Rochester Sunday Assembly Kickoff

I’ve been volunteering with four other women (no men volunteered - what’s up with that?) to organize the kickoff of Sunday Assembly in Rochester – Sunday was the rollout of new chapters across the nation and the world. The organization was started in England as a godless community (not necessarily atheist or agnostic, just without reference or deference to a deity), to be as inclusive as most religions are exclusive. It took many months of meetings to get ready for this morning’s event, since we had to figure out everything from where to meet, what to eat (very important!), how to find musicians (music is a must), and how to get people to donate their time and the funds necessary to make this happen.

The Academy of Medicine, on East Avenue, graciously allowed us to use their auditorium at a discount, in order to help get us off the ground. The space is wonderful, the seats are comfortable (unlike, say, pews), and the parking ample and free. Volunteers brought cake and cookies and coffee and tea, as well as juice for the youngsters. And of our total 50+ people who turned out to find out what Sunday Assembly is about, we did have a handful of kids.

The morning’s topic was “wonder,” which not only fit into the motto of Sunday Assembly (live better, help often, wonder more), but tried to address the audience’s curiosity of what Sunday Assembly is. In addition to a speaker (Arlene Leach from Nazareth College, talking about wonder in education), four of the organizers, including me, participated in running the assembly (our fifth, one of the plaintiffs in the Greece invocation lawsuit, was unfortunately traveling this week). There was a lot of excitement about the event, and the D&C even sent a reporter and photographer (although neither stayed for the actual assembly).

It was thrilling to be part of something brand new in Rochester, and part of a larger community in the world. Our goal is to provide a monthly place to meet, celebrate life, and find ways to volunteer as a group, to dispel the belief among people of belief that non-believers are non-participators. We just need a way to get organized! I was flattered that after the assembly, a young woman asked me if she could have a copy of my talk – she wanted to share it with some of her friends who didn’t understand what Sunday Assembly is. So I’m also putting a part of that below. Our next meeting is October 26, and should be a lot less stressful to plan, since we will be in the same lovely venue, and we’ve already approached a potential speaker. So the next hurdle is to form a legal entity and get our 501c3 status, so we can apply to be on the Assemblies List for invocations at the Greece Town Board Meetings...

Excerpt from my reflections at the Sunday Assembly:

When I am explaining to people who wonder what Sunday Assembly is, I find it’s easiest to explain it in terms of what it is not – it is not a religion or dogma, it is not a church, it is not a certain set of beliefs, or even a certain set of non-beliefs…. So why are we here? ….One of the benefits of belonging to a church is its ability to address people’s need to belong – to connect with other people – to be part of a community. Until now, atheists and agnostics haven’t had much opportunity for this…. So one of Sunday Assembly’s goals is to fulfill that need to belong to a group of like-minded people, to connect with the other “Nones” who comprise ‘1 in 5’ in the U.S.

Another reason to be part of Sunday Assembly is to counter the notion that “atheist” and “agnostic” equate to “amoral” and “apathetic.” As most of us probably would agree, the Bible is not the basis of morality, and we don’t need the threat or promise of an afterlife to be good here and now in this life. But we can learn from organized religion – in terms of the “organized” part. Groups of people are more visible than individuals, and groups have the potential to make the whole greater than the sum of just its parts…. The non-religious haven’t had an organized opportunity to counter (religious groups), until now. So we hope to have a large enough presence that we can be active as a group volunteering, whether it’s to take a rotation at a soup kitchen or to participate as a team on a 5K run….

So whether you’re here because you’re looking for a community for yourself or your children that doesn’t involve praying to a deity and looking to a supernatural power for guidance, or because you want to be active in the larger community in the name of non-religion, or just because you’re curious, you are welcome here. Personally, I am here because I want to meet more of the ‘1 in 5’s – to show each other that we do exist, we’re not just a statistic. And to show the community that we do exist, in a way that can be a positive influence in Rochester. I look forward, with your participation, to the day when some sort of contribution to Rochester by Sunday Assembly becomes as newsworthy in the D&C as those of a local religious group. And I look forward, with your participation, to building Sunday Assembly into an organization whose presence in Rochester simply becomes part of its everyday fabric.