When Religious Leaders Become Atheists – Recap

Seanna Watson

An ex-rabbi, an ex-imam, and 4 ex-pastors walk into a meeting room…. Not a joke, but a description of CFIC’s panel discussion “When Religious Leaders Become Atheists,” a hybrid event held in-person at UBC and live-streamed via Zoom across Canada and around the world, presented in cooperation with The Clergy Project (TCP) and the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

The panelists, including the host and moderator, were all members of TCP.  Founded in 2011, TCP grew out of a research project by Linda LaScola and Daniel Dennett, investigating the lives of religious leaders who had lost their faith. In the course of this project, it became evident that there was a need for a support group for these men and women who, as a result of their apostasy, not only lost their livelihood, but often also became estranged from their families and community.

The panelists spoke of their history: how their profound spiritual experiences had led them to their faith and vocation, how they came to recognize that these experiences were rationally explainable without a need for the supernatural, and how they have lived their lives since.

The last part of the session offered the audience an opportunity to ask questions of the panel. A few of the highlights:

• One questioner wondered whether religious leaders were really true believers, or just seeking power and glory (and in some cases financial gain). The response from several panel members was that most do start with the best of intentions, to serve their god and their fellow human beings. Some end up falling away due to rationalism, some manage to continue by virtue of self-delusion, and yes, there are some who are just in it for themselves. But there are also those who feel that they have no option but to continue what they know is a charade, because they do not feel able to deal with the consequences of revealing their loss of faith, which as mentioned earlier may result in the loss of their material possessions, their livelihood, and possibly all their family and friends. (TCP offers a private, secure online community to help people in that situation.)

• There were several questions from people in the Black community (including one person in Africa) regarding the unique challenges facing Black atheists and apostates. Mohammed Cisse talked about how he had attempted to tackle these issues with tact and love — a work in progress with various levels of success.

• The challenge of how to build community without religious underpinnings is a recurring theme among some (but by no means all) atheists and humanists who were formerly religious. Some from TCP have taken on this work as leaders and volunteers in atheist and humanist groups such as CFIC. Others have managed to start and maintain enclaves of unbelievers in the midst of mainstream churches — e.g., Gretta Vosper’s Westhill congregation in Toronto, or the Oraynu network for humanistic Judaism. (Panelists had a wide variety of personal approaches to this. Some thought it better to make a “clean break” with their religion rather than trying to pick and choose which parts to preserve.)

For those who were unable to attend, or would like to see it again, the talk was recorded, and will soon be available for viewing on CFIC’s YouTube channel.