One of the most unusual aspects of the New Atheist movement is the recent proliferation of atheist churches springing up throughout North America and Europe. The Seattle Atheist Church and the North Texas Church of Freethought offer just a couple examples of secular churches.
The Seattle Atheist Church bills itself as a church where “you will never hear anything supernatural promoted from the podium.” They believe in good because “good acts in non-mysterious ways.”
The Sunday Assembly, www.sundayassebly.com started in the UK in 2013, now boasts 70 chapters in eight countries. They have music, singing, speakers - plus tea and cakes after the service. They promote values of compassion, community and connection with each other. Though a church without God might be compared to a McDonald’s without hamburgers, nevertheless, the vacuum created by westerners exiting conventional churches appears to be filling.
Many of the "sermons" at these churches are akin to philosophy or science lectures on subjects ranging from particle physics to how to grieve for loved ones. The main "preacher" at the Sunday Assembly, Sanderson Jones says his charisma is a threat to them becoming another cult-like denomination but neighboring church leader, Bishop Harrison, a Christian preacher for 30 years, says he does not see his new neighbors as a threat, confidently predicting that their spiritual journey will eventually lead them to God.
"They have got to start from somewhere," he says.
Meanwhile, as westerners are exiting churches in droves, the Sunday Assembly boasts 300 members on any given Sunday while their neighbors are struggling to get 30 people in the doors for their services.
- from Chapter 9 of the Urban Joshua
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