From: roslan mohd <mohros...@gmail.com>
Subject: [chainz_of_frenz] Gereja Kristen Kalah Bersaing dengan Gereja Ateis
To:
Date: Friday, February 22, 2013, 11:15 AM
LONDON – Sebuah
tempat yang dijuluki sebagai gereja kaum ateis di London Utara,
Inggris, kian ramai dikunjungi jemaatnya. Sementara gereja di sekitarnya
makin merosot jemaatnya.
Gereja yang diluncurkan bulan lalu itu
disebut Sanderson Jones, salah satu pengiatnya, sebagai “tempat untuk
merayakan kehidupan.” Jones bersama Pippa Evans melabeli gereja yang
didirikannya dengan nama The Nave, dengan mengusung moto “hidup lebih
baik, sering menolong, dan berkelana lebih banyak.” Sama seperti halnya
gereja, mereka juga akan mendatangkan para motivator yang menginspirasi
setiap bulannya.
Akhir pekan lalu, mereka menggelar
kebaktian dengan tema “Permulaan” yang memfokuskan pada resolusi Tahun
Baru dengan pengkhotbah Arthur Smith, Lucy Porter, Josie Long, Susan
Calman, Imran Yusuf dan Nick Revell.
Sedikitnya 300 orang mengunjungi menjejali gereja ini untuk bergabung dengan
acara Kebaktian Minggu (The Sunday Assembly)
yang dibuka secara gratis. Alih-alih himne, atau mendengarkan khotbah,
mereka mendendangkan bersama lagu-lagu Stevie Wonder dan Queen.
Menjelang tengah hari, pengunjung
dipersilakan untuk mendengarkan presentasi dari seorang ahli fisika
partikel, Dr Harry Cliff, yang menjelaskan asal-usul teori materi gelap.
Namun, teori-teorinya yang rumit dibawakan secara santai, bahkan
diselingi banyak ger-geran.
Jones menyatakan, kritik bahwa ateis
tidak memiliki rasa adalah tidak benar. “Kami menundukkan kepala selama
dua menit untuk berkontemplasi tentang keajaiban hidup,” ujar pria yang
berprofesi sebagai komedian stand-up itu.
...Kebaktian gereja ateis dikunjungi
300-an jemaat. Sementara gereja Kristen St Jude dan St Paul makin sepi,
hanya didatangi sekitar 30-an jemaat...
Jumlah orang yang menyatakan diri
menjadi tidak beragama di Inggris meningkat lebih dari 6 juta orang
sejak 2001, menjadi 14,1 juta menurut sensus terakhir. Angka inilah yang
membuat Inggris negara yang paling sekuler di Barat.
Jones membenarkan hasil survei itu. Ia
mengatakan mereka mulai kewalahan atas reaksi publik terhadap kemunculan
gerejanya. Hampir tiap hari, katanya, pengunjung membanjir. Itulah
sebabnya dia berpikir untuk membuka gereja yang sama di setiap kota di
Inggris. “Saya ingin melakukan ini karena saya pikir itu akan menjadi
hal yang indah,” ujarnya.
Di seberang gereja Ateis itu, berdiri
dua gereja Kristen yang sangat sepi, St Jude dan St Paul. Tiap pekan,
gereja ini hanya didatangi sekitar 30-an orang jemaat, untuk menyanyikan
lagu pujian dan mendengarkan pembacaan Alkitab (Bibel).
Meski gerejanya makin sepi, Pendeta
Harrison mengklaim tidak risau dengan maraknya gereja ateis. Pria yang
sudah menjadi pengkhotbah Kristen selama 30 tahun itu mengaku tidak
melihat tetangga barunya sebagai ancaman.
What happens at an atheist church?
By Brian Wheeler
BBC News Magazine
Harry Cliff gives his science lecture at the Sunday Assembly in a former
church
Continue reading the main story
In today's Magazine
The over-27s China calls 'leftover women'
Recognising yourself in a forgotten war
Is nepotism holding Italy back?
Tony Mendez, the real CIA spy in Argo
An "atheist church" in North London is proving a big hit
with non-believers. Does it feel a bit like a new religion?
Not many sermons include the message that we are all going to die and
there is no afterlife.
But the Sunday Assembly is no ordinary church service.
Launched last month, as a gathering for non-believers, it is,
in the words of master of ceremonies Sanderson Jones, "part
foot-stomping show, part atheist church, all celebration of life".
A congregation of more than 300 crowded into the shell of a
deconsecrated church to join the celebration on Sunday morning.
Instead of hymns, the non-faithful get to their feet to sing along to
Stevie Wonder and Queen songs.
