Viva Brighton Issue #50 April 2017

THE LOWDOWN ON...
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Sunday Assembly
A sort of church, ‘without the god bit’
It’s a non-religious
or secular community
that, in
Brighton, meets on
the 4th Sunday of
every month. There
are about 50 Sunday
Assembly groups
around the world
now. It’s a community
of people who come
together without
having to have a
common belief in anything. They just want to
come together to celebrate life.
The London one was the first to be set up
by Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, two
comedians. They came together with the thought
that ‘wouldn’t it be great to have a church without
having to have the god bit’. Initially it was
nicknamed ‘the atheist church’, but very quickly
they abandoned that headline, as it wasn’t just a
place for atheists.
I was brought up as a Christian, but realised
in my early teens that I didn’t believe in the God
I’d been brought up with. I used to think I’d love
to go to the church at the end of my road and
be among other people, be part of a welcoming
community, but I didn’t feel comfortable saying
or singing words in church that I didn’t mean.
When I heard Sanderson speaking about Sunday
Assembly on the radio, I thought ‘that’s exactly
what I want’. So I expressed my interest, met
with Sanderson and some interested local people,
and eventually formed a committee of eight. We
launched in September 2013.
We were given a very loose template. There
should be an interesting
talk; something
like a TED
talk, something
positive. There
should be songs -
that’s a big part of
it. There should
be a moment of
silence and reflection.
And, one of
the most important
bits, tea and cake
at the end. That’s one of my favourite things, to
hear people chatting who didn’t know each other
an hour before.
Everyone is welcome. Some people believe in
God, some people don’t. We don’t promote one
belief over another and we don’t discuss religion...
we just focus on our common traits as humans.
Our lowest turnout has been 75, and the highest
250. There are always new faces, and I’m still
staggered by how many new people come. We
have an assembly every May in the Speigeltent as
part of Brighton Fringe. They keep asking us back,
so we’ll have our fourth this year, on 7th May. It
gives us the capacity to have more people along.
It’s really opened my eyes to lots of different
things. Different values. Other people’s perspectives
on life and faith and all sorts of things. One
person told me that he thinks it saved his life. He
was in a place that was dark and lonely when he
came along; it just lifted him enough to see a way
out of a really dark time.
Lizzie Lower interviewed Brighton founding member
Jo Wright
sundayassemblybrighton.com
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