A Less Lonely Way to Lose Your Faith
Members of Oasis, a group in the Bible Belt, find community and acceptance in religious-like services.
The humanist chaplain Bart Campolo on the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles
ISAAC ANDERSON
SEP 11, 2016
Where do nonreligious people go to find community? Some might join a sports league or a film society or attend a local atheist meet-up. Some might hang out online. But in certain parts of the country, some might join Oasis, a community of humanists, agnostics, atheists, self-identified freethinkers, and even questioning theists. Oasis members see their fellowship as guided by values that emphasize people’s common humanity, the first being that “people are more important than beliefs.”
Oasis started in the summer of 2012, when Mike Aus, a former pastor, began meeting with friends in Houston who, like him, shared an aversion to religious dogma, but were drawn to the social benefits of organized religious life. They wanted the solidarity of meeting with like-minded people. They wanted to gather weekly “to hear good music and thought-provoking talks.” Moreover, they wanted to be part of a community in which being secular wasn’t a bad thing: less of an absence or “loss” than a positive outlook on life. They had no grand plans to start a movement, the 52-year-old Aus told me recently. What they had was a collective sense of need.
Oasis marks the modern reemergence of what Tom Flynn, the editor of the magazine Free Inquiry, describes as “congregational humanism.” Four years after the launch of Houston Oasis in the fall of 2012, the Oasis Network has affiliates in seven U.S. cities and one in Toronto, with several more in development.
Even as growing numbers of U.S. adults are disaffiliating from faith-based institutions, some have found that secular life lacks the community structures and sense of belonging often offered by religious organizations. “A lot of people get isolated when they lose their faith or don’t have any faith to begin with,” said Joshua Hyde, 31, a board member of the Oasis Network. Whereas believers may find solidarity with others at a church, synagogue, temple, or mosque, Hyde said, secular people often have fewer ways to cultivate friendships with those who share similar views.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/oasis-secular-groups/499148/
http://www.houstonoasis.org/
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no one twists your arm to believe in it. The Dalai Lama has said repeatedly that if reincarnation proves scientifically to not be true, then he'll stop teaching it. I'm a Buddhist, but I'm agnostic about reincarnation. I prefer to keep an open mind about it. OK with me either way. Buddhism is not only a "religion," but also a psychology of how the mind works and how to end suffering and experience real happiness. It's also based on logic and your own personal experience. At another level, you might see yourself as "reincarnating," or becoming the next whatever from moment to moment. You're not the same as you were as a child, a young adult, before marriage, before parenthood, etc etc. We and every thing else are in a constant state of changing from moment to moment. The question is: how do we become happy and not inflicted with negative and destructive emotions? For me, Buddhism is more a psychology of how the mind works, how to change your point of view, and how to behave in an ethical and moral way. You probably would like Theravada oe Zen Buddhism better than Tibetan Buddhism. I always recommend that people start with reading about, and if you're ready find a group with an authentic Buddhist teacher near you.
Cheers and peace 
