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I've wondered what a religionless church would be like. Would it be different from something like a rotary club or an elks lodge? I have a group of friends tha

I've wondered what a religionless church would be like. Would it be different from something like a rotary club or an elks lodge? I have a group of friends that get together every week for what we call "Mountainbeering" where we drink beer and go over planned hiking/climbing objectives. There's been talk of doing some trail work and other volunteering. It feels a little "churchy" except instead of a church it's at a brewery or someone's house.

cheald 7y ago
The Unitarian Universalists, are, as I understand it, pretty close to a "religionless church". There's a general sense of "search for the truth", but there's no specific confessed creed.
- RandallBrown 7y ago
  Very interesting. I'm somewhat tempted to go to a service just to see what it would be like.
  - ducktypegoose 7y ago
    Unitarian services are interesting. I have only gone a couple times with the atheist lesbian neighbors who invited us, and the sermons focused on some utilitarian concepts, power in community, and the goodness in helping others. I did not feel pandered to or prostylytized. Pretty sure if you're looking for a church that is accomodating to atheists, focused on community and good-will over dogma, then you'll find Unitarian services amenable.
  - Balgair 7y ago
    https://www.uua.org/find https://www.uua.org/find
- revx 7y ago
  I am a Unitarian Universalist and an athiest, married to a seminarian in the religion. Happy to answer questions about UU and what it's like. It has definitely made me far less lonely to belong to the UU community, and I don't feel pressured to "believe" anything I don't want to.
  - loblollyboy 7y ago
    Did you guys meet at church or did you join the church because of them, and which was the main cause of you feeling less lonely?
    - revx 7y ago
      We met before starting to attend UU services, and initially I was very anti-church and refused to go. But finally I was convinced to attend a few services and found them very in line with what I wanted, so I started going more often. Eventually I even volunteered with the youth and helped run events and A/V for the services. I would say I am less lonely because my partner and I made a lot of friends there, of all ages.
  - TheAceOfHearts 7y ago
    What is it like? How did you become involved? What kind of events do they organize? How do they practice their religion? What are your biggest criticisms or complaints? What do you like most about it? The Wikipedia article [0] managed to intrigued me. I lean agnostic, but I always try to keep an open mind in my pursuit for truth. Do you have any suggestions for someone that might be interested in checking em out? I'm located in the bay area. My views on organized religion aren't generally great. Throughout history, religion has played a large role but it wasn't always very positive, see: crusades. The coverup of pedophiles by the Christian church is also absolutely sickening. It sounds like UU's are more loosely organized, which I'd expect would help prevent them from becoming too abusive or corrupt. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - frosted-flakes 7y ago
      > The coverup of pedophiles by the Christian church is also absolutely sickening. I think you mean the Catholic church? There is no single Christian church. Not to say that didn't/doesn't happen in other denominations, but it seems to mostly be a Catholic problem. I've heard about it happening with the Mormons too, now that I think about it.
- tildedave 7y ago
  I've been attending a local UU Church for the last few months (raised no religion, this is my first spiritual community). While there's mention of the spiritual life I think about half the congregation would identify as atheists. There's no creed or mention of 'religion' and the individual search for meaning is repeatedly stressed. It's been a good addition to my life and very nurturing for the soul.
sdinsn 7y ago
There are Humanist Churches in some areas.
smacktoward 7y ago
Revolutionary France tried creating one not once, but twice: see the "Cult of Reason" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_Reason https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_Reason) and Robespierre's "Cult of the Supreme Being" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_the_Supreme_Being https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_the_Supreme_Being). And of course the cults of personality that sprang up around Stalin in the Soviet Union (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin%27s_cult_of_personality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin%27s_cult_of_personality), around Mao in Communist China, and in various Communist client states around their own local tinpot Stalin would probably qualify as well. This is the problem with killing God: it's really hard to find a healthy candidate to replace him with.
- pishpash 7y ago
  Yours is the same argument for countries keeping their paternalistic dictators: "Whatever will we do without so and so?" It's childish and insulting, and the way out is to wean off. Every independence and turn toward truth has to start somewhere.
  - Apocryphon 7y ago
    That’s not entirely fair, as the comment simply points out that there seems to be a historical trend of a reflex to reinvent religious structures after abolishing traditional religion. Even in the modern day you can take a look at various rationalist/atheist/anti-theist communities which get dominated by larger-than-life personalities from Dawkins to P.Z. Myers, all the way to LessWrong’s singularitarians reinventing eternal damnation via Roko’s Basilisk. Pointing out that it’s very easy to fall into dictatorship isn’t necessarily an endorsement of one, it just should serve as a caution and as a lesson in humility.
- guide42 7y ago
  Maybe something like budism or Tolle (https://youtu.be/j42cTkiGdXY https://youtu.be/j42cTkiGdXY)
- jmcqk6 7y ago
  I'm an atheist and I didn't replace god with anything or anyone after I lost my faith. My thinking developed more orthogonally to the old religious hierarchy. The idea that you need to replace god with someone is locked into a mode of thinking that is entirely unnecessary and unneeded.

cheald 7y ago

The Unitarian Universalists, are, as I understand it, pretty close to a "religionless church". There's a general sense of "search for the truth", but there's no specific confessed creed.

