The World Needs a Secular Community Revolution

I, personally, don't have a hole in my life where religion should be.

I know people that do, many of them come from religious backgrounds and seek something to replace the religious structure that used to be in their lives.

But I .... just don't.

"just not believe"

One popular meme you'll see is the pre-christian greco-romans didn't saw religion and belief as somewhat orthogonal. So you went to the ritual/party at the temple to hang out, show off your (purchased) social class within the temple, and do the ritual, show off to everyone else that you did the ritual, show off how well you memorized the allegorical tales, etc. Personal belief was not a terribly high priority. How much of this is "real" analysis vs Victorian era make believe is not entirely clear.

Houston Oasis is a secular community in Houston that I attend. It seems to be addressing all the points that the author of this article brought up, with perhaps exception to "Ritualize." It has a diverse group of people that attend and seems to gradually be gaining attendance. It is extremely refreshing to be with such a large group of people that have a human and reason based focus. I hope more people will get the opportunity to be a part of something like this.

Community living is difficult. If one looks at historical and contemporary mendicant communities in the Catholic West (e.g. Franciscans, Dominicans, Missionaries of the Poor, etc.), it is not uncommon for their members to both praise community life as a great blessing while simultaneously explaining it and experiencing it as a hard and unyielding cross in their daily lives (cf. Luke 9:23).

However, from a Catholic religious perspective, crosses are all the more bearable as one learns to experience them as a means of personal sanctification (closer personal union with Christ crucified) and an opportunity to practice and grow in virtue – "dying to self" more and more so that joyful generosity truly becomes the rule of life. In this way, community-life-as-a-cross becomes a means for both individual and community to give glory to God and work toward the salvation of souls.

Can secular motives truly substitute for that transcendent motive and outlook? I certainly think it's an interesting question.

Because your average business today doesn't seem to give a shit about truth (see: almost everyone's marketing), fairness (especially to employees), goodwill (externality? what's an externality?) and benefiting all concerned (a third of the companies out there would probably not exist if their founders gave a rat's ass about their effect on society).

Call me cynical, but I get the feeling that morality and honor got sacrificed for competitiveness. Internet businesses are a special case here, they can afford to be fair to the employees and to care in a way, and yet there are still lots of them that are harmful to the society.