Every morning for the last few years, with the exception of
a few more exciting mornings, I have sat down to eat a bowl of Oatibix topped
with chopped apple and dried fruit with unsweetened soya milk and, my recent
replacement for Options hot chocolate, a cup of horrible Morrisons freeze-dried
coffee. Of late I have enjoyed the
concoction whilst watching the BBC London News on iPlayer, which, to an extent,
takes away almost all of the enjoyment, but does enable me to make a few
ill-informed topical comments about grim matters.
This morning as I sat down to my cold porridge equivalent I
learned that the Metropolitan Police are in trouble for using the identities of
dead children in some undercover police work, and that the British economy
loves rich Chinese folk for coming over and spending three times the amount
other foreign tourists do, and should kids learn Mandarin? Apparently it’s easier than we think but a
little too conversational for business dealings. Riveting stuff.
And then the unexpectedly rare happens – a positive news
story comes on. Hang on – nobody’s
dead? Is there no upcoming violent video
footage? Can I shove another spoonful in
my gob or should I wait for the weather?
No, it’s happening.
The BBC London News is about to give me something nice to think
about. Fasten your seatbelts folks,
because this morning we’re learning about an atheist church. How does that work exactly?
The Sunday Assembly, as it is known, is run on the first
Sunday of the month by two comedians (Sanderson Jones, who is shown in the footage,
and Pippa Evans, who is not) and features some of the same practices you would
find in a Christian church: songs, talks, and a geezer at the front… except it’s
not about God. The talks are about
science and the songs are anthems by Queen and Stevie Wonder and the view of
the geezer at the front is - “It’s not that I don’t like God, it’s just that I
don’t believe in him.” The congregation
is astoundingly large given that this was filmed on the second service ever (it
started up in 2013) and will most likely be larger on the 3rd of
March following the media coverage. In
some broadcast interviews, ‘church’-goers say that they appreciate this sense
of Sunday community which is otherwise only experienced by people of faith
attending their religious services.
Personally, I find this very interesting anyway, but perhaps
more so given my upbringing and current religious circumstances. I was raised as a Roman Catholic, in a
Catholic school, begrudgingly attending the weekly 11 o’clock services and
special masses until I put my foot down at the age of 13 and said I couldn’t
stand it anymore. I didn’t understand
church. I didn’t understand how people
believed in God, or why they found this sort of service useful or uplifting in
any way, or why it was being forced upon me when there was so much quality
Sunday morning TV to enjoy.
I went to a couple of midnight masses - primarily to get
some chocolate at the end of the service and see what the decorations were
like, or see what the people I went to school with looked like nowadays. It was completely inaccessible to me – to listen
to things that had been written hundreds or thousands of years ago and probably
lost in translation somewhat and never re-contextualised to fit modern
lifestyles. And to be honest, I felt
like a total fraud even attending, so I just didn’t.
But then in the New Year I attended a church in London. Everything had started to feel a bit bleak,
and I felt as if I needed some community external of University or family or
friends to reflect on what was happening.
For some reason I felt like a church could be a good place for
that. I went along expecting a man in a
dog collar at the front, some dull old people, an abundance of tuneless singing
and more out-of-date stories. But I was
completely wrong. The guy running the
show was in a t-shirt, the congregation were all under 40 (maybe even 30), the
songs weren’t hymns and were sung with enthusiasm, and the Biblical stories
were given a modern context. There were
even some jokes.
Even though I still consider myself agnostic, I went back,
because it was a nice place to go.
Essentially I was having a good sing-along, getting a chance to engage
with something besides University work, and meeting nice people. What could possibly be wrong with that? From what I understand, many church-goers of
various practices enjoy this sense of continuity and community more than the services
or teachings themselves.
I attend a lot of stand-up comedy shows. I spend a lot of time singing (or rapping)
along to old school tunes with my friends.
I enjoy listening to a good talk.
I wonder a lot about the ‘big picture.’
And it appears that I can do that in a Christian church in Kings Cross
or an atheist church in Islington. Personally
I think it’s time for people of any faith, or indeed no faith, to have a place
to meet and enjoy a structure which makes them feel good about life. From what I know about The Sunday Assembly
they aren’t trying to make anybody believe anything or stop believing anything,
they’re just giving people who don’t want to talk about God on a Sunday (or ever,
perhaps) another place to realize that life is good. And that’s admirable. Perhaps one day everybody, regardless of their religious beliefs, can get along and agree that it's nice to be nice and it's good to be grateful.
Unfortunately the next Sunday Assembly will be on the 3rd
of March at 11am or 1.30pm, but I’ll definitely be checking it out. If it sounds as interesting to you as it does
to me, I suggest that you do too.
And here are some articles to read if you give a shit:
