At this church, there's no preaching, no holy scripture, and no God. The Sunday Assembly has been billed as an “atheist church,” and while it has much in common with traditional churches, its goals are different. 

Los Angeles organizer Russell Orrell says the central core of the gathering is a “celebration of life.”

His enthusiasm is obvious as he describes the work he hopes to do as part of the Assembly. “We have future generations to think of. These types of groups will be thinking about life today and life tomorrow. We have to be stewards of our lives, of the earth... make sure the environment survives. We have a lot to do in our groups – not just Sunday Assembly, but all the groups we are a part of.”

Last month, hundreds of curious minds lined up outside an auditorium in Hollywood for the chance to experience the Assembly for the first time. The crowd was a diverse bunch, including the young and the old, and even a few full families. 

The formal program featured a mixture of feel-good songs and sermons, as well as some structured bonding in the form of a Danish clapping game. Attendees seemed to be having fun and buying in, some literally leaning on each other during the chorus of the closing song, “Lean On Me.”

Derek Mastromonaco moved to L.A. about a year ago and showed up to the Sunday Assembly looking to socialize. “I was just interested in the social environment of it. I had been brought up Christian, so I’m used to going and gathering with people... I wanted that, but without the rest of it.” 

Mastromonaco and other former Christians may have experienced some déjà vu. The Assembly’s presentation borrowed heavily from traditional Christian liturgies, like opening songs sung in unison and a collection of offerings. 

Brad Nabors is a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of Southern California. Nabors has spent time with Atheists United and researches religious pluralism and what defines religion. He says it makes sense for the Sunday Assembly to adopt the format of a traditional church.

“In our culture, we have a finite amount of models as to how to do group togetherness, and it just so happens that congregational religion is ‘the biggie’. It provides a really great template for atheists to do their togetherness.”

Whether the Sunday Assembly can maintain a community without a central core of spirituality remains to be seen. Father Mark Kowalewski of St. John’s Cathedral admits that everyone needs community, but what keeps churches together is something deeper. 

“We don’t just get together for fellowship, but we have a common spiritual core that also unites us, and that makes a big difference,” he said of his congregation. “A group that comes together to form community is a wonderful thing, but it seems that they are formed around a negation – they’re formed because of what they don’t believe in rather than what they do believe.”

While the Sunday Assembly’s founders, Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, finish up a tour of 40 cities in 40 days, Los Angeles Assembly-goers can attend the second local gathering on Sunday, December 8.  The event begins at 11:00 a.m. at the Professional Musician’s Local 47 Auditorium in Hollywood. 

 

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