Are there atheistic institutions ?

Question

Which one is the oldest?

Answer 1

Good question.

My candidate would be the federal government of the USA, the Constitution of which enshrines the principle of the separation of church and state. Actually it's the First Amendment of the Constitution, which goes like this:

'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievance.'

In other words, it is not the business of the US Congress - the legislative body of the USA - to allow the rights of churches to be established as part of federal law.

In yet other words, the US Constitution does not permit the federal government to believe in god on anything more than a vaguely and ineffectually abstract level. This amendment dates back to 1788, so that would be pretty old, I'm thinking.

Answer 2

In UK there is the National Secular Society, which is meant to be about secular thinking, ie keepng religion out of politics and institutions of government and State, but I think they are pretty atheist in practice.

Probably some of the posh clubs in the Pall Mall area of London established in 18C were atheistic.

Answer 3

The fact that the first amendment prevents the members of the govemental bodies from using religious considerations as a means for deciding law does not make it an atheistic instituion. for it does not prevent its members from beliveing in god, quite the opposite, it allows memebrs of all faiths to become active members of the goverment and the society as a whole.

The very concept of atheism prevents there form being societies to promote it. The ideal of seperating church from state or the aim of forwarding the idea of modern science is not an example of athiesm

Answer 4

There are a number of them but I don't know which is oldest.
The Institute for Humanist Studies
http://www.humaniststudies.org/enews/index.html?id=219&article=7
American Atheists
Military Association of Freethinkers and Atheists MAFA

Answer 5

The Church Of The Poisoned Mind

Answer 6

Center for Secular Inquiry in NYC.

Answer 7

You mean like a place with padded walls where we can go to recuperate when the insanity of believers just gets too much to bare? ; )

Answer 8

No, there is no place where you sit around and talk about no god.
There are generally not clubs for people who don't think that something exists.

Answer 9

"Hi everyone. We're all going to talk about what we don't believe in today. Let's go in a circle and state our names and backgrounds, please."

Nope... not to my knowledge. :D

Answer 10

if you don't know if they even exist, how can you ask which one's the oldest.