Letters From Leavers
By John W. Loftus
In a recent email from a Christian student at Fuller Seminary named Tim Bowers he tells me that a classmate and him are doing a project called Letters from Leavers and that "it is essentially a webspace for people who have left the Church to write a “Dear John” letter to the Church."
Tim continues, "It may sound weird coming from a Christian (I hope it doesn’t) but I am very interested in hearing your story and would love you to check out the site. If the site interests you we would love it if you could help us out by sending any folks that you know that might want to connect with a site like this to the page. Thanks so much for your time and consideration."
Then he adds, "I assure you this is no ploy to try to re-evangelize you. We are genuinely interested in hearing your story and that’s it. You can post anonymously to the site so no one will be able to contact you if you don’t want them to."
I have already posted my deconversion story here, but others may want to do so. If so, have at it.
In a recent email from a Christian student at Fuller Seminary named Tim Bowers he tells me that a classmate and him are doing a project called Letters from Leavers and that "it is essentially a webspace for people who have left the Church to write a “Dear John” letter to the Church."
Tim continues, "It may sound weird coming from a Christian (I hope it doesn’t) but I am very interested in hearing your story and would love you to check out the site. If the site interests you we would love it if you could help us out by sending any folks that you know that might want to connect with a site like this to the page. Thanks so much for your time and consideration."
Then he adds, "I assure you this is no ploy to try to re-evangelize you. We are genuinely interested in hearing your story and that’s it. You can post anonymously to the site so no one will be able to contact you if you don’t want them to."
I have already posted my deconversion story here, but others may want to do so. If so, have at it.
Comments
There are many of us here who did the best we could; we were as sincere as we could manage, faults and everything; we repented as best as we were able. We were told to rely on god's grace. Then, when there was no god, it was our fault. We had no faith; we relied on works; we hung on to sin; we were not sincere; we were too intellectual and blahblahblahfuckingblah.
Let me stop trying to speak for the others. Let them speak for themselves, but I can tell you that I went from one church to another, looking for help, and enduring the humiliation of "christian counselling" No matter how bad I felt, it was my fault. I begged for help--there was no help. Do you not suppose that, if your deity was real, he would have come to help a miserably hurting boy? I was no theologian; I did not greatly understand the bible, but why should that have mattered? Where was god's love and mercy?
As I am wont to repeat now and then, I got off my knees and on my feet. I told myself, "boy, you better get off your knees and get your shit together". By all the gods, I did. I learned self-respect. I learned courage. I learned freethinking. And to borrow your rhetoric, I live a new life. I was re-born.
Do you recall the prodigal son story? The words of the story have it that "when he was a long way off" his father ran to him, and cried on his shoulder, gave him gifts and threw a party for him. Now listen to me..........if your deity was real, he would have come to meet me half-way. Never mind this horseshit about faith and works and grace, he would have met me half-way.
Do you think the prodigal son wanted to go home? Do you think he wanted to swallow his pride? Do you think he wanted to admit he was wrong? Fuck no. Did his father confront him and ask "do you truly repent and accept me as your master"? No, he took him in with open arms. All your churches and bible schools and denominations and doctrines and zonderven paperbacks are all loud and eloquent witness to your god's nonexistence.
Allow me to clear up my last sentence. If your god was real, religion should not be needed. Religion doesn't present god; religion is a substitute for god.
I also think the whole problem starts long before Saul/Paul, it starts with people not knowing how we got here and where we are in relation to the universe as a whole.
The "God" answer of not knowing, turned into an absolute belief from people fearing death and the unknown.
People wanting to believe a God exists above in the clouds, watching our every move and knowing our every thought, this is just plain primitive thinking, and here it is the 21st century and people are still wrapped in fear afraid to challenge that the Bible or Quran may perhaps be true.
How can we continue to allow a silly book written down my fear stricken men to control the way we perceive ourselves as a nation?
We're just as bad as the communists and their ideology, but we have a BOOK that tells us how to live, therefore we must go forward and conquer nations and instill our beliefs and democracy unto them, because we are a Christian nation championed by our great Jesus inspired leader.
Now I'm pissed..!
You were always an ally. Thanx. Sweetie.
Steven, hello. I wish with all my heart that paul had never been born. I often indulge in the fantasy of what Europe would have been without the contamination of xristianity; what England would have been--what America would have been.
I hear that xristianity is dying out in Europe. We can hope for the same here.
They want to know how they can improve their machine.
I'm not into withholding information, nor against full communication with people who really want to communicate, but if they want that kind of info then they can come here and get it.
They shouldn't have help in improving their mental-manipulative, mind control and social engineering methods.
This site already has what they want, except here they answer to us, not the other way around.
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