The Number of Atheist “Churches” is Set to Double in a Single Day about The Sunday Assembly | Helping you to Live Better, Help Often & Wonder More
The Sunday Assembly's self-description:
About | The Sunday Assembly
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The Sunday Assembly is a godless congregation that celebrates life. Our motto: live better, help often, wonder more. Our mission: to help everyone find and fulfill their full potential. Our vision: a godless congregation in every town, city and village that wants one.
We are here for everyone who wants to:
Live Better. We aim to provide inspiring, thought-provoking and practical ideas that help people to live the lives they want to lead and be the people they want to be
Help Often. Assemblies are communities of action building lives of purpose, encouraging us all to help anyone who needs it to support each other
Wonder More. Hearing talks, singing as one, listening to readings and even playing games helps us to connect with each other and the awesome world we live in.
FAQ | The Sunday Assembly
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How did Sunday Assembly start?
Two comedians, Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones were on their way to a gig in a car (VW Polo, if you like detail) when they started talking about the idea of a church without God. Pippa had been a Christian and found, when she stopped believing, she missed church (community, volunteering, music) rather than God and Sanderson had noticed the joy at Christmas created by carol concerts and wondered if it was possible to harness all those good bits to celebrate the awesome fact that we are alive.
And so they decided if they had both thought of it, probably more people had thought of it, so they should just get on and do it. In Jan 2013 they did just that. Over 200 people turned up to the first event and since then and more turn up every fortnight in London. They haven’t looked back, with 28 Assemblies across the globe to date.
What happens at a Sunday Assembly?
A Sunday Assembly service consists of songs (pop songs mainly) sung by the congregation, a reading (usually a poet), an interesting talk (that fits into live better, help often or wonder more), a moment of reflection and an address, which sums up the day and hopefully gives a take home message. Afterwards we have tea and cake (well, in Britain anyway!) to encourage people to stay and mingle with one another.
Outside of the event we organise small groups (Smoups), and other social activities such as book clubs and choir, peer-to-peer support and local volunteering
The first one was started in January 2013 by Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans in London, UK. In November of that year, several more ones were started (Atheist Sunday Assembly branches out in first wave of expansion | World news | The Guardian), and there are now 28 of them:
Australia: Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney
UK: Brighton, Bristol, Crystal Palace, Edinburgh, Leeds, Leicester, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford
US: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, East Bay, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, Portland, San Diego, Silicon Valley
On September 28, they plan to start these 33:
Belgium: Brussels
Canada: Ottawa, Toronto
France: Paris
Germany: Berlin, Hamburg
Netherlands: Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Rotterdam
New Zealand: Christchurch
UK: Bournemouth, Glasgow, Lancaster, Norwich, Southampton, Swansea
US: Baltimore & Howard County, Bellingham, Bloomington, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Denver, Detroit, Madison, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Phoenix. Pittsburgh, Rochester, Sacramento, Tulsa, Washington DC
By the end of this year, they should have 10 more, and in 2015, 15 more, giving about 85. From Local Assemblies | The Sunday Assembly, some of the planned ones will be in Central and South America, Africa, and South, Southeast, and East Asia.
It's rather interesting to watch the diffusion of the Sunday Assemblies. It started in one of the world's biggest English-speaking cities (
List of metropolitan areas by population) and spread outward. New York City is #1, and London and Los Angeles are approximately tied for #2.
The first wave of expansion was to two more English-speaking nations: the rebel colonies and a non-rebellious British-descended nation.
Nation
Population
United States
319m
United Kingdom
64m
Canada
35m
Australia
24m
New Zealand
4.5m
The second wave includes all the big-5 Anglo nations with a scattering of non-Anglo ones, all western European. The non-Anglo ones in the works are more continental ones, mostly western and northern European ones, former British and American colonies like South Africa, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines, and a few other nations, those with lots of contact with Anglo ones like Japan and Latin American ones. The Middle East is curiously absent, though I'd say the best prospect for a Sunday Assembly would be in Israel.
One might ask why have an "atheist church"? For social reasons, it seems. Sort of like how some Unitarian Universalist Association congregations are essentially atheist churches.
That sort of thing can be taken to absurd lengths, as philosopher Auguste Comte did in the mid 19th cy. with his Positivist "Religion of Humanity". Its practice was a ripoff of Roman Catholic practice complete with the cassocks that its priests would wear. As a result, one critic called it Catholicism minus Christianity.