Most people assume atheists don’t go to church, and for the most part they are correct. Some atheists who have not yet “come out” as atheists still go to a traditional church out of habit or to keep their status as an atheist hidden. However the average openly atheist person has little or no interest in church. That’s not the case with some atheists, however–though these aren’t your standard churches either. First and foremost, there are no gods in these churches.
The Society for Ethical Culture was formed in 1877, eighteen years after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species and made the religious universe wobble on its axis. But godlessness can be a little scary, even for an atheist. Ethical Culture’s imposing 1910 edifice on Central Park speaks to its patrons’ wealth, as well as their concern that society might fall apart if it didn’t have a church. But for all the grandeur of its secular cathedral, Ethical Culture peaked at maybe 6,000 members, with only about 3,000 today.
Now, once again, nonbelievers have a fresh sense of mission. The fastest-growing faith in the country is no faith at all. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released the results of its “Religious Landscape” survey in February and found that 16 percent of Americans have no religious affiliation. The number is even greater among young people: 25 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds now identify with no religion, up from 11 percent in a similar survey in 1986. For most of its modern history, atheism has existed as a kind of civil-rights movement. Groups like American Atheists have functioned primarily as litigants in the fight for church-state separation, not as atheist social clubs. “Atheists are self-reliant, self-sufficient, independent people who don’t feel like they need an organization,” says Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists for the past thirteen years. “They’re so independent that if they want to get involved, they usually don’t join an organization—they start their own.”
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So some atheists are taking seriously the idea that atheism needs to stand for things, like evolution and ethics, not just against things, like God. The most successful movements in history, after all—Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc.—all have creeds, cathedrals, schools, hierarchies, rituals, money, clerics, and some version of a heavenly afterlife. Churches fill needs, goes the argument—they inculcate ethics, give meaning, build communities. “Science and reason are important,” says Greg Epstein, the humanist chaplain of Harvard University. “But science and reason won’t visit you in the hospital.”
I don’t know whether McManus himself, people who know nothing of atheists, or atheists who have swallowed the banalities about themselves who resulted in the first sentence of that last paragraph. It’s simply untrue that atheists “just stand against” things, and gods in particular. Atheists don’t believe in gods, and therefore can’t stand against them. Furthermore the notion that because atheists don’t typically have churches or go to them that they don’t build communities, inculcate ethics, visit people in the hospital, etc. is not only incorrect but bigoted. Just because our efforts aren’t always as organized, recorded and done with fanfare doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
On a recent chilly Friday night, a few dozen members of the City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism were gathered downstairs at the Village Community School on West 10th Street for Shabbat. For them, this is a monthly ritual that includes lighting candles and singing Jewish songs that have been carefully excised of a deity. “Where is my light?” asks the song “Ayfo Oree.” “My light is in me.” According to the congregation’s leader, the humanist rabbi Peter Schweitzer, who wrote much of the secular Shabbat service, as well as the lyrics and verse for the congregation’s life-cycle events like weddings, funerals, and bar and bat mitzvahs, Judaism is mostly a culture—religion is just one component. So he simply takes a red pen to the God parts. “We offer a different door in,” says Schweitzer. “One that doesn’t ask you to compromise your lack of beliefs.”
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Gorski believes that a church is not necessarily God’s house. It belongs, first, to the people. Many atheists, he says, misunderstand why people go to church in the first place. “It isn’t the specific doctrines,” he says. “[Church] binds people together and relates them to one another and gives them each a personal, private, and, of course, quite subjective understanding of themselves and their world.”
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Atheism’s bitterest schisms, no surprise, were often formed in church. Gorski says he grew up, uneventfully, as a Catholic. “I’ve got no ax to grind,” he says. But at a meeting of the New York City Atheists in January, two former Jehovah’s Witnesses recounted a childhood rooted in lies and indoctrination. The young woman, who used a pseudonym for fear of never being able to speak to her parents again, told the audience that her father would hide her National Geographic. Ellen Johnson explains it this way: “Our members have left religion and don’t want any part of that.”
Additionally, many atheists see the challenge of tearing down the pillars of organized religion as far from over—just check the numbers of Americans who don’t believe in evolution, they say. And that work—of arguing, of reeducation, of fighting discrimination against nonbelievers—should take precedence over any kind of organization-building.
