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 Members of an atheist congregation at Harvard listen to music during a recent gathering.
June 22nd, 2013
11:25 AM ET
Church without God - by designBy Dan Merica, CNN Boston (CNN)-– It’s Sunday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a rapt congregation listens to a chaplain preach about the importance of building a community. A few dozen people sit quietly for the hourlong service. Music is played, announcements are made and scholars wax poetic about the importance of compassion and community. Outsiders could be forgiven for believing this service, with its homilies, its passing of the plate, its uplifting songs, belongs in a church. If so, it’s a church without one big player: God. Sunday’s congregation in Cambridge is a meeting of the Humanist Community at Harvard University and the brainchild of Greg Epstein, the school’s Humanist chaplain. A longtime advocate for community building, Epstein and his group of atheists have begun to build their Cambridge community and solemnize its Sunday meetings to resemble a traditional religious service. To Epstein, religion is not all bad, and there is no reason to reject its helpful aspects. “My point to my fellow atheists is, why do we need to paint things with such a broad brush? We can learn from the positive while learning how to get rid of the negative," he said. Godless congregations For Epstein, who started community-building at Harvard nearly 10 years ago, the idea of a godless congregation is not an oxymoron. “We decided recently that we want to use the word congregation more and more often because that is a word that strongly evokes a certain kind of community - a really close knit, strong community that can make strong change happen in the world,” he said. “It doesn’t require and it doesn't even imply a specific set of beliefs about anything.” Epstein is not alone in his endeavor. Jerry DeWitt, who became an atheist and left his job as an evangelical minister, is using his pastoral experience to building an atheist church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This Sunday, DeWitt's congregation will hold its first meeting as a "Community Mission Chapel." "When you become a part of this congregation, this community, you are going to become part of a family," DeWitt told CNN. "There is an infrastructure there for you to land in. There is going to be someone there to do weddings and to do, unfortunately, the funerals." READ MORE: Unbelieving preachers get help to 'come out' as open atheists Sunday school for atheists As members of the Cambridge congregation file into a wood-paneled classroom at Harvard, singer Shelley Segal greets them with a few songs from her latest recording, called simply, “An Atheist Album.” Taking a hint from the theme of the event, Segal strums on her guitar and belts her song, “Gratitude.” “I don't believe in a great power to say thank you to,” Segal sings. “But that won’t take away from my gratitude.”  Harvard's humanist chaplain Greg Epstein leads an atheist gathering. After the music, Epstein offers a few words of greeting before the meeting gets to its heart: a discussion about compassion. A four academics and a journalist discuss the effects of religion on raising children and their ideas about compassion. Congregants listen intently, some even taking notes. Each service has a message – compassion, evolution or acceptance - after which congregants engage in a lengthy discussion. Before the main event, kids are invited to what some parents refer to as “Sunday school,” where Tony Debono, a biologist Massachusetts Institute of Technology, teaches the youngsters about evolution, DNA and cells. There's little talk about organized religion, positive or negative. Likewise, down in Louisiana, said his atheist services will not be anti-religion. "What we are looking at doing is different," DeWitt said. "If you are a religionist and you come and sit in our pew, the only way you can leave offended is because of what you don’t hear and what you don’t see. We won’t be there to make a stance against religion or against God." Coming out of the closet In the last few years, the number of “nones” – those who don’t associate with any organized religion – has grown at a rate faster than any other group. Nones now represent one in five Americans, according to a 2012 Pew Research Center poll. Although the number of atheists has grown, too, there are still a large number of “nones” that choose not to associate with the label “atheist.” Some at Harvard’s Humanist congregation fall into this category. “I don’t particularly have a religion,” said Anil Nyer, a neurologist who brought his daughter to Humanist Sunday school. But Nyer also said he didn’t want to label himself