Talk:Clergy Project

Suitable quote?

Would this be relevant? Anna Livia (talk) 22:30, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

Closing statement — pragmatism vs. conscience

This article currently closes with the following statement:

At least one Christian criticizes those who have not come out for citing loss of salary as a main concern. However, if atheist clergy resign without finding alternative employment and end up on welfare together with their families, the religious right will undoubtedly criticize them for that.

I feel like this should be wrapped up by pointing out that this is kind of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation; a clergyman who finds that they can't maintain their faith in the face of evidence against the existence of God (which not only includes the typical "absence of evidence for God's existence" concerns, but also stuff like Biblical contradictions and the problem of evil) has nothing but bad options. Either they stay in a position of faith leadership that entails living a lie and they can't be happy in (given that they no longer have faith), or they leave (outing themselves as an apostate in the process, which might lead to… backlash from the community) and find themselves having to seek alternative employment. (No wonder so many of them stubbornly refuse to even consider any information that might undermine their faith…) After two attempts to gracefully work this into the existing article, I've found myself unsatisfied with the results. Any ideas on how it can be done? --Luigifan18 (talk) 15:52, 28 March 2024 (UTC)