will just multiply confusion and controversy. Atheists communities would of course not be obligatory for atheists; for those people happy living without it, fine. Nor would there be any one way of running it. But until atheists show that they can build communities and provide meaning for a wide variety of people, their influence on contemporary society will be weaker than it could be both in terms of breadth and depth.
