Godless: The Congregations

Godless takes a compelling look at a growing subculture with no faith or belief in a god and finds many surprising ways in which non-believers are emulating the structures and practices of organized religion: holding services, teaching non-supernatural interpretations of religious texts, proselytizing and even risking their lives for the freedom to express non-belief.

Congregating or spreading the word for a god makes some sense, but why be so active a non-believer, spreading the word of nothing? This two-part documentary explores the many motivations of the godless and asks: IS ATHEISM THE NEXT GREAT RELIGION?

Part 1: The Congregations



Our look at the subculture of the godless starts in a group therapy session for people recovering from religion where attendees range from those traumatized by their religious upbringing to others who discovered they could no longer believe in a supernatural god. From there, its off to synagogue and church, an openly atheistic church whose congregations don't pray to god. Indeed they don't recognize God, certainly not God as an almighty, supernatural creator of the universe or anything that actually lives. But these congregations do hold services and Sunday schools and even summer camps. What doctrines are they following? Are any relying on big-name new atheists like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett as doctrine? And are these faithless indoctrinating their children into Atheism?
Find Out.


Part 2: Spreading the Word



In the second part of Godless, we look at the increasing efforts of "new atheists" and other secularists and non-believers to "proselytize". Featuring more from the new atheists known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett) plus grass roots campaigns including everything from comedy acts and de-baptisms to more serious bus campaigns, we ask: are atheists spreading the word or just preaching to the converted? We also hear from atheists who have faced discrimination and even death threats as a consequence of their non-belief, begging the question why do all this for non-belief? Atheists are described as the least trusted group in the US less so than Muslims, despite all their bad press. Is this inevitable or avoidable when you are putting people's faith on public trial? Viewers will decide that for themselves.