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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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Where's Atheism is not healthy for children and other living things?
The religion of anti religion..
Where is "Atheism is not healthy for children and other living things?"
Everywhere !
Here's why Christianity is the true religion.
Not every religion teach of the Father Son, and Holy Ghost. That teaching is solely to Christianity, even the Jehovah witness does not believe God came in the Flesh. If you don't believe that truth, you're on the wrong path. Lets take yourself, if you wanted your children to learn how to act you would want to teach them. If you expect them to do what's right you would be considered a hypocrite to ask your child to do something you couldn't do. That's why God had to show us the way, there is no savior besides him. He was Jesus!
Isaiah 43:11
I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.
Crap on a stick.
you're trying to apply human reason to your deity; isn't that a bit presumptuous?
Anyhow, you don't see a son of your god around now, so did it abandon his children? If you're analogy is correct, then mine is too.
Cheers
I know a lot of Christians. Most of them are very intelligent. They never make statements like 1word.
Sorry. The true religion is the worship of Me. I'm here to talk back to you in the flesh. Try doing that with your guy. And I'm not jealous like he "is".
Let me send you the address to send money to.
1word: You claimed that you were going to show why christianity is the true religion. When are you going to get around to doing that? For that matter, when are you christians going to prove that your god actually exists?
These groups make ridiculous statements.These include statements such as, “There is no truth!” (Is that true?); “All truth is relative!” (Is that a relative truth?); and “You can’t know truth!” (Then how do you know that?). Basically, any statement that is unaf-firmable (because it contradicts itself) must be false. Relativists are defeated by their own logic.
You've been to "Proof That God Exists?"
what about blind faith?
Blind faith works like being blind physically and walking along the edge of a cliff.
LMAO tony
Our entire world is complete randomness and chaos. Our brains–also chaotic and they seem to work, at least for most of us.
How could anyone know that science is 100% truth. Sounds to me like faith that there is an underlying truth to our known universe that nobody wants to talk about.
Unlike you, I actually went to this organizations website and did a search for "truth". Here is the first quote I found:
"To gain this understanding, reason, science and critical inquiry must be given free rein to discover the truth about the world, human nature, and what makes people happy."
The second was a reference to the validity of specific Jewish texts (true or not).
The third read "In truth, an alternative spring break is one of the best things any community can do"
The fourth "It took real bravery for her to publish the truth, in the face of the anger of a scientist that would be left with a hole."
I see nothing at all claiming there is no truth. Please identify any places you believe they say this and post them here.
It may be more convenient for you to believe all non-believers in gods are relativists, but that is very far from the case. All people are relativistic in some areas and less so in others, but only a very small number of people genuinely believe there is no truth, and even then it is rare that they meananything like what you think they do.
It's easy to dismiss people when you are ignorant of their beliefs and replace this knowledge with a charicature. I think you would find it much less so if you actually became familiar with what real people actually believe.
Joe, to put it bluntly, that's just not true.
If Evolution changes things.....why are things going from bad to worse with atheism?
who said tat evolution was changing things for the better, you just assume anything?
Also things are bad because of organized religions run by humans (average folks with absolutely no intelligence to comprehend the creation or its beauty). Also thanks to Abraham, all his descendants are fighting each other the most. Daggone burning bush (weed).
Damn all those inter-atheist sects wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East.
yeah absolutely right tony :).
The lowest murder rate in 60 years as the power of religion drops is bad to worse?
I believe he is still resting after the 7th day. Any ideas on his schedule after that?
come on now, not one troll can answer this one?
So this is like every other religious congregation I have ever seen. I can't fault them as they are probs making a killing.
It's near impossible to walk into any house of worship any hear people speak about God. It's always them projecting their own dreams of what/who He is.
Congrats to the atheists though. When your kids grow old enough to hate you for dragging them to "church" they will rebel. Then they can become E.I.BS. (Everything Is BS) and torment your silly constructs.
Christers, followers of hindu Mithra ism, pagan savior ism labeled as Christianity, do not follow GOD of Abraham, corrupted to be called Yaway, meaning I AM, not a name, Yaway Elah, meanings I AM TRUTH ABSOLUTE, AS HE INTRODUCED HIMSELF., but they follow a hind, fabrication called Jesus, a brewery master, with plenty of contradictions as their god, just as hindus pagans pray to a man of incest, using same fundamentals as Christians, of hindu origin. Not of truth but hinduism, fabrication promoted to be GOD by hindu atheism, criminal self center ism, to hind, fool humanity.
