Atheist Church Part of Gentrification

Over at The Guardian, is an article by Adam Brereton on My Local ‘Atheist Church’ is Part of the Long, Inglorious March of Gentrification, which is a great read.

I loved this line:

What religion remains in inner-city areas tends to be docile, and is often relegated to caring for the surplus human waste – the homeless and unemployed – that gentrification produces. I can’t see the Sunday Assembly, despite its motto of “livebetter, help often, wonder more”, performing even this secondary function of organised religion. This is what struck me about the Sunday Assembly, and why I can’t see it as any more than a new trendy outpost: it can’t perform any of the functions of religion – including the maintenance of an organic community – but will end up displacing those groups that do.

I always suspected that the atheist church was just a bunch of inner-city yuppy atheists convinced of their own superiority and who look down on the plebs in the suburbs with their families, who take their kids to McDonalds on Saturday and Church on Sunday. Starting to think I was right!