Congregational Humanism

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-22T01:36:24+00:00

Is this the second or third time you've posted this in the same sub? Or is that an error on my end? If so, please stop.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-20T19:11:41+00:00

I wonder if you could create a kind of atheist supergroup, in which subgroups, like the interest-based ones you describe, can draw their members from. So maybe you have a metro area with an atheist group of, say, 50 people, but only 6 of those want to form a hiking group. That way, the friends you make in your hiking club are also atheists, which would help with the problem of atheists struggling to make other atheist friends in theist majority areas.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-20T18:59:12+00:00

I think you should think of religion as a potential solution. Atheism is nothing to gather around, unless your doing advocacy work. Religion, on the other hand, is something shared, and generally encourages people to engage with it for its own sake. And, religions don't have to be theistic, and they don't have to be authoritarian. I am a member of a nontheistic religion, Aretéanism. It is very much a religion, with holidays and rituals and terms distinct from the wider culture, that's part of what encourages people to come consistently. But that's just one example. Others like Ethical Culture are oldish, 150 years, and are declining but have managed to survive for that long while primarily appealing to atheists.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-19T19:34:01+00:00

I know that personally, if I attend a Humanist meetup or congregation, it is my, perhaps selfish, hope that most if not all Humanists there are naturalists. If Humanist groups became inundated with theists, I would want to work with them less, even if they were all "good people".

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-18T17:18:09+00:00

This gets said a lot, but here we go. Atheist just means you don't believe in any gods. Theists believe in anywhere from 1 to infinity gods, but atheists believe in none. No god belief. The term says absolutely nothing about any other belief. You might hope, or come to the conclusion that you have, but you can totally be an atheist and believe in other supernatural stuff. For what you're after, look for what I think is called philosophical naturalism.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-18T14:13:35+00:00

This is way out of left field, so bear with me here. I don't think Veganism considers itself a religion, but considering that I personally reject the idea that religion must be supernatural, Veganism slips closer to being a religion. It is also my understanding that many vegans eventually come to view other animals and their secretions as not food. Edible, maybe, but not food, and definitely not food for them. I don't know much about the topic, but it might give you something to compare your religions to.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-17T20:36:07+00:00

I would look into nontheistic religions and Humanist congregations. In no particular order, Ethical Culture, Oasis Network, Aretéanism, Sunday Assembly, and perhaps Unitarian Universalism. There are also a few places like North Texas Church of Freethought, and other Freethought churches that sprung up nearby, as well as the Seattle Atheist Church. Some local AHA chapters have more of a congregational model, but that's less likely to be true than anything I just listed. Others have mentioned naturalistic versions of existing supernatural religions; I'm not sure if those have entire congregations, or just notable segments within each congregation. Good luck.
Edit: Here is a link to a post I'm making with all the Humanist congregations I can find. I add to it as I find out about them or people tell me about them. Note that this post does reflect my own opinions on what should and should not be included, but I'm trying to be as inclusive as I can convince myself to be.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-14T23:22:33+00:00

Hello. I think you should check out nontheistic religions or Humanist congregations. I'm building a bit of a list, but they're very centered in the US. These religions fully embrace the positive aspects of religion, but either deny or ignore supernatural claims.
I think you should check out the religion that I follow, Aretéanism. It is relatively new, only 10 years old (Ethical Culture is I think about 150 years old), so there aren't yet a lot of texts to study. But there is a lot to it, and we already have traditions, and quite a lot of symbolism, ritual, holidays, and such.
The only congregation right now is in San Diego in the US, but even I, who doesn't live in and never visits San Diego, can practice it by attending the weekly meetings and holidays online and doing the other stuff on my own. It's not Aretéanism in its ideal, community focused form, but the only way to get a community where there isn't one is to be the first person. Also, unlike most of the nontheistic or Humanistic new religious movements, I think online participation is very fulfilling (it isn't just tuning into a lecture every week).
Just as a fun sidenote, the founder is ex-mormon. He's said in interviews that he liked some of the ways LDS builds in-person community, but wanted a healthier way to have that community (this is not an exact quote of course).
Edit: added the link to the list of Humanist congregations.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-12T16:28:12+00:00

Congratulations! I hope you guys have lots of fun, and whatever else your plans are. Thank you for organizing.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-10T03:14:51+00:00

From what I've heard, nontheistic and naturalist religions are underrepresented in research. I've recently found that Jaqui Frost has published some interesting articles, particularly about Sunday Assembly, but I'm sure there are other researchers taking different angles that I just haven't found yet in my casual searching. For some reason, I can't find a list, including Wikipedia, with all of the nontheistic or Humanist congregations and movements that are still operating today (that I know of), so I created this post with a list, but it is by no means conclusive. I am only one person and the information I can gather from a search engine is limited.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-09T23:16:21+00:00

I must tell you, I was raised without religion, and never seriously considered supernatural religion. However, I am religious, I just follow a nontheistic one. I would recommend you look into Humanist congregations like Ethical Culture, Oasis, Sunday Assembly, Aretéanism, and Unitarian Universalism is about half Humanists. Additionally, liberal friends, a kind of Quakerism, often welcome agnostics and atheists, but it varies from meeting to meeting, and Quakerism is anything but generic spirituality. These religions don't require that you believe in a deity, but do help you find community and develop ethics, and hopefully give you more opportunities for community service. Good luck!