as an atheist. One reason to shy away from the atheist label: Many Americans hold a negative impression of nonbelievers. According to a recent Public Religion Research Institute poll, nearly 40 percent of Americans believe that atheists are changing American culture for the worse. “Whenever we put atheists on a list like this and we compare them to other groups, atheists tend to come in towards the bottom of that list,” said Robert P. Jones is the CEO of Public Religion Research Institute. “Americans tend to hold a lot of reservations about atheists.” Epstein hopes his congregation can change that. By formalizing meetings and building a strong community, the Harvard group hopes it can be a model for other atheist congregations forming around the country.  A group meets during an atheist gathering in Boston. More atheists may come of the closet if they know a congregation will be there to support them, Epstein said, “Being an atheist is something we want people to come out and be,” said the Humanist chaplain. “There are so many people, probably millions, who are humanists or atheists or nonreligious in private and nobody knows." Epstein said he gets e-mails daily from people founding atheist meet-up groups. “Tulsa, Oklahoma; North Carolina; London; Vancouver, Canada; Houston, Texas,” Epstein said, listing the sources of the most recent e-mails. “One part of what we are saying is come on out and let your neighbors know” about your disbelief, he said. “It is not going to make you worse of a person, it is going to make you a better person to be more open about who you are.” Rituals for the irreligious For the last few years, the Humanist Community at Harvard has operated out of a small three-floor walk-up off the bustling streets of Harvard Square. The walls are littered with posters about atheism – tributes to famed atheists Eddie Izzard, Seth MacFarlane and Stephen Fry. Because of the scattered furniture and the Harvard dorm feel, Epstein jokingly describes the space as “college broke chic.” That’s being generous – but it's also about to change. Starting in the fall, the Humanist Community at Harvard will begin meeting in a nearly 3,000-square-foot community center with an event space for nearly 100 people. Although the plan is to use the space at the group’s headquarters, it will also serve as a broader community center for the group that Epstein and others are trying to build in the Boston area. “What we really would like to see is a community center where people can come by at anytime and to use it as a space to study or have a meeting for various committee,” said Chris Stedman, the assistant humanist chaplain at Harvard. Stedman said he sees the new building as a place for people to gather, not only to become part of a humanist community, but to also become more engaged with the world. When he talks about his plans for the future, Epstein appears to long for a time when the new community center could mimic aspects of church - a place for baby-naming ceremonies, weddings and funerals. The success of an atheist church will depend on walking the thin line between too much and too little ritual, Epstein said. Humanists boast a proud freethinking streak, and some at the Harvard event said they don’t want to be associated with any sort of dogma or belief system - or even a system based on disbelief. Anyway, Esptein said his congregation will be less a group of people united by beliefs - or disbelief - and more like an opera, or a painting. “Our community is like a work of art," he said. "Hopefully people will respond to that work of art and it will garner controversy and discussion like a work of art." soundoff (6,897 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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As an atheist, I agree partially with the humanitarian, godless congregation at Harvard. I think that it is enormously important for thinking persons to be intensely aware of the grave damage done to society in general and especially to targeted groups by religion. The most evil religions are those based on the Bible and the Koran.
Consider these atheist religion states and their partial inventory of mass murder: Nazi Germany (20 million), Soviet Russia (purges 1.2 Million, Revolutionary Mexico (1 Million), Chinese Purges of the 1960 (500,000) North Korean "famines" (1 Miillion). Shall I go on? I will wager that the number of killings done in the name of irrelgion far outweighs the total done in the name of religion offset by all the good done in the name of religion. Pope Pius XII is accredited for saving 800,000 Jews otherwised doomed to death by the Holocaust.
You may not believe in God, but God believes in you.
1 John 2:16
For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Amen.
