Wheaton is one of the last places I’d expect to find anyone who doesn’t believe in God.

Yet the city hosts a group called the Wheaton Atheists. Who knew? Meanwhile, there are the Fox Valley Atheists in Batavia, the Freethought Conversants in Glen Ellyn, and even the Non-Alcoholic Atheists in Lombard.

These certainly aren’t the only groups in the area. There are the Peace Center and the Windy City Conservatives in Berwyn, the Support Group for Mediums and Psychics in St. Charles, Progressive Moms of the La Grange Area in Western Springs, the Chicago Paranormal Research Society in Glen Ellyn, and Sultry Salsa in the Suburbs of Villa Park.

These are all part of Meetup.com, which connects people with similar interests. But, in contrast to other types of social networking, it seems to provide more than a distraction at work.

“I took over our group in October 2008,” said Donna Kielbasinski of Berwyn, organizer of the West Suburban Walking and Exploring Group. “We grew from a little more than 100 members to about 400 members. The nice thing is that people who were in other (Meetup.com) groups learned about our group and starting participating.”

These groups tend to exist below the radar, in that many people may never have heard of them. Yet, membership grows.

What’s especially significant is that people form these groups in cyberspace with the objective of meeting face-to-face. Unlike social-networking behemoths such as Facebook and Twitter, this version actually seems to have a point — with the goal of building constructive personal relationships.

“My group would not exist without Meetup.com,” said Cyn Pruitt of Lombard, founder of the Mind Body Spirit Connection. “I whole-heartedly believe that Meetup is the single best way to bring others of the same mindset and interests together in person.”

Jerry Moore is the opinions editor for Suburban Life Publications. Contact him at (630) 368-8930 or jmoore@mysuburbanlife.com. His blog, Suburban Shoutout, can be found at blogs.mysuburbanlife.com/jerry-moore.