Jerry DeWitt (born September 17, 1969) is an American author and public speaker. He is a former pastor of two

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

churches and publicly deconverted to

atheism 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 d ...

in 2011.

Biography

DeWitt is a former pastor of two churches surrounding

DeRidder, Louisiana DeRidder is a city in, and the parish seat of, Beauregard Parish, Louisiana, Beauregard Parish, Louisiana, United States. A small portion of the city extends into Vernon Parish, Louisiana, Vernon Parish. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 ce ...

, a town where two-thirds of the population report membership in a faith organization. DeWitt first experienced doubts about his religious beliefs when he contemplated the idea of hell. He later found himself unable to invoke God's help after a congregant asked him to pray for her injured brother. He preached for the last time in April 2011. After becoming aware that he no longer held theistic beliefs, DeWitt joined

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 priv ...

, a group which lends confidential support to preachers who no longer believe in God.

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 priv ...

(TCP) was founded by

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 ath ...

Daniel Dennett Daniel Clement Dennett III (born March 28, 1942) is an American philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relat ...

, Linda LaScola, former preacher

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 c ...

, and anonymous non-believing ministers "Adam Mann" and "Chris." DeWitt's outing as an atheist occurred in October 2011 after a photo circulated online of DeWitt and Dawkins, taken at a meeting of

freethinkers Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods ...

. DeWitt was the first member of TCP to drop anonymity and speak freely about his involvement in the project. Following his departure from ministry and after more information emerged on Dewitt's loss of faith, he was subsequently fired from his non-ministerial job as well. Shortly thereafter, his wife then separated from him. DeWitt has written a book based on his career and experiences entitled ''Hope After Faith''. The 288-page autobiographical book was written by Dewitt and Ethan Brown, and published in 2013 by Da Capo Press.

Community Mission Chapel

The former fundamentalist minister hosted the first meeting of the Community Mission Chapel, which DeWitt calls a "Secular Service". In a story for the ''New York Times'', DeWitt said, "Just because we value critical thinking and the scientific method, that doesn't mean we suddenly become disembodied and we can no longer benefit from our emotional lives."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DeWitt, Jerry American atheism activists American Christian clergy 1969 births Living people People from DeRidder, Louisiana 21st-century atheists American former Protestants Former evangelicals Writers about religion and science