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1939 // epiyumia // epithumia // ep-ee-thoo-mee'-ah //
from 1937 ; TDNT – 3:168,339; n f
AV – lust 31, concupiscence 3, desire 3, lust after 1; 38
1) desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden, lust
For Synonyms see entry 5845 & 5906
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4561 // sarx // sarx // sarx //
probably from the base of 4563 ; TDNT – 7:98,1000; n f
AV – flesh 147, carnal 2, carnally minded + 5427 1, fleshly 1; 151
1) flesh (the soft substance of the living body, which covers
the bones and is permeated with blood) of both man and beasts
2) the body
2a) the body of a man
2b) used of natural or physical origin, generation or
relationship
2b1) born of natural generation
2c) the sensuous nature of man, "the animal nature"
2c1) without any suggestion of depravity
2c2) the animal nature with cravings which incite to sin
2c3) the physical nature of man as subject to suffering
3) a living creature (because possessed of a body of flesh)
whether man or beast
4) the flesh, denotes mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart
from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God
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3788 // oftalmov // ophthalmos // of-thal-mos' //
from 3700 ; TDNT – 5:375,706; n m
AV – eye 101, sight 1; 102
1) the eye
2) metaph. the eyes of the mind, the faculty of knowing
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212 // alazoneia // alazoneia // al-ad-zon-i'-a //
from 213 ; TDNT – 1:226,36; n f
AV – boasting 1, pride 1; 2
1) empty, braggart talk
2) an insolent and empty assurance, which trusts in its own
power and resources and shamefully despises and violates
divine laws and human rights
3) an impious and empty presumption which trusts in the
stability of earthy things
__________________________________________________________________________
979 // biov // bios // bee'-os //
a primary word; TDNT – 2:832,290; n m
AV – life 5, living 5, good 1; 11
1) life
1a) life extensively
1a1) the period or course of life
1b) that by which life is sustained, resources, wealth, goods
For Synonyms see entry 5821
Vini, Hitler wasn't atheist. Sorry to burst your ignorance bubble there kid.
Atheists have killed many, but not for the purpose of atheism. Christians, Muslims, Jews, ... have killed in the name of their god. The Jewish god killed almost everything that moved in his own name, I can see why people kill in his name.
bad people do bad things. good people do good things. to make good people do bad things, that takes religion.
dictators and religions destroy human lives.. They are the same..
Great point. Religion has been used as a tool to morally justify killing. Without it, many soldiers would fall victim to their natural sense of sympathy and not pull the trigger.
LMAO!!!! BUT, BUT, ATHEISTS AREN'T PART OF A RELIGION, THESE KNUCKLE HEADS SAY, YET, THEY BUILT A CHURCH THAT REPRESENTS RELIGION....DAMN FOOLS! LOL
atheists represent all of society,, we were all born that way. Sad, some were brainwashed as children.
You are exactly right, the damned fools. Damned to the end of the earth, and the end will come.
Just look around you, look at the our current place in time and history... Do you honestly think that this can go on forever.
Men trying to explain something they haven't even begun to understand, but yet they know all there is to know about the unknown when most have never even sought out anything for themselves.
They love their folly so let them have it and when it all comes tumbling and crumbling down like every other society before it.
I will be there to say... I told you so. With a big smile on my face at that. I typically don't waste my time in social chat rooms speaking to dogs and the lost I like watching them squirm and I wonder to myself how long will man destroy himself.
Because he truly does not know who his is or his place. Most of you think you are that sack of meat.
@Nexus
So, you take pleasure in the confusion and pain of those who don't think like you do? Wow. You really are a lot like your god. I guess you two sick fr.e.aks deserve each other.
So basically taking the structure churches have developed over the years, and turning it into a pure self-help revenue stream. Got it.
that does sound like religion, huh? How about the vatican's wealth created with money to feed the poor. Kids starved to death while the vatican's wealth gets even larger
@be honest. Yes, it does sound like religion and nothing at all like Christianity. When you try to put everyone into a neat little box, it tends to fail. There's a big difference between organizations and sincere individuals.
Reblogged this on The World Outside of Yourself.
Interesting how all people are religious at their core.
you mean it's interesting how secular society in a free world tame religions and their witchcraft
Humans created religion, not God. Or do you even know what the word Religion means??
I can assure you Religion and God are not the same. One was created by man. The other created Man.
man created both,, not a single proof a god exists
Be honest with your self, how can so called evolved prime apes create anything? At least this is what you are taught and you Believe in?
Monkeys floating on a bio-space rock create God, typical.
Nexus: So you believe in incest??? If you accept the biblical premise of how life began than incest is seemingly what you accept as good, without Eve procreating with her own children, how else was the earth populated?
Is Gr.apeape the missing link between "prime apes" and great apes?
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Psalms 14:1
Amen!
AMEN TO THAT!!!
You got me there! All I needed was someone to quote an old book of fairy tales and all my reason and trust in science has been lifted. Thank you wise fool.
@ In Reason I Trust – If you don't Stand for something.
You will fall for anything. And sadly... That's what most of your have done. Fallen. Science, smarts... You can only use at the most 15% of that hunk of meat in your head and you honestly think that Science of all the failures of mans rule has it figured out?
