As a matter of principle I intend to attend an atheist Church service on Sunday. They have been advertising extensively in the paper and I feel morally obligated to attend to show my support (even though, normally, I prefer to just go fishing on a Sunday morning).
This 'atheist' church calls itself "The Ethical Society". Their goal is to create a service that provides the same sense of community of a conventional Church but with none of the dogma. They support many of the supposedly Christian concepts of good works and moral behaviour. We should all, of course, love one another and do things that benefit society. This is often referred to as secular humanism, an ideology where the point of moral and ethical behaviour is to benefit humanity as a whole.
I have no problem with that. To be honest, I can't see how anybody would have a problem with that.
I attended a service of "The Ethical Society" about 20 years ago when I was maybe 22 years old. I thought it was neat then but, seriously, I wasn't going to give up my Sundays then either.
What is unique about this new branch of the organization is that is being opened in the extremely ultra-conservative bible belt portion of the St. Louis area. I half expect protests and pickets. If it's a good Sunday, maybe a few heads will get cracked. I can only hope.
Nevertheless, I intend to attend at least once session out of principle just to show moral support. Seriously, I doubt I will attend on a regular basis but it should be an interesting diversion though.
I will post a follow-up after I attend and report any zealous head-crackings that may, or may not, have occurred.
For those of you who can't even grasp the concept of what an atheist Church is, or what purpose it might have, let me explain. Most members of the ethical society are ex-Christians. They spent many years in the Church growing up and saw many positive things in it. They espeically liked the sense of community and social aspects of that organization, including instilling a moral background for their children.
However....most of the members of the ethical society, typically, have been exposed to some kind of advanced education in their lives and were unable to reconcile the basic facts of reality with the lies and dogma of the Church. So...what they wanted..was a place to get the good parts out the Church without the lies.
Sounds good to me.
John
This 'atheist' church calls itself "The Ethical Society". Their goal is to create a service that provides the same sense of community of a conventional Church but with none of the dogma. They support many of the supposedly Christian concepts of good works and moral behaviour. We should all, of course, love one another and do things that benefit society. This is often referred to as secular humanism, an ideology where the point of moral and ethical behaviour is to benefit humanity as a whole.
I have no problem with that. To be honest, I can't see how anybody would have a problem with that.
I attended a service of "The Ethical Society" about 20 years ago when I was maybe 22 years old. I thought it was neat then but, seriously, I wasn't going to give up my Sundays then either.
What is unique about this new branch of the organization is that is being opened in the extremely ultra-conservative bible belt portion of the St. Louis area. I half expect protests and pickets. If it's a good Sunday, maybe a few heads will get cracked. I can only hope.
Nevertheless, I intend to attend at least once session out of principle just to show moral support. Seriously, I doubt I will attend on a regular basis but it should be an interesting diversion though.
I will post a follow-up after I attend and report any zealous head-crackings that may, or may not, have occurred.
For those of you who can't even grasp the concept of what an atheist Church is, or what purpose it might have, let me explain. Most members of the ethical society are ex-Christians. They spent many years in the Church growing up and saw many positive things in it. They espeically liked the sense of community and social aspects of that organization, including instilling a moral background for their children.
However....most of the members of the ethical society, typically, have been exposed to some kind of advanced education in their lives and were unable to reconcile the basic facts of reality with the lies and dogma of the Church. So...what they wanted..was a place to get the good parts out the Church without the lies.
Sounds good to me.
John
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