Was there actual effort put into this paragraph? You have to read it a good 4 times to figure out what you're saying.
I am glad, you figured it out, do you have any thing to say.
I agree @questioning, let's start with this person's name, it is not even english
....And spaghetti without pasta isn't spaghetti. So what?!?!?!
I thought that overcoming anger was one step closer to salvation. If this god gets angry, then he is no different from any human being with human tendencies like anger, jealousy, greed, etc..
I think that these atheist congregations are an interesting start, but, I wish they were more inclusive. I think theists and atheists have a lot in common, especially when considering morality. I am a theist, and I think we could learn a lot from each other. The issue usually comes when religion takes a role. The exclusive "atheist" meetings will not do much to bring together community, if they reject people who believe in god. I think there is room for believers in god and for those who do not in a humanist church. I look forward to when we have a purely community centered congregation where both groups find solace in each others different ideas about morality and the universe. I know religion has done a lot to stop this from happening, but I still have hope for both sects of existential belief.
humanists are inclusive. everyone can be a humanist. unfortunately, religions are exclusive and declarative. if you don't follow their particular doctrine you must be wrong.
According to this article, the congregation is not inclusive, because theism isn't accepted. I agree with you that religion has been very exclusive too, but to say that the atheist church is inclusive wouldn't be correct. (I do know there is a difference between atheism and humanism, so I probably should have worded my OP differently. I am just making the point that these startup atheist congregations may be heading down a similar path as religiously exclusive congregations. I just wish we had a congregation where both sects, theists and atheists could talk to each other about their hope, experiences, and community direction. I know that religion wouldn't allow for this exchange, but I am hoping that this wave of atheism changes the course from pure rhetoric and debate to a congregation focused on dialogism and dialectal forms of philosophy.
Interesting concept. I'd be down for an experiment of that sort. I wonder if it's possible to collect enough atheists and believers of similar mindset? That might be the hard part.
Anyone who is an "antiintellectual" is by definition someone who prefers to be STUPID. Look it up – Oh, wait, you won't.
That would be Unitarianism. But you will be expected to develop and be able to defend a more intelligent version of your theism or atheism.
Head line should read "Some possibly Atheists . . . "
Why?
Because it sounds like all atheists are doing this otherwise, and that all attending are self described atheists.
Same problem as bad logic – All swans are white – so if it's white, it must be a swan.
You are correct. But CNN loves to troll. I doubt they even bother to bathe, either.
Did you not actually read the headline?
And first, astrophysicists. Genesis 1:14 – Watch the heavens for signs – i.e updates to the bible.
i am watching the heavens for signs and see san pedro j.e.r.k.i.n.g off at the pearly gates, cause he just let some s.l.u.t in
Perhaps God will show up in some humanist congregation some day. Do such congregations have confession of any sort? Perhaps God will confess shame to everyone that it asked people to believe a tremendous load of rubbish, including the existence of hell to which we are, it said, destined if we don't believe the tremendous load of rubbish. At last (and high time too) it will ask for us to forgive it for making people feel that at all times they were the ones who needed to be forgiven. I could forgive God. After all, it is by nature God and can't really help that. But I'd really want to see it around more often and I would definitely want to see it try to be more like us.
I'll sign that pet.ition.
There is a pet.ition at We the People to ban the teaching of creationism in science classes.
"Perhaps God..."
Well, you just sound like an idiot right there. Hard to get past that "god" thing when there is no god and never has been.
science is the study of how God creates.
God is an unproven hypothesis. Science is the study of natural world. The god experiment does not yield consistent results and has been disqualified.
Science is the study of how the world works. But your statement was close.
there is no legitimate reason to believe that.
If man is made in god's image, and men create in teams (companies for example), then creationism is the belief in multiple gods.
I have yet to encounter any people foolish enough to think that since we are made in His image, anything we do is the only way He does things. It doesn't read God made man his equal.
Science shows a definitive lack of any evidence for any deity.
But delusional people can always be counted upon to say delusional things if you let them.
proof that christians dont read their bibles-:
if christians read their bibles they would be atheists
Not so, the grace of God reads beautifully throughout Gods Holy word.
wrong
Apparently the Koran reads far more beautifully than the bible.
