Atheist Sunday Assembly goes worldwide, the future is bright for non-believers

Originally posted by something wicked

Originally posted by grainofsand
reply to post by something wicked

 

Oh dear, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. You are welcome to ignore this thread of course, but as OP I have been dealing with "you shall burn" type comments so any disagreeable comments from myself are inspired by the religious zealots who feel that a meeting place for non-believers is something worth attacking.

Actually, on a slow ATS news day this has been an interesting thread. There are of course on ATS as many non religious zealots who wish to trash any non-non believers so I'm afraid you can't just have it your own way. Me? As long as you aren't hurting anyone else, it's your own business, why make it anyone else's? That goes for faith and non faith people, but if you must try and convert people to your fixed belief, try not to mock the belief of the person you are trying to convert.

At no point in this thread at any time have I attempted to convert anyone. Each persons belief is their own conviction and I respect their right to such thoughts.
If I have appeared to mock people of faith then I can only explain it as a response to the "you'll burn" types who contributed in the first few pages.
Mocking and ridicule has never been my intention and I hope my replies reflect that if anyone takes the time to look at them as an overall package.

Originally posted by grainofsand

Originally posted by Biigs

Originally posted by SaturnFX

Originally posted by Biigs
Atheist church sounds pretty silly to me.

what do they do? sit around a room cussing other religions?

Because when i was a youngster, sitting around chatting about random stuff was just called a youth club.

seems very weird to me

Do sci-fi clubs sit around and cuss non-fiction as their primary goal?

I would imagine sci-fi talk about sci-fi stuff, what might atheists talk about if the reason there are all there is a common interest in essentially.... nothing.

religions sing songs and read text and discuss "local stuff"

Atheist church sounds more like a boring waiting room,
Bob- "hey frank do you still not believe in a God?"
Frank- "nope"
Bob- "yup, me either"
-= awesome! =-

Sci-fi groups do not evangelise and knock on strangers doors to spread their sci-fi word of alleged truth.
There is no need for a safe haven from sci-fi zealots, there is however, for a place for non god believing types to escape religious zealots who cry "you will burn" when any openness is shown about their lack of belief.

You seriously need to move house. Honestly, your experience is not typical in the UK, are you making it up or do you live in the fundamentalist capital of the UK?

Now having said that, go to a Star Trek convention and call Spock and ass hole and you will probably be told you will burn (in Vulcan).

Originally posted by grainofsand
reply to post by Grimpachi

 

Your observation is exactly how I see it

I struggle to see the problems that so many people appear to have with it.

I think that the atheists that are against this in the thread are because they fear that it will become dogmatic or they have a streak of anarchism in them. Some are fine with the idea but they simply have no interest in participating in such an event which is fine I think that is a perfectly reasonable response.

As I said before I used to attend church just for the social aspect and nothing more. I stopped because I got fed up with the dogma and nonsense. Of course I had to lie and say I was a believer to avoid persecution there. This organization interests me greatly because I see it having all the things I enjoyed about church minus all the things I disliked.

For the religious here that are against it that is easy to understand. In one way or another they feel threatened by such an institution it is as simple as that. Most of their fear is unfounded but if they are afraid that such an intuition would become popular detracting away from dwindling church attendance then their fear is justifiable in my opinion. Atheism will only become more acceptable with this which I am all for.

Originally posted by something wicked

Originally posted by grainofsand
reply to post by KBadger

 

Nope, I've met many a zealot in a pub, just depends on how drunk they are when they impose their beliefs on others

You live in a weird place. Do you find this everywhere? I'm beginning to feel you actually hunt it out. I cannot think when I've been involved in any such debate or heard any such opinions anywhere - to be honest, even in a church when I was younger. Seems to be a lot around your own experience and assuming everyone else receives similar in their day to day experience. I do have an atheist friend though who when he's had a few will argue blind why he is right..... hmmmmm, I don't think I know you......