As a political strategy, however, that may be shortsighted. Greg Epstein, who like Schweitzer is a student of Humanistic Judaism, is perhaps the most outspoken voice for humanism in the United States and has made waves among atheists by arguing that the militancy of the Four Horsemen could derail an otherwise powerful movement. When I met the 31-year-old Epstein for breakfast in a Soho restaurant last month, he told me he’s writing a book called Good Without God, due out next year. “Most nonreligious people are not anti-religious,” he says, and he’s got the numbers to prove it. …There’s a difference between building a community and building an atheist regime.”
That’s typical. Atheists not only divided on whether or not to organize but on how to organize–if they are to organize. Some things are not likely to change, and I think that’s a good thing.
Ken Novak, a marketing analyst from Evanston, Ill., is an atheist. But that doesn’t stop him from going to services on Sundays. While there, he leads a discussion group and a book club, listens to the Sunday school children sing and finds fellowship with others.
Novak, 54, is a member of the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago, a religious group that focuses on respecting others and does not worship a deity. He found it 16 years ago when looking for a nontheistic moral education for his children, and knew right away that he wanted to get involved.
“It’s a place where atheists and agnostics can get what a lot of people get out of church and temple,” Novak said of the Society.
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For many people, being an atheist is sometimes an alienating and lonely experience. Although a sizeable chunk of the population eschews belief in a god, a 2006 survey found that atheists are America’s most mistrusted minority group. “To be outright and openly atheist is to run the risk of social rejection,” said Tim Gorski of Dallas.
That’s one reason Gorski, an obstetrician and gynecologist, opened The North Texas Church of Freethought in 1994. Today, about 80 to 100 people meet on the first Sunday morning of each month for services. The church is in the Freethought tradition, which favors science and reason over the supernatural. It’s like most other churches, said executive director Zachary Moore. “What we are is a church with the superstition removed. We do charitable work, blood drives, Sunday school, take care of each other’s kids,” he said. “You go to any church in the country, you’re going to find people doing the same things.”
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“The idea of tolerance for another’s belief system, in many ways, only runs in one direction in this area of the country,” said Georgene Harkness, 58, who is active in the Church of Freethought and serves as its treasurer. “I have found a community of people who I like and who I know I can trust to ‘allow’ me my own thoughts on life’s important topics.”
Aye, there’s the rub. Tolerance for another’s belief system (or in this case, lack of belief) only runs in one direction in many places. The nation’s dominant belief system is the only acceptable one, period. This is probably the best argument for organization on the part of atheists. The more organized we are, the better able we are to fight intolerance.
Whether I’d be inclined to join an “atheist church” I’m not entirely sure. Meeting routinely with like-minded individuals to discuss ideas, socialize and work to benefit the community has its appeals. The singing and “moment of silence”, the latter of which leans a bit too close to worship, aren’t up my alley however. I think for the time being I’ll just remain among the un-churched while I contemplate the possibilities.
Addendum. Some comments have arrived. The first is from
Greg, who says:
I know a lot of atheists that go to church regularly. The Unitarian-Universalist church is really a lot of fun to attend. People discuss philosophy with other atheists, “strong” agnostics, and liberal Christians. One of the UU churches I went to had a liberal Christian as a pastor that used to get heavily criticized for being too deist.
So if you find yourself ever wanting the social outlet, you might try that.
Until I read about the churches mentioned in the article I’d thought that if I were to ever again go to a church it would be a UU church. I’ve heard they’re pretty interesting and open places. So unless something atheist-specific comes up in the meantime, I’ll likely be heading to a UU congregation should I decide to start attending services any time in the future. Thank you for the suggestion!
Ebon said:
Fascinating idea. Of course, a church is not just a means to worship (or not, apparently) but also a community and a support mechanism.
Indeed. And of course we can use the services as a means to further plot the atheist takeover of America. (You know that’s what they think we’re doing.)
It has been by no means been an easy battle. There have been pleas, petitions and seemingly endless hours of waiting (not to mention hassling with the bigots). But we won–the Supreme Court of California just declared same-sex marriage legal!
