Well, good luck to him but I agree with many of his words.

If you go then go big

I have talked to people at work that claimed they could fake it til they made it. I smiled and wished them luck. Unfortunately I am only half Irish, so they probably got bad luck.

Notice how none of the problems were his fault. He stood up for 20 years knowingly living and preaching lies to his congregation. What did he expect?

It sounds like he was able to hang onto his intellectual honesty, and also that he had the good character to be honest and open about what he experienced. I'm sad that his marriage was an unhappy experience for him, but maybe he can bring about some more good changes in his life, and get out from under the oppressive teachings and lifestyle he had as a pastor.

You know this link is paywalled? Some of us can't afford to pay for every site we visit.

From the article . . . . “I was fully devoted to studying the scriptures. I think I missed maybe 12 Sundays in 40 years. I had completely memorized 18 books of the Bible and was reading through the bible for the 24th time when I walked away,” he wrote.

That is why we should encourage these fanatics to read the bible MORE . . . . the more they read it the more likely they are to see what a scam it is.

If anyone knows this guy, send him our link . . . . this type of person can become one of the biggest enemies of religion . . . . . they finally see the bull shit, and call it what it is . . . .

I would guess that a significant number of preachers are closeted agnostics given that they deal with issues of belief daily. Their position puts them in a situation where they have to confront the ideas of belief and faith on a daily basis and it can't be easy keeping up your faith under this kind of scrutiny. Most of them are older and put a lot of time and effort into their job, making it difficult to just walk away. So they continue the charade due to "sunken cost."

This guy is in for a tough road. He has just lost his social support group and his source of income. He is older and not likely easily reemployed.

I am sure he feels relieved in some ways, but as many of is know, he has a tough road to hoe.

Might not be a bad idea for the atheist community to give him a helping hand. May make publicity.

Love it, love it, love it.

I think we should remember how hard it can be for religious practicioners to renounce their church and religion. Often they lose everything and it can be very hard. I don't know how hard it will be for this guy, but I've watched enough docs about people in this situation to appreciate how hard it can be. Generally in these situations I prefer not to take joy in rubbing it in but rather give credit to someone who has woken up and had the courage to say so, if they are genuine and all things are equal.

Maybe he had squeezed as much money from the faithful as he could and it was time to retire

Lololololololol...

Wow. Read the full article. I get it. Things were so similar for me. You're told that prayer, faith, and of course paying the church are the only real answers to your problems and so when they don't work, you think you're just doing it wrong. Not enough prayer, not enough faith, or whatever. Some people never have any real challenge to their belief system. Others of us have it all go to hell and finally wake up to reality. It's a harsh awakening when you've invested so much.

So far, in the local Meetup group for singles that I recently joined, the members of it that are also in Christian singles groups as well, have turned out to be spiteful and petty-minded people. What a surprise.....

Having seen some of what he talked about, I understand completely.

Don’t worry former Pastor many of us been in the same boat. It gets better from here.

I know what he's talking about...

Link isn't working.
Could be my anti-malware is blocking it.