Hello Pavlov:
— I don’t know so much about that. If an Athiest were to walk into a Christian Church, go up to the podium and start speaking I doubt if they would be heard for very long, and there would certainly be conditions.
O- Well of course. But my point is that a Church provides certain social advantages for it’s members. An atheist could not be a member of a theistic Church, so it would not apply. But that does not discount the benefits enjoyed by theists at theistic Churches, just as there could be at any other defining group. If you started an atheistic Church, for it to attract, it would probably have many features similar to it’s theistic counter-parts, as was seen in Communism.
— By the way, you could have a liturgy if you want to. Sure, it wouldn’t technically be worship, unless you want to worship life itself.
O- How would that differ from Pantheism or some forms of witchcraft?
— 1.) There are a variety of reasons. Not least of which is the complete lack of Empirical-Evidence.
O- “Evidence” is a value judgment, so what is the history behind such decision?
— I’m not saying there is any Empirical-Evidence necessarily suggestive of an alternative.
O- You can’t have it both ways Pavlov. If each is a matter of faith, then each alternative IS suggestive.
— However, if you think about other things in life, an unprovable negative is more readily acceptable than an unprovable positive.
O- Hardly, or else we would readily gravitate towards solipsism. Knowledge, or the posibility of it, depends on such disposition to imagine unprovable positives-- to take leaps of faith, of which atheism, you admitted, is but just another example of a leap of faith.
— 2.) The use of a Church would be for Athiests to congregate and discuss different viewpoints existing in support of Athiesm. Much like Bible Study, it would lead to a stronger and more well-read belief.
O- That sounds like in need of “unprovable positives”, and if an unprovable negative is “more readily acceptable”, then why the need to discuss different viewpoints. Have you ever attended Bible Study? It does not investigate the probability of the existence of God, but departs from the presupposition. Likewise, perhaps what you meant is discussions that follow from the inexistence of God, but as such, the Government would stipulate, these discussions represent scientific research which can be taxed.
— I think that an Athiest parent should listen with an open ear and give their kids freedom of choice.
O- To even choose to believe in God?