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?

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Permalink Reply by Nathan Phillips on June 20, 2010 at 10:26pm
YouTube is already full of atheist versions of the 10 commandments. I'm not advocating anything of that nature. I would advocate the preservation of the philosophy of ethics, which examine the reasons for making decisions.
Permalink Reply by Bubba Tarandfeathered on June 21, 2010 at 6:02am
How about:

Collegium i.e 'The first Collegium of Free Thought' or 'The first Collegium of Nontheism' or 'The first Collegium of Skepticism' or 'The first Collegium of Humanism' the later I like the most.

It's simple to understand and to the point plus not a word that produces suspicion.
Permalink Reply by Dogly on June 22, 2010 at 11:09am
Not all atheists are humanists. We would want to include all atheists.
Permalink Reply by Roy The Infidel on June 22, 2010 at 4:31am
Why go any further and borrow from what theists use?

Why not call it Nexus?
Permalink Reply by Dogly on June 22, 2010 at 11:07am
How about - "LIBRARY".
Permalink Reply by Nathan Phillips on June 22, 2010 at 6:11pm
A library is a place where people are discouraged from talking. I would like to design a place that encourages discussion. It should have good seasting arrangements for groups of people and areas for debate. This would make it easier for people to mingle rather than the uncomfortable standing mingling after most sermons. I would like there to be some museum-like elements, but the ability to express one's self should be included, so individual members could build displays.
Permalink Reply by funk Q on June 22, 2010 at 7:43pm
I fancy Bickertorium as that's what atheists and their kind do best. For every proposition there are always several opponents happy to contradict it.

More seriously though, perhaps Institute is apt. It has the meaning: a permanent organizational body created for a certain purpose. (Wikipedia)

Institutes can comprise of facilities for lectures, discussion and debate, libraries, exhibitions and research. Other fields could be publishing and documentary making.
Permalink Reply by Nathan Phillips on June 22, 2010 at 11:12pm
I like that! The Secular Institute, The FreeThought Institute or The Institute of Cultural Advancement Through Secular Research (ICATSR).
Permalink Reply by Sameer on June 23, 2010 at 5:20am
I can't get it...I mean...Atheist Church ? Atheist Temple ? .....Temple, Churches are for Religions. As everyone knows Atheists are non religious. So how there can be Atheist Church ? Atheist Temple ? I mean, Atheists are not going to pray for something..........Its actually Atheists Meeting places.There should be some name for it.
Permalink Reply by El Solo Lobo on June 26, 2010 at 9:27am
Y'all still arguing about the atheist church thing? I argued that with Timotheus of the North Texas Church of Freethought in the 80's; "church" just means a group or gathering of people, the religious have no monopoly on the word.
Permalink Reply by Abnormal on June 26, 2010 at 11:45am
I'd rather not indoctrinate our youths with our values. I trust they are capable of making their own decisions. You can guide them in the right direction, but you can't drag them where you want them to be. What other point would there be for a secular church? What would we do there? Sounds terribly boring to me.

Anybody ever seen that episode of Metalocalypse? When Murderface was trying to find a religion?
Permalink Reply by Nathan Phillips on June 26, 2010 at 3:37pm
I agree. We need relationships and we need culture.

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