This is what's happening in my state also.
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HUDSON - Pew Research found last year that the number of Americans who do not identify with any religion had grown to 56 million, a seven percent increase since 2007. On Sunday, the Unitarian Church of Hudson and Marlborough held a workshop to discuss how the religious and this growing number of atheists and agnostics can come together to create a better community.
The workshop "Faitheism" brought atheist author and activist Chris Stedman to the church to deliver a guest sermon on how to better understand and foster interfaith relationships. Stedman grew up as an Evangelical Christian but became an atheist while studying religion in college. He currently serves as the executive director of the Yale Humanist Community and is a religion columnist for the Huffington Post.
"There are a lot of really negative associations that go along with being an atheist," Stedman said during the workshop. "We all (religious and non-religious) encounter our fair share of stereotypes and assumptions."
The event began with church members introducing themselves, including their religious affiliation. As a Unitarian Universalist church, members of the congregation hold many different beliefs. Many of the attendees identified as Christian and many were atheist or agnostic. But others defined themselves as neo-pagan, humanist, Jewish, non-mystical Buddhist or as believers in a greater spiritual energy
The main focus of the workshop, however, centered on three pillars Stedman asked the congregation to focus on and discuss - Interfaith Failure, Interfaith Success and Interfaith Friendship. For failure, Stedman shared his own story of fighting and ultimately falling out with a deeply religious uncle. One Thanksgiving his family took turns writing on a large sheet the things they were thankful for. His uncle took the opportunity to write extremely Christian statements and Stedman responded by taunting him, writing anti-religious statements.
"There are things he believes that I feel are not just wrong, but harmful," Stedman said. "But I realize I could have handled it better. Looking back I see missed opportunities to have a relationship and to be more constructive."
During the section on Interfaith Success, attendee Sherrill Sasser of Auburn told a story of extending an olive branch to her religious mother who told her she needed to "believe Jesus was the son of God" or else she would not give her a Christmas present."
http://m.metrowestdailynews.com/article/20160313/NEWS/160317957