Nope, I just share my own lack of belief whenever anyone shares their own belief in the course of a conversation.
It causes issues sometimes, but usually because the person who expressed a belief takes offence because I don't believe the same things as they do.

It was founded by two comedians, theres certainly an air about it all thats meant to be slightly not serious.

If i wanted to meet like minded people, id join a club or whatever, i suppose if i wanted to meet other people with a similar religious believe (or lack there of) i suppose it could be a good idea.

Im sure this wont get much of a following, this time next year possibly all forgotten, but hey as people have already said, if you dont like it, dont go

Originally posted by grainofsand

Originally posted by KBadger

Originally posted by grainofsand
reply to post by KBadger

 

Thats cool fella, you can ignore this thread then, and ignore the Sunday Assembly as an irrelevance which does not affect you in any way.

Well that's just charming isn't it. You take part in a debate and get told to ignore it because you don't agree with the opposing point of view.
That's not very non-Christian of you...

Haha, loving the irony!
You are welcome to contribute your views of course, I'm just saying that if you think the idea of a non believers meeting place is BS then you are welcome to ignore it as an irrelevant idea which doesn't affect you.
I've met some crazy religious types on a rant while they were drunk in a local pub, but then I grew up in Wales and live in a rural SW England community right now, so I should expect it really

Different experiences is all!

Well if there's one thing I thrive on it's a healthy sense of humour and irony, which I must have as I moved to America four years ago...
I grew up in the Midlands, in Britains brewing capital and home of Marmite Burton on Trent, and in the 38 years I spent there I hardly ever met any religious types. I myself have neither been Christened or bought up to believe in any form of religious belief.
I was very much a hardcore atheist in my youth, but mellowed out to agnostic when I realized that we can ultimately not know, and as the vast majority of people I know are pretty much non religious then the idea of the Sunday Atheist Society seems a little silly.
So I'm imagining the South West still has a lot of superstitious types then?

reply to post by Grimpachi

Religious doctrine will not be welcome that is all.

Yeh, nothing like a meeting which excludes all but 14% of the 7 billion people living on the planet from any discussion. But that's ok. The rest of us get enough of your dialogue and indoctrination in the public schools, Universities, think tanks and marts of the world.

Originally posted by Biigs
It was founded by two comedians, theres certainly an air about it all thats meant to be slightly not serious.

If i wanted to meet like minded people, id join a club or whatever, i suppose if i wanted to meet other people with a similar religious believe (or lack there of) i suppose it could be a good idea.

Im sure this wont get much of a following, this time next year possibly all forgotten, but hey as people have already said, if you dont like it, dont go

I agree, if it doesn't float your boat then just ignore it.
My experiences of not believing in gods is in my opinion similar to the guy in the pub who doesn't follow football (Soccer for US readers).
You could have multiple guys in the pub discussing football, Arsenal/Chelsea/Man City fans, and also lowly Hull City/Torquay/Bradford fans. It doesn't matter how crap your team is but the fact you all follow one seems to provide the cohesion for the group.
Now if someone in the pub says "I'm not into football at all" then he suddenly becomes a pariah who is criticised by the group, if not the whole pub.
Same could be said for people without any faith. As far as I see it appears that no matter how wildly conflicting your religion is then as long as you have some faith you are considered as something better than the terrible atheists.

Most of what you said sounds like rubbish.. I don't claim persecution, put up billboards, I don't own any Darwin merchandise .. Nor to I take my knowledge from my authorities as a matter of faith, I don't know many true Athiests who do .. I also don't congregate on Sundays.. but I guess you could technically say bowling night with friends and a few beers is congregating with my buddies.. Sure there are some organized groups of like minded individuals.. but you're missing the key point and that is one is about worshiping a deity and faith through brotherhood ( religion ) and the other is about socializing and discussion about like minded topics.. zero worship involved.. Yes discussion of religion is going to happen because religion does fall into categories of scientific interest in it's own right .. the proving of or disproving of an idea based on facts.

reply to post by miniatus


I think what you say is rubbish as well. Despite your claims, here you are defending your position, your atheism, as if it defined who you are.

