Top posts of 2013: #5 - Four thoughts on the first atheist church

Britain has its first atheist church.

It’s in north London, drew over 300, erm, worshippers last Sunday, and offers the chance to sing songs like Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now and Stevie Wonder’s Superstition.

And the “Sunday Assembly” has its own mantra, too: “Live better, help often, wonder more”.

Here are four thoughts, and then over to you for yours in the Comments section:

1. Everyone is religious. We long to belong to a community of fellow believers, with a code for living, and a purpose for our lives. Romans 1 v 25 tells us that humans are wired to worship something—it will either be the Creator, or created things, but it will be something.

2. It’s interesting that the theme for the meeting was “wonder”, and included a two minute silent reflection on the miracle of life. Presumably, no one reflected on the reality of death, the tragedy of abortion, the millions who live in abject poverty every day of their short lives, or the brokenness that sooner or later enters all our lives. Without God in the picture, we either have to ignore the reality of the brokenness of the world, or despair at it. We cannot hold both the beauty and the brokenness together. Only the Bible, with its explanation of creation and fallenness, does this.

3. We’re often told that people quite like Jesus, but just don’t do church. Here are 300 people who do do church, and don’t like Jesus! Perhaps it’s that people like their version of Jesus (teacher, healer, nice guy, loving and affirming, non-existent, take your pick); the reason they don’t like church is because church challenges their comfortable Christ.

4. Non-Christians often accuse Christians of being hypocrites. The observation is frequently well made—we are saved but we are sinners, and so we will find ourselves doing what we say is wrong, know is wrong, and wish we didn’t do (Romans 7 v 18-19). But perhaps it’s time to gently start pointing out to atheists that they need to be consistent with their beliefs, too.

• Live better? How do I do that (your guess is as good as mine)? And why ought I to do that? What if I don’t want to?
• Help often? Help who (why should it be anyone more than myself)? When, and how much? How do I know how to help someone who is hurting, who is desperate, who is despairing?
• Wonder more. What at? This is all just random atoms, constantly reassembling. There’s no wonder here, just the pitiless operation of impersonal laws. Since beauty is a value judgment which cannot be scientifically proven, I will fall foul of Richard Dawkins if I stop to marvel at beauty (although Richard Dawkins falls foul of Richard Dawkins here, too).

Moral imperatives; the notion of beauty and rightness; the idea of purpose; all these require there to be God. So when atheists talk of these things, they are like someone who argues there is no air while breathing it in. An atheist gathering that was being consistent with its beliefs would say: Live how you want… help yourself… there’s nothing to wonder at (unless you find pointlessness wonderful).

Of course, none of us want to live like that. We want to live in God’s world, believing in the notion of beauty, relying on the reality of right and wrong, wondering at the complexity of creation and the miracle of life. It’s just that, by nature, we want to be able to do all this while rejecting God’s existence and worshipping something else. It’s called “suppressing the truth” about God while enjoying its benefits (Romans 1 v 18).

I’d love to sing Don’t Stop Me Now with 300 other people. But, since one day I will come to a stop, I’d rather choose to gather on Sunday with people who live, will die, and will live again by the mantra: “Live eternally, be helped by Jesus, wonder at His glory all your days”.