Preachers who are not Believers

[pinkocommie]

This is a report written by Daniel Dennett and Linda LaScola for Tufts University.  I thought it was fascinating.  It's about preachers who no longer believe in god but still retain their positions within the church, and are in fact quite secretive about their lack of belief.  They ask a lot of obvious though pointed questions about why these people (5 men) stay in the church even though they all to varying degrees consider themselves non-believers.

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/Non-Believing-Clergy.pdf

An excerpt:

Three women who expressed interest were not asked to participate: one because she was no longer in a pastoral role and two because their denominations were already represented in the study. Four men declined to participate: two did not follow up after showing initial interest; two others cited concerns about the term “non-believing.” Though neither of them believed in a supernatural god, both strongly self-identified as believers.

But what do they mean by this? Are they perhaps deceiving themselves? There is no way of answering, and this is no accident. The ambiguity about who is a believer and who a nonbeliever follows inexorably from the pluralism that has been assiduously fostered by many religious leaders for a century and more: God is many different things to different people, and since we can’t know if one of these conceptions is the right one, we should honor them all. This counsel of tolerance creates a gentle fog that shrouds the question of belief in God in so much indeterminacy that if asked whether they believed in God, many people could sincerely say that they don’t know what they are being asked.

coincidentally I haven't read much of Dennett's, just a few things online, and I've seen him in a few interviews - he seems really down to earth and kind of compassionate but firm regarding atheism and theists.  Is anyone out there a Dennett fan or detractor?

[philosoraptor]

This isn't all that uncommon, apparently.  My mother used to work in a home that was exclusively for retired nuns.  A lot of them were old, off the boat Irish, and told my mom they had only become nuns because their families had had no money to feed, clothe, or educate them.  Yet they never left the Church, in spite of not really being devout believers.

[pinkocommie]

It makes sense, especially in the case of nuns where joining up meant room and board in exchange for devotion and duty - certainly not a bad deal for some hungry and homeless.  

I think I find this paper so interesting because I don't see myself as being able to do that - just go with the flow of belief even when I don't believe - but I think that's probably because I was never religious in the first place.  I imagine the majority (maybe?  is it a stretch to say majority?) of people who deconverted from a religion probably have at least some personal experience with a transitional period of going with the flow without actually believing, perhaps the choice to stay within the social structures of a religion you don't actually believe in makes more sense to those people than it does it me.

Personally, even when keeping in mind that a public renunciation of faith would mean a total shift in regard to a person's livelihood, I can't imagine myself continuing to preach something I didn't believe in.  I think I would feel like a huge liar and a hypocrite.  I don't think I would be happy.

Of course, it's plenty easy to talk about a situation hypothetically.  

[philosoraptor]

Personally, even when keeping in mind that a public renunciation of faith would mean a total shift in regard to a person's livelihood, I can't imagine myself continuing to preach something I didn't believe in.  I think I would feel like a huge liar and a hypocrite.  I don't think I would be happy.

I guess I kind of understand it, if you were preaching from a hope and love perspective, rather than fire and brimstone.  If you know those beliefs sustain other people, and that it gives them hope and happiness, maybe it becomes easier to lie because you care about those people remaining happy.  Kind of how you might tell a friend in a bad situation that it will get better, even if you don't actually believe it.  Your perceived belief helps others to hang on to that faith.  I couldnt do it either, personally-it would be inauthentic, or living in bad faith, so to speak.  But I get how and why others might do it.