My heart cannot ACCEPT what my mind REJECTS - Dan Barker

Today I spoke with Dan Barker, who grew up in a Christian home, got very involved in missions, and became a pastor for many years, but ultimately deconverted as the truth claims of Christianity fell apart.

We touched on many topics, including:

• Growing up feeling meaning and purpose through god and the Gospel.
• Feeling comfort and pride as he thought he was growing up growing up in the "right" religion and denomination with the "right interpretation" of the Bible.
• At age 15, accepting a call to ministry, leading to him focus on evangelism, missions, itinerant preaching and singing, and being a pastor.
• Realizing that there are many kinds of Christians with many divergent interpretations of the Bible, including the idea that some characters may have been allegorical.
• Needing to make the active choice to reject the path of fear and to choose the path of open inquiry and integrity.
• Realizing, as part of the deconversion process, that we are grieving the loss of things that we never actually had, like an afterlife and a heavenly father.
• Learning to radically change our perspective through the process of "contraduction."
• The importance of being involved in political and social change to help our country and world move past mythology-based worldviews and to support the separation of church and state.

Many thanks to Dan for sharing his story and for all he has been doing for the community for many years!

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The video of when Dan and Annie met on Oprah:
   • Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor Meet on...  

Dan's Amazon page:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/...

Freedom From Religion Foundation
https://ffrf.org/

FFRF's YouTube channel:
   / @ffrforg  

The Clergy Project
https://clergyproject.org/

Godless Gospel YouTube videos
   / @ffrforg  

The Freethought Caucus
https://huffman.house.gov/freethought...


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Check out the other projects I'm working on and find other ways to connect with me:

https://linktr.ee/harmonicatheist

Tim may be reached on FB (preferred) at: harmonictim
Or by email at: [email protected]


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Thanks!

--Tim


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Ending music by Kazuya / Eyal Raz, "Friends"

https://artlist.io/royalty-free-music...
   • Friends  


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If you are facing emotional distress, please call 911 or the National Suicide Hotline
1-800-273-8255.