Reverend Richard Coles Tells the Hilarious Story of Starting an Atheist Club
The Reverend Richard Coles is currently a parish priest in Northamptonshire and a famous face in the Church of England after rising to fame with The Communards.
So I would lie to you Fans were stunned on the BBC’s Christmas special when the Reverend claimed he and his friend Matthew co-founded an atheist club when they were just nine years old.
“Matthew and I were triple boys – backing vocals together – in prep school,” Richard told comedian David Mitchell, whose job it is to find out if the story was a lie.
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“We sang together in the choir, and when we were nine, we formed the School Chapel Choir Atheists Club.
“It was a protest against the blandishments of religion and a refusal to submit to the mythical and tyrannical divinity forced upon us”, to which host Rob Brydon said: “Richard, Richard – it’s Christmas! “
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When asked if he had removed his stocking and presents, the ex-Communard replied: “Well, of course I would suspend my atheism if there was a chance of personal gain!”
Richard Coles said it was not until his late twenties that he “awoke from the slumber of atheism” after a turbulent time in his life and decided that the religious ideals he held practiced in his childhood gave him more joy and structure than his new, secular life.
The BBC show asks its guests to tell a story, much like Richard and his Atheism Club, and the opposing team can score points based on their ability to correctly deduce it as a lie.
Richard’s eloquent account of his journey with his faith was entirely believable as the truth – until a third member of the club was revealed: a man called Porky Hamblin who was a lawyer turned Pilates teacher in Market Harborough .
This odd detail added a touch of suspicion to the story and the opposing team thought it was a lie, though Reverend Richard Coles’ childhood atheism and rediscovery of faith later in life are indeed true.
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