To get in your group, must one be an atheist? Or can someone who believes in a deity join in? If it excludes people because of religious beliefs, then how is that any different than other religions? If it is simply a gathering of people of all faiths and creeds, why are we even arguing over it?

Originally posted by KBadger
So I'm imagining the South West still has a lot of superstitious types then?

Devon pixies dude, don't forget the power of those little guys!!

Originally posted by grainofsand

Originally posted by Biigs
It was founded by two comedians, theres certainly an air about it all thats meant to be slightly not serious.

If i wanted to meet like minded people, id join a club or whatever, i suppose if i wanted to meet other people with a similar religious believe (or lack there of) i suppose it could be a good idea.

Im sure this wont get much of a following, this time next year possibly all forgotten, but hey as people have already said, if you dont like it, dont go

I agree, if it doesn't float your boat then just ignore it.
My experiences of not believing in gods is in my opinion similar to the guy in the pub who doesn't follow football (Soccer for US readers).
You could have multiple guys in the pub discussing football, Arsenal/Chelsea/Man City fans, and also lowly Hull City/Torquay/Bradford fans. It doesn't matter how crap your team is but the fact you all follow one seems to provide the cohesion for the group.
Now if someone in the pub says "I'm not into football at all" then he suddenly becomes a pariah who is criticised by the group, if not the whole pub.
Same could be said for people without any faith. As far as I see it appears that no matter how wildly conflicting your religion is then as long as you have some faith you are considered as something better than the terrible atheists.

No, got to disagree with you there. I've never liked football and always been vocal about it and never once have I been made to feel like a pariah. Are you sure you live in Blighty?

reply to post by Grimpachi

For the religious here that are against it that is easy to understand. In one way or another they feel threatened by such an institution it is as simple as that. Most of their fear is unfounded

A quick study of secular humanism being forced on the entire population in the schools shows that you are more than in error in this conclusion.

On the contrary, historically, Karl Marx in his economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 wrote that "Communism begins from the outset with atheism. . . Communism as fully developed naturalism, equals humanism."

And in his first press conference (Feb. 11, 1985), Secretary of Education William Bennett said in answer to a query on the subject that "there is something called secular humanism - it's not mysterious, it's not something that one has to wonder about its meaning . . . read the Humanist Manifesto."
NOT ONLY DID John Dewey, "the father of progressive education," sign the manifesto, but so did C.F. Potter, who wrote Humanism, A New Religion (1930), in which he wrote that "Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism and every American public school is a school of humanism. What can the theistic Sunday schools, meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching?"

www.truthmagazine.com...

Originally posted by grainofsand

Originally posted by KBadger
So I'm imagining the South West still has a lot of superstitious types then?

Devon pixies dude, don't forget the power of those little guys!!

Ah Devon, that explains it. I believe that's technically France...

Originally posted by KBadger

Originally posted by grainofsand

Originally posted by KBadger
So I'm imagining the South West still has a lot of superstitious types then?

Devon pixies dude, don't forget the power of those little guys!!

Ah Devon, that explains it. I believe that's technically France...

I guess from your escapist perspective across the Atlantic ocean you would consider it as such

Originally posted by grainofsand

Originally posted by KBadger

Originally posted by grainofsand

Originally posted by KBadger
So I'm imagining the South West still has a lot of superstitious types then?

Devon pixies dude, don't forget the power of those little guys!!

Ah Devon, that explains it. I believe that's technically France...

I guess from your escapist perspective across the Atlantic ocean you would consider it as such

Indeed, I got sick and tired of the rain. So I moved to Seattle...

reply to post by SaturnFX

If God tucked its entire being into a simple meatbag human body and wandered around earth for awhile...would he/she be a atheist...