The way I see it is that you're the only one trapped in a fairy tale. One where you feel there are no repercussion for your ignorance.
Oh boy, a christard who needs a book to do their thinking for them. Thank the rational minds you even have a computer to come here and spread your hate (without an Atheist you wouldn't have too much in this world...outside of the cave you apparently just crawled out of).
Exactly right TP. We atheists dont need books to think. We still use our 2000 year old abacus and still throw stones to construct the law of gravity. We rock!
no pun intended.
Science does not "have it all figured out" nor does science make that claim. That's a stupid comment all around. I prefer to say "I don't know" when we don't know something instead of "big invisible sky wizard did it by chanting magic spells."
More people have been killed in the name of God throughout history than for any other one reason. Religious people preach about love and honor and compassion then make war if you believe different. At least this group appears to teach not preach.
Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong murdered hundreds of millions of people. They were atheists.
dictators and religions, all the same. They create stories people are threatened into believing, they cause mass murder of the innocent.
YOU SOUND AND SEEM TO BE SO STUPID POSTING THAT WHEN ATHEISTS LEADERS HAS KILLED MORE THEN RELIGIOUS LEADERS ALL OVER THE WORLD.
you mean dictators,, they are no different than religions.
NoOneLikeJesus: Feeling persecuted??? Did you forget Noahs Arc? The crusades? The Inquisition? The Salem Witch Trial? All the murder, rape, incest, child abuse, oppression of women, hate and bigotry, oppression of gays...all within your own book of fiction???? Care to provide the evidence outside of your buybull that proves your imaginary friend exists??? How about going to godchecker.com and verifying if you even have the right imaginary friend??
(Shouting only makes you look crazy.)
The Soviet Union was the first state to have, as an ideological objective, the elimination of religion and its replacement with universal atheism. The communist regime confiscated religious property, ridiculed religion, harassed believers, and propagated atheism in schools.
Point?
and muslim countries did the same,, likewise christians also did the same.
Secular society in a free world won't allow that to happen
I fail to see your point. We live in America where EVERYONE has religious freedom, so does not that not also extend to those who chose not to believe? It's not like we atheists are going to come down to your church and burn your books or not let you worship.
Atheists will burn in hell fire
so christian of you.. Nice god you have there.
Oh no 'hell fire', lucky for me I have bottled 'holy water' to protect me, and it even has vitamins too! Lol
"I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
...Stephen F Roberts
In this case, it is your belief not our belief, so it is safe to say that you will be the one burning in hell or did you forget 'judge not, lest ye be judged'?
KILL all atheists
Kill yourself, and also take your kids with you, there is probably no hope for them.
in the beginning the world began with people of no religion. Secular society created laws to help people live together without harming one another. Religion later grew out of society adopting many of these good rules in an effort to gain power over people.. Sadly, religions and dictators have misinterpreted these to destroy human lives with threats and fabrications.
It's nice to see secular society taking the front stage again. Hope they are able to save the world through peace and love. That is before religions an dictators destroy more..
Reasons why atheism is horrible and unhealthy for our children and living things:
– Atheists do not have any morality, are heartless, soulless and cold.
– Atheists grew up in a bad family, not being loved and treated bad.
– Atheism was brought upon during the French Revolution, one of the most evil time of history.
– Communism – evil system created by atheists!
– Atheists cannot prove God does not exist and how Earth was created.
– No atheists contribute to charitable causes, unlike Christians, due to atheism beliefs in Darwinism.
– Atheism making you agree with mass murder leaders like Stalin, Mao, Pot, Mussolini and even Hitler!
– Atheists are mentally ill, that's why they have no faith and belief.
– Countries with high rate of atheism = high suicide rate (Nordic nations).
– Atheists tries to convert (young) people into their evil belief over the internet.
– Atheists believe in evolutions, and want us to act like animals.
– Atheists bash Christianity based on Jewish scriptures (Old Testament/Torah) and organized religion, and tend to ignore or forget how amazing, loving, friendly, supportive, and excellent the most influential person who has even walked on Earth, Jesus Christ, was.
– Atheists do not believe in Jesus Christ; therefore they must hate their neighbor and enemy.