Continue reading the main story Order of service
Theme of "wonder" Congregation sang Queen's Don't Stop Me Now,
Superstition by Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone's Ain't Got No Screen on altar
showed photo of TV scientist Dr Brian Cox Reading by Dr Harry Cliff, a particle
physicist, on the discovery of antimatter
Paul Dirac, the man who predicted antimatterMelvyn Bragg and
guests discuss antimatter
There is a reading from Alice in
Wonderland and a power-point presentation from a particle physicist, Dr
Harry Cliff, who explains the origins of antimatter theory.
It feels like a stand-up comedy show. Jones and co-founder
Pippa Evans trade banter and whip the crowd up like the veterans of the
stand-up circuit that they are.
But there are more serious moments.
The theme of the morning is "wonder" - a reaction, explains Jones, to
criticism that atheists lack a sense of it.
So we bow our heads for two minutes of contemplation about
the miracle of life and, in his closing sermon, Jones speaks about how
the death of his mother influenced his own spiritual journey and
determination to get the most out of every second, aware that life is
all too brief and nothing comes after it.
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
I don't think I'm a charismatic preacher”
Sanderson Jones
The audience - overwhelmingly
young, white and middle class - appear excited to be part of something
new and speak of the void they felt on a Sunday morning when they
decided to abandon their Christian faith. Few actively identify
themselves as atheists.
"It's a nice excuse to get together and have a bit of a
community spirit but without the religion aspect," says Jess Bonham, a
photographer.
"It's not a church, it's a congregation of unreligious people."
Another attendee, Gintare Karalyte, says: "I think people
need that sense of connectedness because everyone is so singular right
now, and to be part of something, and to feel like you are part of
something. That's what people are craving in the world."
The number of people declaring themselves to be of "no
religion" in England and Wales has increased by more than six million
since 2001 to 14.1 million, according to the latest census. That makes
England and Wales two of the most unreligious nations in the Western
world.
Atheists are getting more vocal, such as this ad campaign on London buses
Figures such as writer Richard Dawkins and comedian Ricky
Gervais have made it fashionable to be more assertive about having a
lack of religious faith and to think about what it means to be an
atheist.
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
There's no scientific answer to being
virtuous, but the key thing is to have some kind of list on which to
flex our ethical muscles”
Alain De Botton
His 10 virtues for atheists
And writer Alain De Botton has
unveiled a Manifesto for Atheists, listing 10 virtues - or as the press
has already dubbed them "commandments" - for the faithless.
De Botton says he wants to promote overlooked virtues such as
resilience and humour. He came up with the idea in response to a
growing sense that being virtuous had become "a strange and depressing
notion", which seems to chime with the Sunday Assembly's own mantra
"live better, help often, wonder more".
He argues for a new breed of secular therapists to take the
place of the priesthood and believes atheism should have its own
churches, but adds: "It should never be called that, because 'atheism'
isn't an ideology around which anyone could gather. Far better to call
it something like cultural humanism."
There is a concern among some non-believers that atheism is
developing into a religion in its own right, with its own code of ethics
and self-appointed high priests.
Jones insists he is not trying to found a new religion, but some
members of his congregation disagree.
Continue reading the main story Atheism unpicked
Word comes from a meaning without, and theism meaning belief in god or
gods Atheists believe gods are man-made myths Some are not interested in
organised religion, others distrust it Atheist churches built in late 19th and
early 20th Centuries as part of French thinker Auguste Comte's Religion of
Humanity
More on atheismSpiritual, but not religious
"It will become an organised
religion. It's inevitable. A belief system will set in. There will be a
structure, an ethical outlook on life," says architect Robbie Harris.
He believes Evans and Jones have "a great responsibility" if the Sunday
Assembly "continues to be as successful as it is now".
"There is a difficulty that it might become cultish and it
might become about one person. You could set yourself up as a
charismatic preacher, that's the danger."
Fellow congregation member Sarah Aspinall says: "I think
Sanderson should step back and see himself as a mediator and an enabler,
which I think he is obviously good at, and just bring people up to
speak or read."
Jones says it is very early days and future assemblies will
be less about him and more about the experiences of congregation
members. He bridles at the suggestion he is starting a cult.
"I don't think I'm a charismatic preacher. I just get very excited
about things and want to share that with people."
He says he has been overwhelmed by the public reaction to the
Sunday Assembly and is exploring the possibility of setting up similar
gatherings around the country.
"I wanted to do this because I thought it would be a wonderful thing,"
he explains.
Watch the Sunday Assembly
The Sunday Assembly certainly did better business than at the
evangelical St Jude and St Paul's Church next door, where about 30
believers gathered to sing gospel songs and listen to Bible readings.
But Bishop Harrison, a Christian preacher for 30 years, says
he does not see his new neighbours as a threat, confidently predicting
that their spiritual journey will eventually lead them to God.
"They have got to start from somewhere," he says.
You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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