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The Clergy Project
The Clergy Project (TCP) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that provides peer support to current and former religious leaders who no longer believe in a god or other supernatural elements. The group's focus is to provide private online forums for its participants, career transition assistance (including career coaching grants), and subsidized psychotherapy sessions in partnership with Recovering from Religion's Secular Therapy Project. About Launched in March 2011 as a collaborative effort to provide an online space where deconverted clergy could gather to support and encourage one another, the Clergy Project eventually grew to become its own independent organization, receiving 501(c)(3) status in early 2015. An all-volunteer-led organization overseen by a board of directors and staffed by a team of committees, TCP seeks "to provide support, community, and hope to current and former religious professionals who no longer hold supernatural beliefs." From the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Barker
Daniel Edwin Barker (born June 25, 1949) is an American atheist activist and musician who served as an evangelical Christian preacher and composer for 19 years but left Christianity in 1984. He and his wife Annie Laurie Gaylor are the current co-presidents of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and he is cofounder of The Clergy Project. He has written numerous articles for ''Freethought Today'', an American freethought newspaper. He is the author of several books including ''Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist''. Barker has been an invited speaker at Rock Beyond Belief. He is on the speakers bureau of the Secular Student Alliance. Biography Barker received a degree in religion from Azusa Pacific University and was ordained to the ministry by the Standard Community Church, California, in 1975. He served as associate pastor at several churches: Religious Society of Friends (Quaker), a church in the Assemblies of God fellowship, and an independent Charismatic church ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carter Warden TCP
Carter(s), or Carter's, Tha Carter, or The Carter(s), may refer to: Geography United States * Carter, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Carter, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Carter, Montana, a census-designated place * Carter, Oklahoma, a town * Carter, South Dakota, an unincorporated community * Carter, Texas, a census-designated place * Carter, Forest County, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community * Carter, Iron County, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community * Carter, Wyoming, a census-designated place * Carters, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Carter County (other) Elsewhere * Carter Islands, in Nunavut, Canada * Carter Road Promenade, former name of Sangeet Samrat Naushad Ali Marg in Mubai, India People and fictional characters * Carter (name), a surname and a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters * Carter (artist), American artist and film director John Carter (born 1970) * Carter, someone whose occupation is tran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Atheism
The term ''New Atheism'' was coined by the journalist Gary Wolf (journalist), Gary Wolf in 2006 to describe the positions promoted by some atheists of the twenty-first century. New Atheism advocates the view that superstition, religion and irrationalism should not simply be tolerated. Instead, they should be Antireligion, countered, Criticism of religion, criticized, and challenged by Rationality, rational argument, especially when they exert undue influence, such as in government, education, and politics. Major figures include Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett—collectively known as the "Four Horsemen". New Atheism often criticised what writers such as Dawkins described as the indoctrination of children and the social harms caused by perpetuating ideologies founded on belief in the supernatural. At the time, critics of the movement deployed pejorative terms such as ''militant atheism'' and ''fundamentalist atheism'' to malign vocal atheists. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freethought Organizations
Irreligious organizations promote the view that moral standards should be based solely on naturalistic considerations, without reference to supernatural concepts (such as God or an afterlife), any desire to do good for a reward after death, or any fear of punishment for not believing in life after death. Background Individuals and organizations sharing these views, identify themselves by a variety of terms, including, bright, freethinker, naturalist, rationalist, or skeptic. Despite the use of these various terms, the organizations listed here have goals in common. Note that, while most of these organizations and their members consider themselves irreligious, there are certain exceptions (Ethical Culture, for example). In some jurisdictions, a provincial or national humanist society may confer upon Humanist officiants the ability to conduct memorial services, child naming ceremonies or officiate marriages — tasks which would be carried out by clergy in most orga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disengagement From Religion
Religious disaffiliation is the act of leaving a faith, or a religious group or community. It is in many respects the reverse of religious conversion. Several other terms are used for this process, though each of these terms may have slightly different meanings and connotations. Researchers employ a variety of terms to describe disaffiliation, including defection, apostasy and disengagement. This is in contrast to excommunication, which is disaffiliation from a religious organization imposed punitively on a member, rather than willfully undertaken by the member. If religious affiliation was a big part of a leaver's social life and identity, then leaving can be a wrenching experience, and some religious groups aggravate the process with hostile reactions and shunning.McGuire, Meredith B. "Religion: the Social Context" fifth edition (2002) Chapter Three:the individual's religion, section disengagement Some people who were not particularly religious see leaving as not ‘all that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atheist Organizations
