God-less 'congregations' planned for humanists (WaPo)

[eppur_se_muova]

By JAY LINDSAY
The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 18, 2009; 12:22 PM

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The monthly schedule is church-like, with its parenting classes, guest speakers and small group meetings to hash out shared beliefs. But God isn't part of this Cambridge congregation.

Greg Epstein, the humanist chaplain at Harvard University, is building a God-free model of community that he hopes helps humanists increase in numbers and influence.

Epstein sees potential in research showing that there are more people with no religion. In the latest American Religious Identification Survey, released this month, 15 percent of respondents in 2008 said they had no religion, compared to 8.2 percent in 1990. Epstein believes that group includes large numbers of people who are humanist, but have never identified themselves that way and can be reached.

At the same time, there is broader acceptance of those with no faith, as indicated by President Barack Obama's mention of "nonbelievers" in his inaugural address, Epstein said.
***
Epstein wants to plant local humanist centers nationwide that perform many of the community-building functions of a church, only in service of the humanist creed. He will promote his idea as he tours the country to promote his book, "Good Without God," which is scheduled to be published by HarperCollins later this year. Epstein will receive assistance and funding from groups such as the American Humanist Association and the Secular Student Alliance, which have chapters they hope to strengthen and multiply.
***
more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/18/AR2009031801665.html?hpid=sec-religion

[TlalocW]

1. Good luck with that but...

As a childfree person, I've found that it's difficult to build a group based on something you don't want or don't believe in rather than on a common interest/activity that you and others do like doing.

TlalocW

[rug]

2. This has been around for more than 130 years.

http://aeu.org/index.php?case=whatis

[sinkingfeeling]

3. I would love to have such a group near me. But, I'm deep in SBC territory. I don't agree at all with

this statement: "At the heart of the humanist project is deep individualism," Lints said.

Humanist to me is about the human race not individualism.

[Bill McBlueState]

4. exactly; Lints is an evangelical theologian

It bugs me that the reporter cites a Christian as an authority on what humanists believe.