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Agnostic Temple

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Whenever I try to be quiet and think in a church or temple, I always feel out of place, no matter what people say about religion being inclusive. I just get uncomfortable. But I like the style they have, and the penetrating quiet, the way silence is not so much enforced as it is observed.

I could go to a library, but the book stacks don't speak 'glory' to me. I could walk in the park, but sometimes I want to see the rich sculpture of a human's creativity while I sit and think.

So this is just a quiet place to think, the architecture being an aggregate of religious designs, the curator being a nice person who likes to have a talk every now and then out front. A donation box in the entrance, votive candles and soft incense at the front. They could be privately owned by strange people like me and open to the public.

notmarkflynn, Mar 27 2006

you might like this then Silence_20group
[zeno, Mar 27 2006]

Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna http://www.khm.at/homeE/homeE.html
What Ian said, and it's even open on Sundays. [zen_tom, Mar 27 2006]

Tate London http://www.tate.org.uk/
It's a bit more modern, and more in England, if you like that sort of thing. [zen_tom, Mar 27 2006]

Natural History Museum http://www.nhm.ac.u...alleries/index.html
About as close to a non theistic temple as it gets. Again, in London. [zen_tom, Mar 27 2006]

National Trust http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/
A variety of suitably grand structures. [oniony, Mar 30 2006]

United Nations Meditation Room http://aquaac.org/un/medroom.html
had to wade through a dozen american fundy xtian conspiracy google hits to find it [BunsenHoneydew, Jul 29 2006]

[link]






       A quiet non idea.
ldischler, Mar 27 2006
  

       Just perfect for after murdering someone with a hunk of ice. Peaceful, quiet.
NotTheSharpestSpoon, Mar 27 2006
  

       I added more. The first iteration didn't really get the full point across.   

       Just thinking about this calms me down. Here's a place I'd like to be each Sunday... maybe everyday...
notmarkflynn, Mar 27 2006
  

       Or a graveyard?
Zimmy, Mar 27 2006
  

       <nemesis>This is also a stupid idea, you lemon-scented floozlewhip! The only novel idea in this idea is calling it a "temple", and that's pointless. Go to the Natural History Museum (which one of my allies has already linked to). But first email me your time plans, and what clothes you will be wearing. Give me a few day's notice.</nemesis>
dbmag9, Mar 27 2006
  

       I like to kill time in the British Museum. There's not much left there now.
wagster, Mar 27 2006
  

       Leave some for me, wags.
dbmag9, Mar 27 2006
  

       You can have the same sermon you have in a regular place of worship, just prefix it with an IF.....
ProblemSolver, Mar 30 2006
  

       You're talking about a museum or a memorial building.
miggavin, Mar 30 2006
  

       ... or up on a water tower.
reensure, Mar 30 2006
  

       You say "agnostic" but then you compromise it by proposing "an aggregate of religious designs".   

       Temples were built great because humans dedicated them to God (gods). The builders had a singular devotion to a singular religion.   

       To have a big agnostic temple, you need to think of *why* it should be big in the first place. I'm not sure that just bigness, or just architecture, or just design, without an underlying devotion, would be glorious enough. "A place to think" is not enough of a devotion.
phundug, Mar 30 2006
  

       I went to the Natural History Museum, but that was a materialist scientific method temple.   

       I wanted to go to the agnostic temple, but I wasn't sure where it was.   

       I definitely didn't go to the atheist temple.   

       Enough jokes. You may be interested to know ... baked! [link]
BunsenHoneydew, Jul 29 2006
  
      
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