An atheist church in Newington Green now boasts a bigger congregation than its Christian counterparts.
With over 70 regulars, the atheist New Unity church has ten times the number of attendees than some of its rivals in our borough.
The church describes itself as “a community of growth, love, and social justice” and claims “it’s about what we do, not what we believe.”
While St Mary’s on Upper Street still attracts more worshipers on Sunday mornings than New Unity, the atheist church welcomes through its doors more members than Union Chapel, St Silas and Claremont United Reform Church.
The minister of New Unity, Andrew Pakula, said that his congregation grew after he became the subject of a heated debate with the BBC.
World wide web inventor Sir Tim Berners Lee asked the minister to present the religious Thought of the Day segment when he guest edited the Today Show on Boxing Day last year.
But the BBC refused to let him fill the slot, even after an appeal, because they did not deem him to be a religious figure.
He was eventually given a position presenting an alternative Thought of the Day but not before the media had launched Mr Pakula into the spotlight.
“We saw numbers grow afterwards,” he told Islington Now.
Vick Ryder, 60, of Dalston, has been a member of New Unity for three years despite saying she was “deeply allergic to church”.
She said: “Driving past and seeing the big sign that said ‘birthplace of feminism’ – it had always intrigued me.
“I found the whole service to be very moving and welcoming and interesting… Interesting enough to make me go back again as someone who was deeply allergic to church. I’m gay and we don’t generally have a big love for churchy things and religion.”
Ms Ryder said: “It kind of sets me up for the week. It’s like a really nice Sunday lunch. It’s food for thought really.”
