Atheist Churches Show Human Need for Fellowship

I’ve always said that atheism is a religion that requires a lot of faith. One of the strangest religious stories I have read in a long time has to do with the rise of atheist mega churches around the nation. It’s interesting because, in my conversations with atheists, I have often heard the straw man arguments that religious people are insecure sheep who use Bible stories to surround themselves with other insecure sheep.

As it turns out, surrounding yourself with like-minded people is a basic human need. People need edification, purpose, and shared experience.

I don’t want to write an entire article bashing atheism. If you read online articles on religion, you have probably already run across a belligerent, mocking, pretentious, pseudo-intellectual rant from an atheist in the comments section. Not all atheists are self-congratulating insecure sheep like those people either. Debating them is pointless because they are as glued to their “faith” as the young earth fundamentalists they mock. Both sides see a conflict between perceived science and perceived faith that does not actually exist.

As Christians, we can learn a lot from the atheist church. Rather than divide ourselves into 41,000+ factions and denominations based on passages taken out of context and punctuation errors, we should understand the spiritual nature of the church and the strength we all gain from community. Most people are looking for purpose in life.