Posted on 11/30/2013 2:08:40 PM PST by JerseyanExile
On November 11, 2013, Religion News Service reprinted an Associated Press story by Gillian Flaccus on the development of “atheist mega-churches”. These have the rather revealing name “Sunday Assemblies” (perhaps an allusion to the Pentecostal Assemblies of God—in the hope of emulating the success of the latter?). The story described a recent gathering of this type in Los Angeles: “It looked like a typical Sunday morning at any mega-church. Several hundred people, including families with small children, packed in for more than an hour of rousing music, an inspirational talk and some quiet reflection. The only thing missing was God.” Apparently there now are similar “churches” in other US locations. The movement (if it can be called that) began in Britain earlier this year, founded by Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, two prominent comedians (I am not making this up). The pair is currently on a fundraising tour in America and Australia.
The AP story links this development to the growth of the “nones” in the US—that is, people who say “none” when asked for their religious affiliation in a survey. A recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (a major center for religious demography) found that 20% of Americans fall under that category. But, as the story makes clear, it would be a mistake to understand all these people to be atheists. A majority of them believes in God and says that they are “spiritual but not religious”. I further think that the recent flurry of avowed atheists writing bestselling books or suing government agencies on First Amendment grounds should not be seen as a great cultural wave, in America or anywhere else (let them just dream of competing with the mighty tsunami of Pentecostal Christianity sweeping over much of our planet).
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.the-american-interest.com ...
Typical of all religion but these people practice more honestly than most...most religions have everything to do with God, practiced in all its man made pomp and ceremony...but fail to realize God has nothing to do with religion.
Just a casual reading of the bible reveals that truth.
He is the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ...not a religion!
Hundreds is a mega church?? That’s inflation at work ...
It might be a good idea to figure out how communities of faith can reach this constituency.
Not like the “megachurches” such as Joel Osteen’s, Rick Warren’s, Michael Beckwith’s, or some of the other well-known ones.
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