Skip to main content

My questions about atheist churches


You probably attended church services yesterday.  It's possible that an atheist you know did as well, in a way.  The rise of "atheist churches" is an oxymoronic fact in our culture.

One of the fastest-growing is in London.  Its leader asks, "Why is it that people who are atheists get married in a church?"  He then answers his question: "There is just something about these places, it's a place of worship, where people have gone for more than 400 years and it's the sort of place where your heart can rise up to those inspired things which is great."  Here's my question: What "inspired things" can their hearts "rise up to" if the God who inspired them doesn't exist?

We might expect "atheist churches" in England, where Christianity has been in decline for decades.  But what about Houston, Texas, my hometown and arguably the "buckle of the Bible belt"?  A group called Houston Oasis describes itself as "a community grounded in reason, celebrating the human experience."  The group was founded by Mike Aus, a onetime Lutheran pastor who is now an atheist.  He states, "We are open to any message about life as long as no dogmatic claims are made."  However, Houston Oasis's website makes six such dogmatic claims.  The first: "People are more important than beliefs."  Is this a belief?

Dallas is home to several such "churches" as well.  One seeks "to offer atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, and freethinkers all the educational, inspirational, and social and emotional benefits of traditional faith-based churches" but without God.  However, if there is no God, the "benefits" offered by "traditional faith-based churches" would be based on a lie.  If so, how can they be "benefits"?

My last question is really the most important: What can Christians learn from the growth of atheist churches?

A pastor in New Jersey offers this answer: "The church has lost touch.  We have been dealing with the politics of God in churches [so much] that we forget to really allow people to have an experience with God.  Once you have a true experience with God, you do not want to leave his presence.  We have done a poor job of welcoming his presence into church."

Do you agree?  When you attended worship yesterday, did you encounter God?  Theologian Rudolf Otto coined my favorite description of the Almighty: the "mysterium tremendum." Read those words out loud to yourself, slowly.  Sense their gravity and mystery.  Every person in Scripture who genuinely encounters God is transformed by the experience, from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 6:5, "Woe to me!") to Peter (Luke 5:8, "Go away from me Lord; I am a sinful man!") to John on Patmos (Revelation 1:17, "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead").

When last were you awed by God?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

COMMIT TO

In the face of widespread insecurity, fear, and hopelessness, our nation desperately needs your prayers. Join us in praying for our nation, that God will heal our land.
Post a Comment
Read more

In His Eyes

July 23, 2012 Mary Southerland Today's Truth I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be ( Psalm 139:14-15 , NIV). Friend to Friend It was my first day of teaching second grade. While standing at the classroom door, greeting parents and children, I felt a tug on my skirt. I looked down into the beautiful blue eyes of Sammy, one of my new students.  His mother, who was standing beside Sammy, looked at me and said, "I guess you've heard about Sammy.  Good luck!" As she walked away, Sammy said, "She's right. I'm dumb and mean and can't read or write."  Lisa was a tall, blonde and beautiful young woman with zero self-confidence. Lisa was...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Danger in Being a Christian: It began as a Jewish sect; fierce persecution only helped it spread

Acts 8 Acts 8:1 On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. In some countries, a person who becomes a Christian forfeits a good education and job. And in a few countries, a person who converts risks his or her life. One church historian estimates that more Christians were martyred in the twentieth century than in all preceding centuries put together. Yet, strangely, more often than not, intense persecution of Christians leads to a spurt of growth in the church. An ancient saying expresses this phenomenon: “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.” The First Big Advance For a while, the new faith enjoyed popular favor. But very soon it involved grave risk. In the book of Acts, the persecution that produced the first Christian martyr, Stephen, ironically brought about the advance of Christianity outside its Jewish base. Forced out of stormy Jerusalem, the scatterin...
Post a Comment
Read more