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Atheist Church? Why Not Atheist Temple?
I saw what appeared to be a survey asking what people thought about atheist churches on the main screen a while back. That puzzled me. If the question was about having facilities to help indoctrinate secular values into youth, I would think that atheists would have the sense to not indicate a particular religion when doing so. Atheists can be former Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc. and even born and raised atheists. I support the notion of advocating secular values, but I would like to use a term like temple. I know, some people would say that temple indicates Judaism, but there are many cultures that make "temples". There are Buddhist temples, Jewish temples, Greco-Roman temples and temples of doom. What do you think?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Raizinette on -
I agree with Mihai.
To me "church" or "temple" is sort of synonymous to religion or religious beliefs.
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Permalink Reply by Nathan Phillips on -
I agree that having a less religious sounding name would be better, however terms like school seem to indicate a purely academic environment. There is an assumption that schools do not teach values. I'm not really sure what community center indicates.
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Permalink Reply by Scott on -
I think you are right. A less religious sounding name would be better. Temple conjures up images of robed spiritual advisors, at least in my mind. It is a purely academic pursuit so why not call it a school? I think higher education facilities do in fact provide a fertile bed for values to flourish.
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Permalink Reply by Nathan Phillips on
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I have rarely, if ever, considered the instilling of values to be purely academic in nature. Temple may be a more religious sounding name, but my point is that it is not specific to one religion, there is even a Mormon temple.
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Permalink Reply by Scott on
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Values themselves are not academic but the environment, through interaction with like minded individuals, would provide a structured setting for ones values to grow. I suppose some values could be viewed as academic in nature. Courses in ethics would instill values of some sort. Any academic philosophy course would absolutely help shape ones values.
The main point is that atheism is not a religion and any religious connotations attributed to it seem degrading. Atheism is a philosophical stance. We identify the various philosophies as "schools of thought". I feel this is appropriate.
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Permalink Reply by Ryan Berry on -
Congregation sounds religious to me. :-)
I like Community Center or Social Center.
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Permalink Reply by Nathan Phillips on
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Perhaps a Secularium?
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Permalink Reply by Nathan Phillips on
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I like that, except for the holiness factor. I really don't want to go the opposite route either though. Although the term Secularium infernalis popped into my mind.
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Permalink Reply by Starscream on -
We already have temples.
They're more commonly referred to as natural history museums.
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