Sunday meeting

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The Sunday meeting ( English Sunday assembly ) called a meeting of non-religious people by the British comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans in January 2013, London was carried out for the first time. The main aim of the gathering is to bring people without denomination together and to offer them a positive community experience that does without references to religious ideas. The motto of the Sunday Assembly is: "Live better, help often and wonder more" - in German, for example, "Live better, help often, be amazed more" or "Live better, help often, think more".

activities

Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans drew on Christian churches in their conception of Sunday meetings, but without referring to belief in a god. “But I thought to myself: If I find a stone in my shoes, I don't throw away the shoes, but the stone. So God just got kicked out of our assembly, ”said Jones.

During the Sunday meetings, visitors hear short lectures by speakers who have gained prominence through their own work in scientific or philosophical fields, sing pop songs together and socialize with other “community members”. In the Anglo-Saxon communities mainly English-language songs are played, for example by Stevie Wonder and Queen . In the German communities, both German and English texts by various interpreters are sung. Philosophical and scientific texts are presented.

Although the Sunday meeting is primarily aimed at non-religious people, religious people are also expressly invited to visit: "Everyone is welcome, regardless of their beliefs - this is a place of love that stands for openness and acceptance."

According to a report by the Evangelical Central Office for Weltanschauung , the founder left the London Assembly in response to the Brexit vote and the election victory of US presidential candidate Donald Trump . Jones now wants to create "new places of love and tolerance," it said. "All I want to do is help people to create radical spaces in which we can connect in our humanity," said the assembly founder.

Local gatherings

The more than 150 daughter assemblies to date have to accept a basic statute (charter). The charter sets out the principles of the Sunday meeting and some rules that must be followed for at least some time. By October 2014, local assemblies were established in the UK, USA, Australia, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary. Ten Sunday meetings were held in Berlin until June 2015. The German assembly initiative was initially funded by the Humanist Association of Germany . There are currently German events in Hamburg and sponsored by the Association for Freedom of the Mind in Munich .

history

Comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans established the first Sunday meeting in North London in January 2013. Both wanted to "do something like a church, but without God." The first event, which was attended by over 300 people, took place in a profane Church in Islington . Due to the limited size of this venue, the other meetings were held in the Conway Hall of the Conway Hall Ethical Society in London. Since then, the events have taken place twice a month with up to 600 participants.

October 2013 initiated Sunday Assembly a campaign to swarm funding on Indiegogo with the aim of taking 500,000 pounds. With this money, a digital platform was built, which in turn was supposed to promote the growth of the organization. This was advertised with the help of a 40-day comedy tour through the USA and Australia. The platform is designed to serve as a tool for people who want to start their own congregation and network with others.

criticism

Internet magazine Salon.com reported a statement by Sanderson Jones that he did not expect much criticism from religious communities. They are happy that "we are using their model of church." However, he felt it was possible that "more aggressive atheists might have a problem with it." Kimberly Winston of the Religion News Service noted that some people behind the Sunday meetings had a method for Supposed to make money. The Northern Irish MP in the British House of Commons William McCrea, a clergyman with the Free Presbyterian Church , described the meeting as "highly inappropriate". Sanderson Jones countered criticism of the Sunday meeting by saying, “I [don't] think there is anything fundamentally elitist about when people come together to sing songs, reflect on themselves, and strengthen their community. But we look forward to people in all possible places organizing [the Sunday meetings] in all possible ways so that they are attractive to all kinds of people. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Walter Otte: Sunday meetings for the first time in Germany. In: Humanistic press service. Sunday Assembly, September 19, 2014, accessed September 19, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Hackney's atheist church aims to 'do good without God' as it prepares for world tour. In: Hackney Citizen. October 9, 2013, accessed November 6, 2013 .
  3. ^ A b Robert Pigott: Doing church without God. In: BBC News. November 1, 2013, accessed November 2, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Simmy Richman: The bonus track: lucky get Sunday Assembly wants you, Daughter, froggin 'country and Midlake's new video. In: The Independent, London. October 27, 2013, accessed November 2, 2013 .
  5. ↑ German version of the Charter , accessed on October 17, 2014
  6. ↑ EZW newsletter of November 21, 2016 , accessed on November 30, 2016
  7. ↑ Local Assemblies , overview of the local assemblies established so far, accessed on January 18, 2015
  8. ↑ a b Esther Addley: Atheist Sunday Assembly branches out in first wave of expansion. In: The Guardian . September 14, 2013, accessed November 2, 2013 .
  9. ↑ German version of the Charter , accessed on October 17, 2014
  10. ^ Local assemblies. In: sundayassembly.com. Retrieved October 17, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Torsten Landsberg: This nice feeling of community. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung from February 8, 2015, page 44. Online version
  12. ↑ "pro" -Medienmagazin : atheists celebrate the chance , accessed on 17 October 2014
  13. ↑ Advertising flyer from April 2015 ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on May 3, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hvd-bb.de
  14. ↑ Ruth van Doornik: Sunday Assembly: It is a kind of church - just without God . In: THE WORLD . October 22, 2017 ( welt.de [accessed October 23, 2017]).
  15. ^ Brian Wheeler: What happens at an atheist church? BBC News, February 4, 2013, accessed November 1, 2013 .
  16. ^ Wholly spirit. In: The Economist . October 26, 2013, accessed November 2, 2013 .
  17. ↑ Emma Jacobs: 'Church without god' looks for new ways of funding mission. In: Financial Times . October 18, 2013, accessed November 2, 2013 .
  18. ↑ Alom Shaha: Why non-belief needs diversity . In: New Humanist . April 10, 2014, p. 28-30 ( online ).
  19. ↑ (Non) Mass movement: Atheist mega-churches take Western world by storm. In: RT. November 11, 2013, accessed November 28, 2013 .
  20. ↑ Olivia Solon: 'Atheist church' seeks £ 500,000 in crowdfunding to build online platform. (No longer available online.) In: Wired.co.uk. October 20, 2013, archived from the original on October 22, 2013 ; accessed on November 2, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wired.co.uk
  21. ↑ Katie Engelhart: Atheism starts its megachurch: Is it a religion now? Salon, accessed December 4, 2013 .
  22. ↑ Kimberly Winston: Sunday Assembly 'Atheist Church' Provokes Criticism. The Huffington Post, November 29, 2013, accessed December 4, 2013 .
  23. ^ Adrian Rutherford: DUP MP criticises first Northern Ireland meeting of atheist 'church'. Belfast Telegraph, accessed December 4, 2013 .