Atheists are minority in the U.S. and the world no matter what "secular" sources and polls voted by few thousands of people tells you that were made up by silly atheists dreaming about making America more atheist, unbiblical and unGodly than what it actually is. More than 90% of Americans believe in God. Period!..
religions and dictators destroyed human lives world wide. They are the same,, the create stories you are threatened into believing and they rally people to harm others.
Secular society needs to put goodness back into the world.
I'm sorry, you were trying to list some facts but I was distracted by your childish claims about a magic book of fairy tales being true. Lol
You are either a troll or the most dishonest person here.
AMEN..........YOU HIT THE NAIL ALL AROUND!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR SHARING!
Wow I am not any of those things I must be a really bad atheist then,
Awesome article. Hopefully it clears up some of the misconceptions about Atheists that are put out there through misinformation campaigns.
Atheist are beheaded here in Iran and other Islamic nations. Why don't you westerners do the same?
B/c we don't live in a theocracy and people grew up.
christians use to do just that. Thankfully, secular society has tamed christians.
Salim,
If you are new to learning English, when you have more than one atheist, you say atheists (same for scientists, biologists, chemists, and others that end in -ist).
be honest,
While I'm here I'll tell you that the correct phrase is "used to do", not "use to".
Man has lived in error for so long, and are so dumb'd down and have so much in front their eyes that it will not see God. Because it chooses not to see God.
Humans have become puffed up on its own intellect. Being able to use only 10-14% of its thinking capacity and only see 10- 12% of what is actually being presented by the light its eyes gather.
But yet it has the audacity to deny the Creator. You sound like a certain spirit that fell from-grace. When you die and your spirit is not longer tied that sack of meat and flesh and bone...
What will you do, oh little faith and oh little hope. Lost in darkness, and bound in fear. What will you do.....? no it's not a trick question.
Look at what you have done, you feel that because you can do as you will that there is no repercussion, but are there any. Is your world not falling apart at the seems, but your rulers only give you lies and yet you believe them....?
You need to wake up and think. How could nothing spawn from nothing? When everything that exist has a catalysis.
What do you think jumped the big bang? Particles, atoms, of course but you're only giving the physical aspects of life and man has avoided the spiritual. What he can not see.
Mock my words and mock them well, soon events will occur that no man can deny but many will try and they will fail. Epically.
Mock your words? Haha, how appropriate! They are certainly worthy of being mocked.
It seems so obvious, and I don't understand how atheists can't grasp the simple concept that the only thing that come from nothing is an all knowing, all loving, and all powerful creator of the universe.
For your own benefit, please look into adult literacy classes offered in your local area.
Holocaust happened because it's jews punishment for killing Christ
You realize that this contradicts the theist argument that Hitler was an atheist?
Reading the comments, I can only come to one conclusion, believers in god(s), fear atheists. The believers are a vast majority, they suspend critical thinking and their own precepts to deride atheists and use feeble excuses like atheists say mean things. You believers should take stock of yourselves, you have the signature of scared children.
The only way man can see God is to be as a child. But there is nothing to fear.
The only ones who live in fear are those whom create fear and speak fear. Humans can not even see the connections to the destruction of his own planet, but yet thinks he has the intellect to deny the Creators rule.
Its the bad children of God (adult Humans) of the planet that have caused the devastation there of. Or will you also Deny that the world is mostly evil, that most Ambitious men are typically turned to evil for his boast to have power and control. When with out his meager inventions he is nothing, and naked, and ashamed of his life.
When did you forsake yourselves?
How sad.
This is a sunday school for those destined to go to hell because they are fools who rely on their own understanding instead of the truth. Doesn't make them bad people but hey everyone gets a choice and I hope some of these atheists choose salvation someday. The devil is a liar!
Truth? So sad you have no idea what that eyes. Maybe one day your eyes will open up to it, it may be your only salvation.
You're an idiot. We no more believe in your imaginary friends enemy than we do your imaginary friend. We believe in things that can be shown with evidence to exist. Maybe you don't care that what you believe is true but we happen to. If you have such a problem with Atheists, then disconnect your computer; hydro; stop driving your car and find a cave...without Atheists doing your thinking for you you have nothing.
Whenever a religious fool mentions the Truth, you can guarantee that what comes next will be a complete lie.