This is in stark contrast to the vast majority of systems known as “religion”, which are all about believing in something either without evidence altogether, or with supposed evidence that fails scrutiny. Very often, when a religions belief is at odds with evidence, people of faith will either dismiss it or insist on outrageously fallacious means of interpreting it, lest the evidence interfere with their deeply held beliefs. People in liberal religious groups do not do it as much or as blatantly as Fundamentalists do, but even they tend to do it more than they realize.
At any rate – Atheists are often revolted by the idea of referring to Atheism as a “religion” because it suggests putting adherence to evidence on an even keel with indifference to evidence. As such, many Atheists reflexively oppose anything that might seem to lend any credibility to the equivocation of those two things. Projects such as the Atheist Seminary are at high risk of being on the wrong end of such reflexive opposition. The consequences of this were an important part of what was covered in this conversation.
One thing that he mentioned was that some people might be rubbed the wrong way by the term “Minister”. To a lot of people, this term has seriously religious undertones to it, and it isn’t difficult to understand why. This is largely because in the United States, the only use of the term that most people are familiar with is it’s use to donate officials of religious institutions. The basic function of these officials of religious institutions centers around religion – and in many cases, their function involves the propagation of religion. A case could even be made that even those whose functions do not directly involve the propagation of religion still indirectly involve that.
That said, the term “minister” does not necessarily have to be a religious term. In many countries, for example, the government position that in the United States is referred to as “Secretary” is referred to as “Minister”. Ever seen the TV show Yes, Minister? It ain’t about the clergy. Also, even in the United States, where the title given to the equivalents of such officials is typically “Secretary”, the term used in the actual text of the Constitution still is “Minister”.
As a verb, the term “Minister” is even more broad and is used to refer to functions that are neither governmental nor religious in nature. For example, according to the Google definition of the term “minister”, it can mean “attend to the needs of (someone).” And one example that they use is: “her doctor was busy ministering to the injured.” Surely nobody is suggesting that the doctor’s job is a religious function.
And a minister, in the sense that the term is used in the front pages of the Atheist Seminary, is indeed someone who attends to a set of needs that many people have. No, the particular needs that these ministers are to attend to are not medical needs. As a matter of fact, if it is even suspected that someone’s needs are medical in nature, it is the duty of any responsible minister to reach out to the appropriate medical professional, and not attempt to treat zimself a condition that zie is not qualified to treat.
But rather, it is a different set of needs that an Atheist minister would address. And here is one area that there is a true parallel with religious ministers – in that we would address many of the same needs. The difference would be that while religious ministers would draw upon lots of unsubstantiated beliefs to minister to these human needs, an Atheist minister would draw upon a rational, evidence-based world-view to do so. So really, Atheist ministers would be ministering much more truly than their religious equivalents. So if anything, Atheist ministers would be the real thing that religious mininsters would only be pretending to be.
So, if you are suggesting that the term “minister” should not be used by Atheists who endeavor to serve such human needs, perhaps you might find all this to be food for thought. If despite all this the term “minister” makes you feel uneasy, there’s always other terms that you can use, such as “Advisor”, or “Community Servant” or other titles as well. But before reverting to such titles, I encourage you to at least consider the possibility that this the term “minister” just might, just possibly might be worth rescuing from the clutches of its religious associations.