thing of beauty are all things that most of us would see as positive because they are intrinsically good and not because they please some cruel, judgemental and most importantly, absent deity. Unless atheists begin to capture this ground, attempting to define the values that unite us in a general sense of defining the concept of "good", we are leaving the door wide open for religion to return and retake this ground. Unless we want this to happen we need to create a secular spirituality, in a sense a "church with no God". Why do politicians everywhere feel compelled to pretend to hold some form of deep faith and be seen to attend religious services? It is purely because this is the only way that they can visibly and portentously demonstrate an adherence to some form of moral and ethical value system. There is no alternative framework that they can point to. On the other hand, why don't our fellow atheists possess any opportunity to regularly and freely congregate and discuss the positive moral aspects of their lives? Of course, these values are largely personal but surely as thinking and inquisitive beings we will continue to try and make sense of the values that we do share and provide an alternative to dogma. Otherwise, we are abandoning this ground to the god merchants. The human need for moral and ethical values will not go away as religion disappears. We need to provide an alternative framework for these questions to be