From Pastor to Atheist

The New York Times had an interesting and in many ways sad profile of a former pastor in the Bible Belt who, having lost his faith, reoriented his ministry to helping others who also do not believe. Turns out he's had a very hard go of it: 

DeWitt refuses to leave DeRidder, a place where religion, politics and family pride are indivisible. Six months after he was “outed” as an atheist he lost his job and his wife — both, he says, as a direct consequence. Only a handful of his 100-plus relatives from DeRidder still speak to him. When I visited him, in late June, his house was in foreclosure, and he was contemplating moving into his 2007 Chrysler PT Cruiser. This is the kind of environment where godlessness remains a real struggle and raises questions that could ramify across the rest of the country. Is the “new atheism” part of a much broader secularizing trend, like the one that started emptying out the churches in European towns and villages a century ago? Or is it just a ticket out of town?

The saddness of this story is the way in which the community that used to embrace DeWitt has now largely abandoned him because he refuses to conform to their conception of what he should believe. What's more, he's public about it, and so he's made a paraiah. That is deeply sad, and reflects poorly on the Christianity from which DeWitt seems to have escaped.

Of course, as the story notes, if he had simply stayed in the closet regarding his unbelief, he probably could have continued to live a very comfortable life in DeRidder. But his conscience drove him to speak out.

For my part, I've offered plenty of criticism of the neo-atheists, and I can see some of the same problems I have with them in the way DeWitt presents himself in the article. Yet, I can't comprehend a Christianity that would so forcefully expell someone from their community, issue death threats, and basically make his life miserable for the sake of enforcing their purported orthodoxy. As much as I might disagree with DeWitt on the theological merits, I have great respect for his willingness to take the heat for his principles.

And, once more, I find myself as a Christian returning to the truth that the biggest problem that Christianity faces in the world today is the quality of Christian it's saddled with (including me).

Comments

[Henkin]

"I can't comprehend a Christianity that would so forcefully expell [sic] someone from their community, issue death threats, and basically make his life miserable for the sake of enforcing their purported orthodoxy."

You can't comprehend it? Really? Look all around you, mate. That is the very definition of "Christian" in 2012 Amerika.

You're either with them (and their silly superstitions) or you're against them. Love thy enemy? Ha! Which brown-skinned terrorist came up with that line?