I believe NewAgeMan is correct in assessment that the energy of God is within even the atheist, though the atheist denies the existence of God within and without his being. Just because the atheist denies the existence of the breath of God within does not make it absent, but the denial of God's energy does somewhat negate some of the more positive aspects of existence.
Wise people understand that no one says that all of God is within one body, but exists in all of us and all of creation. The atheist then, in denying the existence of God, really denies His Consciousness, and acts as if it is man himself which created everything.
Man is a co-creator with God, that is, man is not fully responsible for creation, but is involved in creative acts when he uses the God-given energy. Thus man can create beautiful things with the energy of God, or he can use his free will to create ugly forms, but all is within the existence of the creative energy.

Hindus understood these things when they wrote down the vedic scriptures.

Originally posted by KBadger

Originally posted by grainofsand

Originally posted by KBadger

Originally posted by grainofsand

Originally posted by KBadger
So I'm imagining the South West still has a lot of superstitious types then?

Devon pixies dude, don't forget the power of those little guys!!

Ah Devon, that explains it. I believe that's technically France...

I guess from your escapist perspective across the Atlantic ocean you would consider it as such

Indeed, I got sick and tired of the rain. So I moved to Seattle...

Should have just moved to the South West, not much rain here, even get tax funded healthcare as well Lol.

Back on topic though, I think the idea of a meeting place for likeminded people (regardless of belief) is beneficial to all concerned with the shared ideology, so if anyone has a particular specific reason to criticise or praise such a situation for non believers, please feel free to share your concerns in this thread. It is a reasoned debate, not an evangelical ranting place

Originally posted by KBadger
I grew up in the Midlands, in Britains brewing capital and home of Marmite Burton on Trent

you have my sympathy, evil stuff, even bathing in marstons most likely wouldnt eradicate the smell of the stuff from your skin.

how could one hang their washing out to dry there - in stockport it smells of McVities choccy digestives and that makes your shirts smell of divine yummyness, which is ace.... i used to love driving through there when i lived in manc land (i'm black country btw). but marmite????

*shudder*

marmite really is proof that there is no benevolent creator

however, it may be evidence of the work of the devil, i've often said it was gathered from his puckered ring-piece, i never realised that meant i was dissing burton


sorry about that, carry on

Originally posted by ThirdEyeofHorus

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
If Jesus could see you all now.

I'm sure he would be happy that people in their communities were comming together in a positive way, whether they believe in him or not. Maybe he would conclude, "god moves in mysterious ways"

It is a lie that Jesus would have condoned socialism, or that Jesus himself was a socialist. That would imply that all charity is a socialist system and it is not. Socialism depends on forcibly taking from another, whereas true Christian charity is the voluntary giving of one's own resources to another needy person. Socialism institutes and mandates forced redistribution.

Amazing you can bring the dreaded socialism into this debate. My point was directed at Christians who seem to have problem with athiests meeting in a sense of community. This is not about economic systems.

Originally posted by skalla

Originally posted by KBadger
I grew up in the Midlands, in Britains brewing capital and home of Marmite Burton on Trent

you have my sympathy, evil stuff, even bathing in marstons most likely wouldnt eradicate the smell of the stuff from your skin.

how could one hang their washing out to dry there - in stockport it smells of McVities choccy digestives and that makes your shirts smell of divine yummyness, which is ace.... i used to love driving through there when i lived in manc land (i'm black country btw). but marmite????

*shudder*

marmite really is proof that there is no benevolent creator

however, it may be evidence of the work of the devil, i've often said it was gathered from his puckered ring-piece, i never realised that meant i was dissing burton

sorry about that, carry on

edit on 12-3-2013 by skalla because: emote failure

Clearly you are a Satanist as Marmite is manna from heaven and possibly the only thing that could even point to the existence of a creator.
Is that Lee Scratch Perry in a tin foil hat you have as your avatar? If so major kudos