The Kansas City Atheist Coalition will complete against members of the Abundant Life Baptist Church this weekend in a volleyball match with all proceeds going to a worthy cause:

Six teams of six players will compete, ending with an all-star atheist vs. an all-star Christian playoff! $5 tickets to watch the tournament can be purchased at the door. All proceeds go directly to Drumm Farm, a Kansas City-based foster and adoptive care resource center.

That’s fantastic 🙂

So how did this unlikely partnership even begin?

“Ed Croteau of Abundant Life Baptist Church invited members of the Kansas City Atheist Coalition to a skeptics Q&A at the church earlier this year,” said Sarah Hargreaves, president of KCAC. “Those who attended enjoyed fiery but respectful conversation. Since then, members of both our groups have remained in contact primarily via a Facebook group devoted to discussing issues of faith, Christianity and religion in general.” Croteau said that “while members of the group remain deeply divided on many philosophical and theological issues, people genuinely seem to like each other. The mood of the group goes from very heavy to very light in a matter of minutes sometimes.” Hargreaves added that the idea of a Christian vs. atheist volleyball tournament “was originally presented as a joke, I think. But it immediately gained traction in the group, so Ed and I started putting plans together and decided to include a fundraiser for a worthy cause. Someone in the group suggested Drumm Farm, and everyone agreed it was a great choice.”

They should’ve raised the stakes: Losing team has to attend the other group’s meetings for a month.



