While I understand some push-back here, given the likely almost universal dislike for anything church-like among the membership, I think Avokat has a valid point.
I call myself a “recovering Catholic”, but I too have fond boyhood memories of playing with friends and narfing donuts after church on Sundays; that, and the church social functions, the general good feelings you get (and associate with church as a result of) helping those in need, etc. As Rob mentioned, the church has had a couple millennia to build all this up, in various incarnations, and they are very, very good at it. Unfortunately, though, that can be a powerful draw.
Move to a new city as an xtian, and as soon as you find a church you have the beginnings of a social circle, complete with regularly-scheduled activities, and a ready-made group of people who share a fairly significant subset of your beliefs. Likewise for muslim->mosque, jew->temple, etc. Now try the same exercise as an atheist, a prospect I and my family face in the foreseeable future. Where do we go for something like that? I have a young (elementary school age) daughter. I’m not taking her to a meeting of philosophers and scientists, and it wouldn’t fit the same role anyway. Yes, if they have a science fair or other such activities, we’ll jump all over it. But even if that sort of thing is a regular event (and holding such events with high frequency is rare in the extreme), it’s still not the same.
I’m not looking for a secret society or a cult; VERY much the opposite. But dammit, where do I go? Where can an atheist bring his or her family? Yes, there are community activities, and street festivals, and science museums in most major metro areas. That’s great. But there’s no atheist community. I can’t go to my local “atheist center” for the regular Sunday afternoon meet-n-greet, or join my fellow atheists down at the food bank for the every-Saturday help session. There’s no Rationalist Sunday School to send my little one to, while I go into the main auditorium to enjoy listening to a speaker on Morality as Developed from the Evolutionary Perspective, or participate in a group debate on Objectivism vs Secular Humanism, or any number of other topics that would be suitable, engaging, and thoroughly enjoyable for such a gathering. Yes, there are non-church-affiliated social clubs and groups and whatnot, but they’re not specifically geared toward people who are non-church-affiliated, if you see what I mean. Such clubs will likely just have a statistically similar distribution of faiths (and lack thereof) as society at large. Again, that doesn’t fit the bill.
The “now what” question is a good one, and not something you should brush aside lightly. There’s a reason there are so many social clubs, societies, and the like. People are gregarious by nature. We gather for a myriad of reasons, but the point is we gather. When you try to pull people away from religion, they are going to need something to replace the social network and support their church represents.
Think about it. In a church setting, they have tens, hundreds, or even thousands of people who are constantly telling them that their beliefs are correct. That is happening both explicitly and implicitly. Their immediate friends and clergy directly reinforce it, their acquaintances reinforce it by their actions and whenever they’re overheard in a conversation, etc, etc. They are immersed in a culture which constantly, subtly tells them that this set of internally-conflicting, immoral, irrational beliefs that they espouse is right.
Now what about us? Where is that reinforcement? Where is the subtle, everyday feedback as we go through life? Where can I go, with no real prior introduction, and know that I can express my views, opinions, and philosophy, without having to worry about ending up with a bible being waved in my face as if it were a valid (not to mention irrefutable) logical rebuttal? Or worse, that my little girl would have to hear her father being called any number of unkind and/or obscene names for daring to speak such “blasphemies”.
It’s already challenging enough to be in the minority where religion is concerned. Why make it more challenging and less appealing by not having such an organization/fellowship? There is value there. Children can grow up seeing that mommy and daddy aren’t the only adults who believe this way and that there are other kids who are being taught the same things. Adults can have a place to go and people to gather with who share the rationalist mindset. It might even reduce the “fringe” perception that so many of the religious hold of atheists.
Thank you, Avokat, for posting this. I just discovered project-reason.org, and as soon as I saw there was a forum dedicated to potential future projects, this was exactly the one that came to mind. It’s something I’ve been thinking about with some regularity for quite a while, but more so since I became a parent.
