On July 7 my article “Losing Faith in Religious Higher Education: What happens when a seminary professor joins the religiously ‘unaffiliated’?” came out in the Chronicle of Higher Education. This was my “coming out” piece as a secular humanist and…
When I was a kid, I sat in Bible studies at our church and listened to adults talk about their recent conversion to Christianity. Reactions from family and close friends were common concerns they had. Yes, becoming a Christian meant returning to the religion of their family for many, but for others it meant turmoil and being different.
For the latter, their parents, siblings, or close friends often worried about the new faith they embraced. Did they join a cult? Would this mean that they'd have to listen to preaching at every family Thanksgiving or Christmas?
I bring this up because I realize I'm in a similar situation for the first time in my life and I'm just now to the point where I'm capable of talking about it. In my case, I've not converted to a new religion, rather, I've departed from it entirely.
If you haven’t had a chance to get Menachem Wecker’s and my book, Consider No Evil: Two Faith Traditions and the Problem of Academic Freedom in Religious Higher Education (Cascade Books, 2014), but are interested reading a sample, then you’re…