Atheist Support Group Serves Faithless Christian Pastors

Source: Charisma News

Support groups exist for people struggling with all sorts of things—from mainstream issues like divorce and cancer to offbeat items like caffeine and hoarding—but many are shocked by a new community created by atheists.

The Clergy Project, formed by the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Science and Reason and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, aims to help clergy who have “seen the light” move beyond faith.

“The Clergy Project exists to provide a safe haven, a forum where clergy who have lost their faith can meet each other, exchange views, swap problems, counsel each other—for, whatever they may have lost, clergy know how to counsel and comfort,” atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins writes on the site.

Although the Clergy Project launched as a private, invitation-only website in March, it went public on Oct. 7. It started with 52 members and has grown to nearly 100. With the unveiling of the website, the group expects hundreds more.

“We know there must be thousands of clergy out there who have secretly abandoned their faith but have nowhere to turn,” Dan Barker, a former evangelical preacher, said in a statement Friday.

“Now they do have a place to meet, a true sanctuary, a congregation of those of us who have replaced faith and dogma with reason and human well-being.”

The Clergy Project was started by Barker, Dawkins, philosopher Daniel Dennett and researcher Linda LaScola.

In a study conducted by Dennett and LaScola, “Preachers Who Are Not Believers,” several pastors were interviewed in 2008 and 2009 who no longer believed what their parishioners thought they believed. The study was the source for some initial members of the project.

The administrators of The Clergy Project are both active pastors in the United States who claim to have lost their faith and are looking for an “exit strategy.” The project says the most difficult issue for these religious leaders is financial.

“It is hard to think of any other profession which it is so near to impossible to leave,” Dawkins wrote on the site in a welcome message. “If a farmer tires of the outdoor life and wants to become an accountant or a teacher or a shopkeeper, he faces difficulties, to be sure. He must learn new skills, raise money, move to another area perhaps. But he doesn’t risk losing all his friends, being cast out by his family, being ostracized by his whole community.”

The website currently features two testimonies: one from “Lynn,” who writes she is “an active Methodist pastor who is also an atheist;” and one from “John Compere,” a psychologist and former Baptist minister.

What could cause these pastors to lose their faith? It could be loneliness and discouragement. According to a recent LifeWay Research survey, 98 percent agree with the statement, “I feel privileged to be a pastor,” with 93 percent strongly agreeing. Only about 0.5 percent of pastors disagree with the statement. Still, these same pastors are keeping their faith.

“Many oft-quoted statistics speak of miserable and unhappy pastors, but that’s not what we see when we actually ask them,” explained Ed Stetzer, vice president of research and ministry development at LifeWay Christian Resources. “There is discouragement and loneliness, but when 98 percent agree it is a privilege to be a pastor, we also know there is a great honor to being a pastor.”

Could these pastors be part of the great falling away that Paul described in 2 Thess. 2:3? Or is this atheist group simply trying to exploit a rare occurrence?

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional

Watch this 11-year-old believer fulfilling prophecy!

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions,Your old men shall dream dreams.” — Acts 2:17

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional

Dear Jesus,

You told me to resist the devil and he would flee from me,

But I have no resistance.

You have all the power and resistance I’ll ever need,

So give me the power to resist.

You told me I could move my mountains

If I had faith even as a mustard seed;

Yet my mountain won’t move

Even though my faith in you is as great

As I can conceive it.

You made the heavens and earth;

Please move my mountain.

You said, “Flee the very appearance of evil!”

So I ran hard,

But sin overtook me

In my finest hour of effort.

You have power

Over all the power of the enemy

With miracles, signs and wonders.

Deliver me from the trap of Satan.

I don’t even have the strength to put on the whole armor,

So dress me as my armor-bearer.

Do for me what I know I cannot do for myself.

– David Wilkerson

Amen and amen!

Val

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

by David Wilkerson

[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

“Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).

Believe it or not,

That is the question.

Did Jesus really walk on water?

Heal lepers?

Raise the dead?

Make the blind to see?

Cause the wind and waves to obey?

Cast out devils?

Heal lunatics?

And turn water into wine?

To believe all of that

A man would have to believe in miracles!

Yet a man cannot believe in Christ at all,

Unless he believes in miracles—

His resurrection

And ascension.

He is either dead or alive,

And if alive—

It is a miracle!

And all He ever did was miraculous.

Believe it all.

That is faith!

That’s a good word!!!

David Wilkerson believed and he is enjoying his Eternal Reward. Way to go, David!

Va;

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional

Allah and the God of the Bible

The question has often been asked – Are Allah and the God of the Bible the same Supreme Being, perceived and worshipped differently?

Perhaps answers to the following questions will help to clarify the matter.

1. Do their followers believe a common doctrine? Does their teaching concerning the way of salvation, faith and prayer point to one Source?
2. Do they accept a common Holy Book as absolutely inspired and the rule of faith and doctrine?
3. Are their followers celebrated in each other’s areas of influence and treated as part of a common Body?
4. Are their places of worship welcome in countries focused on one or other of these two faiths?
5. Are their lifestyles similar in any way?
6. Do they share a common viewpoint regarding Israel?
7. Is Jesus Christ recognized as Messiah, Lord and God and given the place of pre-eminence in both faiths? (Pre-eminence – “first place” – the focus of faith.)

These are serious questions and demand a serious and sincere response.

The God of the Bible
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
- John 3:16

The God of Islam
“God has no son”

“It’s Your Call”

Val

His Eye Is On The Sparrow
365-Day Devotional