I’m a bit surprised that nobody’s mentioned the Unitarians, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism and https://www.uua.org/
I’ve been to one of their churches once for a funeral, in California. It was exquisitely graceful in its architecture, and on the otherwise blank front wall was displayed a huge, complex, bare wooden tree branch, its many branchings and twigs altogether large enough to occupy most of the space. It made me curious but not enough to go back. It has been explained to me colloquially as “church, only without all the God stuff”. On Jan 16, 2024 at 6:05:47 PM, Kingsley Jegan Joseph via Silklist < silklist@lists.digeratus.in> wrote: > Looks like the conversation has moved far from the original point Peter > Griffin made. I too see the value in "the sense of community, the places of > contemplative silence, the art, the music". Not so much the art or music > themselves but the communal practice of those skills, which goes back to > the core want- a sense of community, belonging and purpose that you share > with a group with whom you do stuff, a tribe. I think many of us have found > our tribe in online spaces and some activities, but it's diluted, > fractional and sometimes merely functional. I don't think there's a good > alternative though - I don't think I'd sign up for an > atheist/secular/humanist church or social club. Sounds weakass and highkey > boring. > > Kingsley Joseph > > > On Sun, Jan 14, 2024 at 4:34 PM Peter Griffin via Silklist < > silklist@lists.digeratus.in> wrote: > >> Many years ago, when I worked with Forbes India, as part of an >> anniversary special, we commissioned an essay by Alain de Botton on a >> ‘religion for atheists’ (he has of course written and spoken about this >> extensively elsewhere). >> https://www.forbesindia.com/article/ideas-to-change-the-world/alain-de-botton-a-religion-for-atheists/13532/1 >> >> I just came across this. >> https://theconversation.com/church-without-god-how-secular-congregations-fill-a-need-for-some-nonreligious-americans-215749 >> >> I resonate with the thought. After beginning my walk away from >> Christianity in my teens and twenties, and all religion some time after, >> there have been many times I missed some of the peripheral things about >> religion. The sense of community, the places of contemplative silence, the >> art, the music. >> >> What do you folk — believers or otherwise — think? >> >> ~ peter >> -- >> Silklist mailing list >> Silklist@lists.digeratus.in >> https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist >> > -- > Silklist mailing list > Silklist@lists.digeratus.in > https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist >
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