While the Unitarian Universalist Association isn't strictly atheistic, it's very much accommodating. According to their website,

"Unitarian Universalists have many ways of naming what is sacred. Some believe in a God; some don’t believe in a God. Some believe in a sacred force at work in the world, and call it “love,” “mystery,” “source of all” or “spirit of life.” We are thousands of individuals of all ages, each influenced by our cultures and life experiences to understand “the ground of our being” in our own way. Unitarian Universalists are agnostic, theist, atheist, and everything in between."

For me, they're sometimes a little too "hippy-dippy" and an embodiment of "spiritual but not religious." But I'm not really feeling the need for that sense of community and connection, so if that's what you're looking for then a UUA church might be up your alley. (There's a church locator on the home page: [uua.org)]

Going to a humanist meeting tonight. My reasons aren't to have other people preach to me what secular values I should follow, but much simpler; I have no friends! In Texas it's hard to find like-minded people and even harder to find someone I might have a relationship with who shares my views. It's really just a community that offers support, philosophy, and friendship under a particular foundation of thought. Not a dogma to defend (maybe for some but not all) or a chance to stick it to the religious. I will say, the crowd is very diverse, can occasionally include mild zealotry, and some people call atheism/agnosticism the "recovering theists". Not that the label is inappropriate, but if you aren't used to the concept you might start out thinking people are whining rather than understanding some people go through much worse persecution than you may or may not have experienced.

All in all. It's very welcoming, has a wide spectrum of tolerance, and doesn't come across as pushy or full of the "snake oil salesman" some churches have.

We have a Meetup group where I live for atheists/agnostics/humanists. It meets every Sunday morning for a couple of hours with different topics/speakers. You might look on the Meetup website and see if there is one in your area.

As a gay man, we don't do church... we do "brunch..." A day to dress up, drink mimosas (to help kill the Saturday night hangover), make fun of who's not there, and eat.

The community and support of a church is the only thing I wish I had from religion. I would love a place to go and mingle with a "tribe" of other like minded people who also also came to the same place each week. There really does not seem to be a secular comparison at least not where I live.

I think I would rather do a lunch type thing where we just hang out and enjoy each others company over a structured thing where we do this then do that. Maybe take a day trip to the zoo.
There is another thought, I saw some folks talking about a atheist politician. I don't think that will happen until we come together as a group to back them up. The question here becomes is it worth the shit storm that it will probably unleash. I have a feeling every religion will come after us. I don't know maybe it's time to take a stand. I'm getting mighty tired of being looked down on because I can think for myself and I'm not buying the bullshit!

There was actually something like this avaliable durring my Air Force basic training. It was dubbed a Secularist/Humanist gathering. We sat in a circle and discused things much like this website. I honestly miss it, but It’s still not officially recognized.

I wish we had one here in lake Charles Louisiana. Only problem is that I'm not the knowledgeable about what needs to be said to make the difference count. I'm not that smart about things that need to be said... I guess the smartest people are in here and we live so far away from each other to start a community building and support group.... damn that's sad... but it is what it is.

The Unitarian Universalist is the only one that I know of...they are sparse! Mostly, in or near big cities. Another is The Church Of Religious Science, which teaches that there is a power in the Universe available to all of us. They are as scarce as 'hens teeth'...but are completely acceptable for non-believers! Maybe, you could start something? Good luck

You might try Unitarian Universalist Church-very liberal.

Here in Austin we used to have a Sunday Assembly and I enjoyed it. It was uplifting and gave you a sense of community. For some reason the organizers dropped the ball and it dissolved. I was sorry to see it go.

Thank you all for your input. I have looked up meetups in my area, Danville, VA there are none so I was thinking more along the lines of starting a group here and was wondering more along the lines of if you came to a group like this what would you want out of it and what might be drawbacks. I would intend to get us together to basically do good deeds.

When I first became an atheist I definitely noticed the lack of social gathering. I was a church goer for many years before finding my truth. Growing up in South Louisiana losing your religion is equivalent to committing social suicide. I haven't found any fix that doesn't involve friends. There are groups on Facebook for atheist good for a laugh when the fundies come in and try to spread their poison. If you are looking for a face to face group try Meetup there are usually monthly meetings .

Pass on Sunday morning's. The one great thing about being atheist, is Sunday lie in.

Here.

Virginia

Atheist Artists and Free Thinkers, Fairfax

Charlottesville Skeptics

Richmond Area Freethinkers

Northern Virginia / Beltway Atheists

Richmond Reason and Naturalism Association Meetup

Shenandoah Valley Atheist and Secular Humanist, Cross Junction

Tidewater Atheists Group Meetup

Washington Area Secular Humanists, Northern Virgina Chapter

Look into Unitarian universalists and see if it's something you might be interested in. There are also organizations that would fit what you're looking for but they don't have the same support system as a church.

We could call the meetings 'salons' or is that to pretentious.

They are called bars.

I like the U.U's I don't go but I like that they are there they celebrate every chuches days in hteir own way and you can go and sing there and sing your own words to anything there is also Bahai which is similarly tolerant - I also admire Quakers who sit in silence until moved to speak (if at all) All of these come some way towards what I imagine is love - religion at teh soft end of hte spectrum allowing difference.

Ahhhh..no.

I guess you mean "Atheist groups".....since Atheist curches will be an oxymoron.