Holly Meyer

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

It’s easy for people who don’t believe in God or associate with a particular religion to feel isolated in the Bible Belt, according to leaders in Middle Tennessee’s secular community.

So several organizations, including Murfreesboro Freethinkers and Sunday Assembly Nashville, have banded together to offer a free, one-day conference for the religiously unaffiliated in Nashville. The first-ever event, called Nashville Nones Convention or NaNoCon, will be held Saturday at Glencliff High School.

The convention offers non-believers and the religiously unaffiliated a chance to be among like-minded people, learn about issues and connect with resources, said Patrick Horst, co-organizer for the convention.

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"When you get people together in a convention-type environment, it’s really quite cathartic," Horst said. "It’s really kind of cool for people to feel like, ‘Oh my goodness, I do belong to something. I do connect with people. There are other people like me out here and I’m not out here by myself. I’m not alone.'"

The word "nones" in the convention's name refers to the label researchers give people who don't affiliate with a particular religion. While atheists and agnostics are counted among their ranks, not all "nones" are non-believers as many identify as spiritual, according to the Pew Research Center. But it is a growing demographic in the U.S., especially among the millennial generation.

In the Nashville area, the religiously unaffiliated made up 24 percent of residents in 2015, according to the Public Religion Research Institute's American Values Atlas. Statewide "nones" account for 18 percent.

Horst, who is also the spokesman for the secular congregation Sunday Assembly Nashville, said the religiously unaffiliated often feel overlooked and underserved — sometimes marginalized and ostracized. The one-day convention helps fill the demand created by the growing demographic.

"I guess this reflects ... a more assertive posture in the community of saying, 'Hey, we're here and we're over the whole religious thing and we're a large, growing voting block and we're here to be recognized and take our spot at the table,'" said Horst, who is an atheist and a humanist.

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Convention workshops will cover a broad swath of topics, including how to deal with religious relatives and perfecting elevator pitches about personal beliefs and values. It ends with an after party on Lower Broadway.

Organizers also booked a big name from the secular world. David Silverman, president of American Atheists, will be the keynote speaker. Silverman, who is on a book tour for his new work "Fighting God, An Atheist Manifesto for a Religious World," was the catalyst for the entire convention.

Gayle Jordan, who is the executive director of Recovering from Religion and president of Murfreesboro Freethinkers, is friends with Silverman, and invited him to town to talk about his book. It was going to be a small affair, but word spread quickly and interest was high so bigger plans were made, she said.

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It took roughly six weeks of work and about $2,000 in crowd-sourced funding to make the convention a reality. Organizers hope this is the first of many annual events, and plan to register Nashville Nones Convention as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization post-convention, Horst said.

"The response to it has been overwhelming," Horst said.

While the convention is geared toward the religiously unaffiliated, organizers welcome the curious and family and friends of non-believers interested in learning more.

“If all they have is curiosity, come out anyway,” Jordan said. “It would be a great idea for anybody who is interested in what makes people not believe in God, what makes people decide not to be religious.”

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Reach Holly Meyer at 615-259-8241 and on Twitter @HollyAMeyer.

If you go:

What: Nashville Nones Convention

When: 1:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday; doors open at 12:30 p.m.

Where: Glencliff High School, 160 Antioch Pike, Nashville

Details: It's free. Visit nashvillenones.com for more convention information.

