As nonreligious population grows, so do Greater Columbus groups offering community
About three in 10 adults in the country are now nonbelievers, a trend that has been going on for several years.
Pew Research Center released a study in December showing that the secular shift in America doesn't show signs of slowing down.
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Right now, 29% of adults call themselves religious “nones,” according to Pew, which means they may call themselves atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular” when asked about their beliefs.
Those who are religiously unaffiliated as a share of the population is up 6 percentage points higher than it was five years ago and 10 points higher than a decade ago, according to Pew.
Here are some groups you can join in the area to seek a community of nonreligious people:
Black Nonbelievers of Columbus
The group is affiliated with Black Nonbelievers (BN), an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization dedicated to providing an informative, caring, festive and friendly community. The organization connects with other Black people and allies who don't live with religion and who may be shunned by family and friends.
Central Ohio United Non-Theists (COUNT)
COUNT is a group that does volunteering and outreach locally and meets weekly on Wednesday evenings.
It aims to "help develop and support the local atheist/non-theist community, discuss secular viewpoints, encourage a positive atheist/non-theist culture and provide opportunities for socializing and friendship," according to its Meetup page.
Columbus Coalition of Reason
The coalition is made up of different nonreligious organizations in the area.
"For us, non-dogmatic and rational approaches to ethics, culture and the human experience are the most meaningful and satisfying," the group's website says.
First Unitarian Universalist Atheists, Agnostics and Skeptics
The First Unitarian Universalist church offers a supportive community in its congregations, as it is pro-science, pro-reason and pro-evolution, according to its website.
The local church hosts an Atheists and Agnostics Circle that meets monthly for programming each fourth Tuesday at 7 p.m. at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus.
The Humanist Community of Central Ohio
This group is a chapter of The American Humanist Association, and it works to provide a "supportive and empowering local community for humanists and other non-theists in the Central Ohio area," according to its local website.
The organization offers education, social events, community service, outreach, activism and celebrants and chaplains for Humanist events.
Omnipresent Atheists
This group offers weekly meetups at local restaurants and has a Facebook group for members.
Those in the group call themselves all different things and they welcome agnostics, heathens, humanists, non-theists, deists, theists and skeptics, its Meetup page says, and the group envisions a community that accepts atheism as an alternative in all areas of life.
Recovering from Religion
Recovering from Religion is an international group that offers virtual support groups, a hotline for those who need to talk and resources for therapy and more. It states that it helps people learning how to live after changing beliefs and when they have questions and doubts.
"Our passion is connecting others with support, resources, community, and most of all, hope," the website says. The group has a Columbus Meetup page here.
Secular Student Alliance at Ohio State University
The alliance is a nonprofit national organization with chapters at universities, and it's focused on atheist, humanist and other non-theist students.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Atheists, nonbelievers forming groups in Columbus to build community