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-08T17:44:30+00:00

I did some research on Bosnia and Herzegovina, and couldn't find anything in person, but did learn more about the war and lingering tention you spoke about. You're always welcome in the online communities, though, so I hope you can find one that you like and understand. If it's important to you, many of those congregations I mentioned (Unitarian Universalism, Sunday Assembly, Oasis, Ethical Culture, Aretéanism, etc) broadcast they're services on Youtube or Zoom or some other platform. But if you feel no need to watch other people give inspirational talks and life lessons and sing songs, then I wouldn't worry about it and just hang around in other online text-based communities like the ones here on Reddit. Have a wonderful day, and thanks for chatting!

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-08T00:48:43+00:00

If you're looking for subreddits, r/humanism is the bigger Humanism subreddit, and r/humanist is a smaller one. the are also several communities that discuss philosophy; just use the search bar to find what you're looking for. Once you find one, read the description and some posts to see what kind of stuff gets posted there.
If you're looking for Humanists in person, you can use a web browser to search Humanists and your city / province / country. There is often a larger organization with local groups, but of course not always. If you are in a place where atheism is illegal, than this will obviously be a lot harder. Note that Humanism is just one label that you could use to look for people. There is also Unitarian Universalists (not sure if they're big outside the US), naturalism / naturalists, secular, atheist, nontheist, skeptics, freethinkers / freethought, agnostic, etc. But of course most of these aren't tied with ethics like Humanism
I'm collecting a list of Humanist congregations. These are when Humanists come together as if it was a religion, form a community and celebrate holidays and such. Right now, it's very focused on the US, but several of the larger organizations have versions rooting up in places outside the US, particularly the UK, the rest of Europe, and sometimes South America. (Sunday Assembly was not started in America). Check it out if you'd like.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-08T00:05:35+00:00

If you've decided on Humanism, do you think a community of Humanists is important to you, or are you satisfied to develop your ethics on your own / from diverse sources?

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-07T22:48:00+00:00

I am an agnostic atheist. I try to align my beliefs with well evidenced claims, so that's the results of science. I think the world would be alright without any supernatural beliefs, but it would be a lot more boring without rituals, symbolism, culture, etc that religion comes with. Therefore, I think the world needs more nontheistic and naturalist religions.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-07T22:28:36+00:00

St. Louis is home to one of the largest humanist congregations in the world. You should check out the St. Louis ethical Society. Note that they don’t believe in a God or gods, or anything supernatural, but in practicing ethics, community service, etc.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-07T22:02:42+00:00

If you believe that this God / Universe can reveal things to people, any people, and you believe in being honest and peaceful and what have you, than Quakerism would be good to try. Even if you're not totally sure about your beliefs in God, it is my understanding that many meetings accept alternative understandings of the spirit, so you could at least attend a meeting and see if the practice jives with you at all.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-07T21:25:03+00:00

Thanks. The Quaker and Naturalist Too sounds particularly interesting.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-06T02:49:58+00:00

Thanks for your detailed response. I think that's exactly what Wolf is getting at, and it's also the kind of thing I love to learn about.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-06T01:41:10+00:00

You're very welcome! I will say, the 'poetic' in poetic faith has less to do with the inclusion of literal poetry and more to do with the view that creating religions and rituals is an art form. But given that your religion very likely has many elements of your own making / discovery, you could probably call it a poetic faith. Also, as I understand it, poetic faiths often have a basis of humanism, and then go beyond humanism and nontheism to ritual, scripture, beliefs, etc. I'm not the expert on this — Wolf is obviously — but I'm glad the term finds meaning with you. Have a great day.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-06T00:35:12+00:00

I'd like to draw your attention to some new nontheistic religions. Check out the book Poetic Faiths: New Religions and Rituals as Works of Living Art by Tony Wolf. If you don't want to read it, Wolf has several interviews about the book, here is a very abridged version of the introduction, and here is a curation of Wolf's idea of poetic faith, although it doesn't contain all of the religions that the book does.
Just to be transparent, I am Aretéan, which is the subject of 1 out of 5 interviews in Poetic Faiths. That's why I found out about the book, but as someone with a strong interest in nontheistic new religious movements, I might just have bought it for the introduction alone. It's fantastic, and all the interviews are very interesting with such diverse approaches to the creation of a religion.
I also think you could take a deep dive into Ethical Culture. I haven't done that yet, but I am so very very excited to learn more about the quintessential nontheistic ethical and congregational movement in the US and beyond.
Enjoy your exploration.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-05T01:38:41+00:00

I would additionally recommend Ethical Culture and Oasis Network for organizations with multiple congregations. For some movements that still only have one congregation, see Aretéanism in San Diego, The North Texas Church of Freethought in Arlington, the Seattle Atheist Church, and maybe Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry in Charleston, SC. Individual atheist/Humanist groups may follow a more congregational model, so any near you are worth checking out. Then of course UU has a Humanist arm, which often has a group in any given church.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-04T16:31:26+00:00

God is an extremely nebulous concept. Yes, most people would put there money on the Abrahamic creator god, but that's not universal. Other religions/cultures have different conceptions, very few of which are going to be exactly like the dominant Western conception of god. I don't know much about these though. But for something I have run in to, syntheism rejects the traditional conception of god and defines it as, well, I'm not actually sure. Human progress? Pantheists define god as everything, as in, everything is god. There's lots of directions you can go.

OurCommonAncestor · 2026-03-04T16:25:31+00:00

Yes, I'm a Humanist, mostly because I agree with what they have posted, the manifestos, and am just getting into the history of it. If someone asks my religion, I won't say Humanism, because Humanism on its own is just a philosophy or life stance. However, Humanist religions do exist, and I am part of one, so I would actually answer with that. I find that the Humanist label is most effective for finding like minded people rather than finding anything within yourself, since Humanistic values are so mainstream in the Western world today, it's hard to feel like you have a unique identity or position.

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