Prayer changes things .
Atheism,
Speaking of not healthy for children and other living things, here's how God treated them:
Genesis 7:21 “And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all human beings”
Evolution changes things, troll.
Your late. I've been setting the clock by you, every 5 mins.
Evolution is meatball science and unproven.
Wat to go tony!
Meatballs are science. Gravity is called a theory also. So don't float away while waiting for it become fact.
God is the creator of this world and the judge of this world . If God chose to judge the sin of the ancient world rest assured it was a righteous judgement and a righteous penalty paid by the guilty. Since the observer knows God is a judge and will judge it, it is without excuse.
Away damned Spot!
Dam.n. Gravity verified.
dot,
Tell us what were the sins of the CHILDREN, BABIES, FETUSES and ANIMALS that were so CRUELLY KILLED by God.
Oooops.
Sin is sin, the wages of sin is death. The sins would be as many and as varied as sin is today. Any sin is deserving of death at Gods righteous judgement.
we are not given a list of specific sins but at its core we are told that every thought of every creature was continually evil.
dot,
Sorry you missed the question. Is reading comprehension a big problem for you?
What were the sins of the CHILDREN, BABIES, FETUSES and ANIMALS that were so CRUELLY KILLED by God?
Dot,
Fetuses had evil thoughts? lol. lol.
Do you think AT ALL before answering?
Apparently if there were fetus' they would have been as evil in their thoughts as those who bred them. In sin they were conceived and their guilt has been clearly established in righteous summary. Knowing this what will become of your sin?
the question has been answered several times you seem to have a problem accepting the answer. too bad for you, you are more to be pitied then. what will become of your sin?
dot,
Here's something that you apparently haven't been bright enough to figure out:
There are good atheists and there are bad atheists just like there are good Christians and there are bad Christians.
So as long as you spam this LIE about atheists, I will continue to tell the TRUTH about what God did to children and other living things. Keep spamming that LIE all you want. I have the quotes from the Bible ready.
Jesus is quoted in the bible as saying that sickness and misfortune is not caused by sin. Spot must not be a Christian
Dottie, have you adopted any children who are disabled, of another race, or teen-aged?
If not, then: SHUT YOUR FVCKING TRAP, you hypocritical swine.
good and bad are not relevant to the judgement, by definition all sin and fall short of the glory of God. The pathway to heaven is by grace through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ and by no other.
since I have not "shut my trap"we may assume i have met your demented rant as to righteousness?
dot,
No problem. Keep spamming your LIE. I will keep answering with the TRUTH on how God treats children.
Hosea 13:16 “Samaria will be punished for turning against me. It will be destroyed in war– children will be beaten against rocks, and pregnant women will be ripped open.” – God
But he moved.
Those God loves God finds
But you were still asked for a donation for his "upkeep"?
Those god loves are addressed as to "occupier".
Those God knows God loves and knows each hair on their heads, there is a grace given that is personal and powerful. Maybe the lost are occupants. The child of God knows they belong.
. . .and sees each sparrow fall. So why doesn't he stop them falling? They are all innocent.
the natural order of things is currently corrupted by sin. sparrows fall as all creation falls because death entered this world through sin.
misconception is that there is innocence on this earth, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Why would god kill sparrows? What did they ever do to him?
God didn't" kill" sparrows sin did
*
"God didn't" kill" sparrows sin did"
But this omniscient "God" character knew ahead of time that would happen - and created them anyway? Good thing 'he' doesn't exist.
Only one word of advice for the "congregation" – Read C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity and then have a discussion.
But he wrote the Lion, Witch and Wardrobe stuff that includes magic.Like Harry Potter.
Why when it clearly isn't relevant to their interests?
To be honest, I've read it and wasn't all that impressed by it.
C. S. Lewis is a no-talent hack. End of discussion.
Why should they? I read it and found it unimpressive.
Trust me. Don't read those books.
All the propaganda in the world can never change the simple fact that there isn't a single shred of evidence to support the existence of any god.
Serves the same purpose as a typical "church" to fleece the public.
Yup. I see the "listen to me. I'm doing the important talking" genetic disorder that church leaders have.
community is a good thing, especially without the religious mumbo jumbo.
Funny, I always figured it was just the opposite.
@new, you like the religious mumbo jumbo without the community?