A non-religious, non-profit organization with voluntary enrollment could fill a gap between churches and governments to serve certain needs in a person's life. It would push a person's sociological "in group" buttons. It might be useful for shopping for group-rate insurance or serving as a big friendship circle. I had this idea as an extension of wondering whether anybody has thought about fully privatized, subscription-based expressways through town (calling it private property to avoid falling under speed limit laws).
-- kevinthenerd, Jun 14 2012

Wikipedia: Civil Society http://en.wikipedia.../wiki/Civil_society
[rcarty, Jun 14 2012]

Secular Humanist comgregations exist for exactly this purpose. For that matter, pretty much every membership based civic/charitable organization (lions, elks, masons, my parents gourmet group) meets this criteria.
-- MechE, Jun 14 2012


You don't really say what your idea is, but if I've understood what you're saying this seems to be answered by any sort of club or society.
-- hippo, Jun 14 2012


Maybe it's some sort of comment on the invasiveness of religion and government in everyday life.
-- rcarty, Jun 14 2012


Sort of like lots of people coming up with ideas, with a slim chance of getting a bun> That sort of thing??
-- S-note, Jun 14 2012


The Lions Club?
-- RayfordSteele, Jun 14 2012


"Charity" ?

Sorry, [ktn], but [marked-for-deletion], widely-known-to-exist, not original.
-- 8th of 7, Jun 14 2012


Yes, m-f-d, but check out ktn's Chipmunk Phone Automation. +23 buns.
-- sqeaketh the wheel, Jun 14 2012


[squeak], you need to get out more and meet people (that is, if you can find a way of stopping them running away and screaming).

And when someone tells you to "get a life", DON'T go and google for it ...that means you've kind of missed the point.

<later>

Apparently, somewhere there are things called "girls". Let us know if you find out any more on this subject.
-- 8th of 7, Jun 14 2012


I've got one. She's awesome.
-- Alterother, Jun 15 2012


<Life of Brian>

"You lucky bastard ... you lucky, lucky, lucky bastard ..."

</Life of Brian>
-- 8th of 7, Jun 15 2012


I'm happily married in case you were wondering, The recent blast of ideas was a result of me going through an old notebook. I wanted to bring a notebook to a training class for work, and I found in a pinch that I had one that was mostly empty. I copied the most interesting ones to HB before tearing out the pages.
-- kevinthenerd, Jun 18 2012


Did you then eat the pages?
-- UnaBubba, Jun 19 2012


(squeaketh), it's +24 now. I left a witty anno a couple of years ago but had never voted.

I've got one also, married her last week, she's awesome as well ;-)
-- normzone, Jun 19 2012


Congrats, my friend! We celebrated our eighth anniversary yesterday. It's not nearly as hard as everyone makes it out to be.

We'd better scram before [bigsleep] comes in here and catches us being sociable.
-- Alterother, Jun 20 2012



random, halfbakery