Sunday Assembly Madison, another local Wisconsin chapter of an institution that was founded in London 18 months ago, is scheduled to hold its first service on September 28.

Sunday Assembly is meant to create church-like experiences for non-theists.

Thirty-year-old Naomi Kroth, one of the local organizers, said, “I've always missed going to church — the singing, the sermon, the volunteerism, the community. But I couldn't reconcile that with my views on religion.”

So, she with help from some others decided to bring Sunday Assembly to her neighbourhood. The organizers are expected to hold monthly gatherings at the Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society, though they still do not know how many people will turn up for the upcoming events. Yet, Kroth, who is not fond of describing the establishment as an “atheist church” because she feels that does not capture the true spirit of the gatherings, is trying to get a tax exemption for Sunday Assembly Madison.

The movement’s motto is “Live Better, Help Often and Wonder More” and going by that, Kroth imagines the gatherings of her local chapter to be as appealing to Christians as to humanists.

“I think atheism sometimes suggests an antagonism toward religion, which this is not. We definitely will be non-theistic and non-religious, but our emphasis is not to promote atheism. We're forming a congregation to celebrate life,” she said.

While the first guest speaker at Sunday Assembly Madison is expected to speak about humanist wedding traditions, and topics such as ethical living, climate change and the wonders of the universe are likely to be covered in the following gatherings. That apart, there will obviously be some dancing and singing.

The first ever Sunday Assembly was started less than two years ago in London by British comedians Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones. Despite having received flak from certain quarters, Sunday Assembly has picked up momentum in different parts of the world and the congregation hopes to have a total number of 100 local chapters worldwide by the end of 2014.

The British duo have said in an earlier interview that they started Sunday Assembly “because the idea of meeting once a month to sing songs, hear great speakers and celebrate the incredible gift of life seems like a fun and useful thing to do.”

Photo Credits: Sunday Assembly Madison