RandallBrown 7y ago
Very interesting. I'm somewhat tempted to go to a service just to see what it would be like.
- ducktypegoose 7y ago
  Unitarian services are interesting. I have only gone a couple times with the atheist lesbian neighbors who invited us, and the sermons focused on some utilitarian concepts, power in community, and the goodness in helping others. I did not feel pandered to or prostylytized. Pretty sure if you're looking for a church that is accomodating to atheists, focused on community and good-will over dogma, then you'll find Unitarian services amenable.
- Balgair 7y ago
  https://www.uua.org/find https://www.uua.org/find
revx 7y ago
I am a Unitarian Universalist and an athiest, married to a seminarian in the religion. Happy to answer questions about UU and what it's like. It has definitely made me far less lonely to belong to the UU community, and I don't feel pressured to "believe" anything I don't want to.
- loblollyboy 7y ago
  Did you guys meet at church or did you join the church because of them, and which was the main cause of you feeling less lonely?
  - revx 7y ago
    We met before starting to attend UU services, and initially I was very anti-church and refused to go. But finally I was convinced to attend a few services and found them very in line with what I wanted, so I started going more often. Eventually I even volunteered with the youth and helped run events and A/V for the services. I would say I am less lonely because my partner and I made a lot of friends there, of all ages.
- TheAceOfHearts 7y ago
  What is it like? How did you become involved? What kind of events do they organize? How do they practice their religion? What are your biggest criticisms or complaints? What do you like most about it? The Wikipedia article [0] managed to intrigued me. I lean agnostic, but I always try to keep an open mind in my pursuit for truth. Do you have any suggestions for someone that might be interested in checking em out? I'm located in the bay area. My views on organized religion aren't generally great. Throughout history, religion has played a large role but it wasn't always very positive, see: crusades. The coverup of pedophiles by the Christian church is also absolutely sickening. It sounds like UU's are more loosely organized, which I'd expect would help prevent them from becoming too abusive or corrupt. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - frosted-flakes 7y ago
    > The coverup of pedophiles by the Christian church is also absolutely sickening. I think you mean the Catholic church? There is no single Christian church. Not to say that didn't/doesn't happen in other denominations, but it seems to mostly be a Catholic problem. I've heard about it happening with the Mormons too, now that I think about it.
tildedave 7y ago
I've been attending a local UU Church for the last few months (raised no religion, this is my first spiritual community). While there's mention of the spiritual life I think about half the congregation would identify as atheists. There's no creed or mention of 'religion' and the individual search for meaning is repeatedly stressed. It's been a good addition to my life and very nurturing for the soul.

sdinsn 7y ago

There are Humanist Churches in some areas.

smacktoward 7y ago

Revolutionary France tried creating one not once, but twice: see the "Cult of Reason" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_Reason https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_Reason) and Robespierre's "Cult of the Supreme Being" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_the_Supreme_Being https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_the_Supreme_Being). And of course the cults of personality that sprang up around Stalin in the Soviet Union (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin%27s_cult_of_personality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin%27s_cult_of_personality), around Mao in Communist China, and in various Communist client states around their own local tinpot Stalin would probably qualify as well. This is the problem with killing God: it's really hard to find a healthy candidate to replace him with.

pishpash 7y ago
Yours is the same argument for countries keeping their paternalistic dictators: "Whatever will we do without so and so?" It's childish and insulting, and the way out is to wean off. Every independence and turn toward truth has to start somewhere.
- Apocryphon 7y ago
  That’s not entirely fair, as the comment simply points out that there seems to be a historical trend of a reflex to reinvent religious structures after abolishing traditional religion. Even in the modern day you can take a look at various rationalist/atheist/anti-theist communities which get dominated by larger-than-life personalities from Dawkins to P.Z. Myers, all the way to LessWrong’s singularitarians reinventing eternal damnation via Roko’s Basilisk. Pointing out that it’s very easy to fall into dictatorship isn’t necessarily an endorsement of one, it just should serve as a caution and as a lesson in humility.
guide42 7y ago
Maybe something like budism or Tolle (https://youtu.be/j42cTkiGdXY https://youtu.be/j42cTkiGdXY)
jmcqk6 7y ago
I'm an atheist and I didn't replace god with anything or anyone after I lost my faith. My thinking developed more orthogonally to the old religious hierarchy. The idea that you need to replace god with someone is locked into a mode of thinking that is entirely unnecessary and unneeded.