Church for Nonbelievers

While perusing through a recent issue of the East Bay Express (October 18-24), my eyes scanned a headline that immediately piqued my interest: "A Church for the Nonbelievers," by Jonathan Kaminsky. The full page article features a unique group of elderly men and women who, despite their lack of faith in a higher power, meet twice a month to engage in a program that strongly resembles a church service. Having encountered a few atheists in my lifetime, I was almost certain that the concept of church is contradictory to what many atheists claim to believe…or not believe. After conducting a little Internet research and reading the article in its entirety, I realized that not only are these nonbelievers defying the standards they claim to follow, but they are also wasting time attending what I consider to be a non-church church.

Residing in the Rossmoor retirement community of Walnut Creek, Calif., the Rossmoor Atheists and Agnostics Group was founded by 81-year-old Richard Golden who wanted to create an environment in which nonbelievers, who at times find themselves standing on the outskirts of their families', friends', and or society's system of beliefs, can share their experiences with one another and voice their opinions. I searched the Internet to see what atheists think about church in general, and found the definition of atheism, written in italics below, on the American Atheists website (www.athiests.org/Atheism):

The following definition of Atheism was given to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Murray v. Curlett, 374 U.S. 203, 83 S. Ct. 1560, 10 L.Ed.2d (MD, 1963), to remove reverential Bible reading and oral unison recitation of the Lord's Prayer in the public schools.

"Your petitioners are Atheists and they define their beliefs as follows. An Atheist loves his fellow man instead of god. An Atheist believes that heaven is something for which we should work now - here on earth for all men together to enjoy.

An Atheist believes that he can get no help through prayer but that he must find in himself the inner conviction, and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, to subdue it and enjoy it.

An Atheist believes that only in a knowledge of himself and a knowledge of his fellow man can he find the understanding that will help to a life of fulfillment.

He seeks to know himself and his fellow man rather than to know a god. An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. He wants man to understand and love man.

He wants an ethical way of life. He believes that we cannot rely on a god or channel action into prayer nor hope for an end of troubles in a hereafter.

He believes that we are our brother's keepers; and are keepers of our own lives; that we are responsible persons and the job is here and the time is now."

It appears that Mr. Golden, who as the article states has been an atheist for seventy years, was never consulted when the definition of atheism was written, because the fourth paragraph clearly sates that "An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church." A hospital is a place where the sick go to be healed, and there definitely is no healing taking place within the Rossmoor Atheists and Agnostics Group, where tension has been known to mount amongst members. In fact, the article describes a particular meeting in which one woman storms out after the day's speaker, who is reading a controversial essay about why agnostics should become atheists, refuses to tell her from which paragraph he is reading. Her exit is followed by outbursts made by other members who wish to express their firm stance in claiming agnosticism over atheism. The discord between the members contradicts the harmony implied in the statement, "An Atheist believes that only in a knowledge of himself and a knowledge of his fellow man can he find the understanding that will help to a life of fulfillment."

To say that an atheist "…wants man to understand and love man," yet a member becomes enraged when an agnostic refuses to accept atheism, is hypocrisy at its finest. For an atheist to try to convert an agnostic and basically create the same uncomfortable environment they were once in when surrounded by a family of believers, makes one worse than some overzealous, aggressive Christians. Even Jesus, the advocate of free will, never forced anyone to follow Him. Besides, I thought the whole point of being a nonbeliever was to free oneself of organized beliefs, rituals, and tenets. Many atheists refer to themselves as "Free thinkers," suggesting that those who believe in a higher power have been brainwashed by a sometimes government or family imposed, system of beliefs. Yet now they wish to impose their beliefs, or lack thereof, on others?

I guess Kaminsky's article proves that there exists, in each of us, an innate desire to belong to something or someone. Thus, even atheists and agnostics get lonely and seek to be around those to whom they can relate. Yet, if it is truly an atheist's desire to see "…disease conquered, poverty vanquished, [and] war eliminated," perhaps one should spend time finding ways to accomplish those goals, rather than waste time at a "…ninety-minute meeting…," arguing with agnostics and other atheists about the existence, or lack thereof, of God. Robert Frankel, one of the church's members, concurs as he states, "I think we are all together in that we are for the separation of church and state…We should spend more time talking about that." Amen.