Can you replicate the collective adaptive value of religion without god?

NPR Morning Edition “Sunday Assembly: A Church For The Godless Picks Up Steam”

It is interesting to see people explicitly seeking out the benefits of religious community whilst trying to maintain their objective understanding of the material world. Conventional wisdom is that “god” is needed to make religions work, but perhaps just a collective intention is needed.

Having been a part of a community (the DIY hardcore punk community) that is about as close to being a “religious community without god”, I am curious how these latest attempts to harness the power of local-scale community will fare. Can you make a religious community that actually maintains a group identity without running into the factionalism that seems to always accompany religious grouping? From listening to this NPR feature, I can see the first grounds for factionalism: will every Sunday Assembly force its congregants to endure “Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Fire”?