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no deities. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists. The first individuals to identify themselves as atheists lived in the 18th century during the Age of Enlightenment. The French Revolution, noted for its "unprecedented atheism", witnessed the first significant political movement in history to advocate for the supremacy of human reason.Extract of page 22 In 1967, Albania declared itself the first official atheist coun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atheism In The United States
According to the Pew Research Center in a 2014 survey, self-identified atheists make up 3.1% of the US population, even though 9% of Americans agreed with the statement "Do not believe in God" while 2% agreed with the statement "Do not know if they believe in God". According to the 2014 General Sociological Survey, the number of atheists and agnostics in the U.S. grew over the previous 23 years. In 1991, only 2% identified as atheist, and 4% identified as agnostic; while in 2014, 3.1% identified as atheists, and 5% identified as agnostics. In 2009, Pew stated that only 5% of the US population did not have a belief in a god and out of that small group only 24% self-identified as "atheist", while 15% self-identified as "agnostic" and 35% self-identified as "nothing in particular". According to the 2008 ARIS, only 2% the US population was atheist, while 10% were agnostics. One 2018 research paper using indirect methods estimated that 26% of Americans are atheists, which is muc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicodemite
A Nicodemite () is a person suspected of publicly misrepresenting their religious faith to conceal their true beliefs. The term is sometimes defined as referring to a Protestant Christian who lived in a Roman Catholic country and escaped persecution by concealing their Protestantism. The word is normally a term of disparagement. Introduced into 16th-century religious discourse, it persisted in use into the 18th century and beyond. Originally employed mostly by Protestants, it was usually applied to persons of publicly conservative religious position and practice who were thought to be secretly humanistic or reformed. Friedrich Heer in his book ''The Medieval World'' (1961; English translation published in 1962) refers to the 12th-century circle at Chartres as past masters of nicodemism, which he describes as "dangerous thoughts, dangerous allusions to topical ecclesiastical and political affairs, and above all to ideas hard or impossible to reconcile with the dogma of the Church ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Irreligious Organizations
Irreligious organizations promote the view that moral standards should be based solely on naturalistic considerations, without reference to supernatural concepts (such as God or an afterlife), any desire to do good for a reward after death, or any fear of punishment for not believing in life after death. Background Individuals and organizations sharing these views, identify themselves by a variety of terms, including, bright, freethinker, naturalist, rationalist, or skeptic. Despite the use of these various terms, the organizations listed here have goals in common. Note that, while most of these organizations and their members consider themselves irreligious, there are certain exceptions (Ethical Culture, for example). In some jurisdictions, a provincial or national humanist society may confer upon Humanist officiants the ability to conduct memorial services, child naming ceremonies or officiate marriages — tasks which would be carried out by clergy in most organize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apostasy
Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that is contrary to one's previous religious beliefs. One who undertakes apostasy is known as an apostate. Undertaking apostasy is called apostatizing (or apostasizing – also spelled apostacizing). The term ''apostasy'' is used by sociologists to mean the renunciation ''and'' criticism of, or opposition to, a person's former religion, in a technical sense, with no pejorative connotation. Occasionally, the term is also used metaphorically to refer to the renunciation of a non-religious belief or cause, such as a political party, social movement, or sports team. Apostasy is generally not a self-definition: few former believers call themselves apostates due to the term's negative connotation. Many religious groups and some states punish apostat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gretta Vosper
Margaret Ann Vosper (born 1958), known as Gretta Vosper, is an ordained minister of the United Church of Canada who is a self-professed atheist. Her beliefs have caused controversy both within and outside of the United Church. In 2016, following the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris, her public statement that the belief in a supernatural God promoted hatred led the United Church of Canada to institute an official review of her suitability as a minister. In 2018, that process was discontinued when Vosper and the United Church reached an agreement that left her free to continue as a minister. Her published works include ''With or Without God: Why The Way We Live is More Important Than What We Believe'' and ''Amen: What Prayer Can Mean in a World Beyond Belief''. Early life and education Vosper was born on 6 July 1958 in Kingston, Ontario, the second of four children. As a child, she attended the local United Church but claims that she never strongly believed in the existence of God, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An atheist, he is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design. Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book ''The Selfish Gene'', which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term '' meme''. With his book ''The Extended Phenotype'' (1982), he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, for example, when a beaver builds a dam. His 2004 The Ancestor's Tale set out to make understanding evolution simple for the general public, by tracing common ancestors back from humans to the origins of life. Over time, numerous religious people challenged th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
