Dozens of atheist “megachurches” are beginning to spring up across the United States.
The gatherings have been successful in Great Britain and are now drawing like-minded people in cities like San Diego, Nashville, Tenn., and New York.
The so-called churches look like typical Sunday morning worship services, complete with music, hand-clapping and inspiration.
The missing element? God.
On Sunday, hundreds of atheists packed an auditorium in Los Angeles for the launch of the latest God-less church.
British comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans founded the movement and plan to kick-start more anti-God assemblies in the U.S.
For atheist Elijah Senn, the morning was perfect.
“I think the image that we have put forward in a lot of ways has been a scary, mean, we want to tear down the walls, we want to do destructive things kind of image is what a lot of people have of us,” he said. “I’m really excited to be able to come together and show that it’s not about destruction. It’s about making things and making things better.”
“When we think about religion in America, we talk about oh, belief in God, belief in Jesus, but for a lot of people, it’s the community. It’s the Sunday school, it’s the seeing people afterwards in the foyer or in the courtyard, it’s the having coffee,” said Phil Zuckerman of Pitzer College.
“They want that kind of moral community that is about connecting with others and is about celebrating life, celebrating morals and ethics in a non-supernatural context,” he added.
Similar gatherings have been started in Australia and Canada.
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