Do you participate in Athiest groups?

[Big Mouth]

I've been reading about Athiest groups, camps, and things akin to church. Does anyone here participate in them'? What was your experiance like?

 

[Nanda]

No. I don't see the point, honestly. I thought the beauty of atheism was getting to sleep in on Sundays.

 

[Alceste]

I didn't know there were groups like that. Will wonders never cease!

 

[Father Heathen]

They tend to be rather boring.

 

[Alceste]

They tend to be rather boring.

I'm sure they would be. "So, today we're going to not bother talking about something none of us believe exists. Pass the cookies."

 

[whereismynotecard]

No. I'm sure I would hate that.

 

[gnomon]

No.

A skeptics group which is often associated with atheism, possibly, but I have no desire, and actually little respect, for things like the atheist church, deconversion groups, etc.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I'm not involved in any RL atheist groups, but I'm open to the possibility at least slightly.

I agree that such a group would be kinda pointless if all that happened at the meetings was to sit around and talk about how nobody there believes in God, but I'd be interested in, say, a group that pursued political action on causes important to atheists (for example, the fact that blasphemy is still a crime in the Criminal Code of Canada... though this is an issue for more than just atheists) or a service organization that gave homeless people a chance for a hot meal or a place to sleep without being preached at in areas where these things wouldn't otherwise be available. I'd even be interested in a group that organized debates or lectures on non-theistic topics, because I'm geeky like that.

So... no "atheist church" for me, but other nontheist-focused organizations, maybe.

 

[Smoke]

I'm not much of a joiner. The only reason I belong to the Marine Aquarium Club is that John does.

 

[Alceste]

I'm with Pengo. There are a lot of things I would participate in that may be causes that happen to be popular with atheists or secular humanists, but there are also a lot of theists who might be interested in the same causes. The Mennonites, for example, believe in helping disadvantaged people without preaching at them, as they believe setting a living example of Christ's teaching is better than yapping on and on about it. I've got no criticism for that approach, and have occasionally considered getting involved with them. I'd rather get involved with a non-denominational charity than an "atheist" or "Christian" group of any kind though. This is because I think our merit as individuals is determined by what we do, not what we believe.

 

[MSizer]

Whoa whoa whoa! Hey guys, I'm a co-organizer of an atheist meetup group, and we have many reasons for gathering. We are highly concerned with morality, and we seek to promote the understanding of morality in our meetups (which take place every few weeks to once a month or so). For example, in Aug, we have the head of a University philosophy dept. joining us to present on morality. We believe that if we expect the right to be considered good without god, we have to have some idea of what that means. We have had various scientific representatives speak to us about astronomy, biology and religious zeal. We feel that it's important to spread knowledge, so we get together and share information. I present book reviews (of my own) from authors who agree and disagree with atheism. Furthermore, it can be nice just to gather for social reasons sometimes. Some of us have religious families who don't accept our non-belief very well, so it's nice to have a circle of friends where we can just forget about walking on eggshells. It's not some cheesy sing-along sort of gathering, we just meetup for drinks and converse and laugh. We often end up talking about religion, and we learn a lot from each other.

 

[Sunstone]

They tend to be rather boring.

A friend and I went to an atheist group for a couple meetings. We discovered it was largely a group therapy session for people who'd been religiously abused as children, and we lost interest in it.

 

[Nepenthe]

I attended a few at the Hollywood CFI about 8 years ago but I was the only 20-something with the rest being retired professors and physicians. They talked about their cars and their professions mostly. I was bored to tears.