The Clergy Letter Project was created to demonstrate that religion and science can be compatible and to offer an alternative voice to those who claim that modern science must be refuted if a religious life is to be lived. As TCP grew to evolve beyond a mere project, its ad-hoc governing board implemented the role of executive director, appointing Teresa MacBain as acting executive director, who only served a few months in 2012, followed by Catherine Dunphy who served throughout 2013. Costs for services which include "skills assessment, resume assistance, linkages to job opportunities and access to professional career advisers" is paid directly to RiseSmart. Services are also available to participants regarding career development and the opportunity for free counseling sessions offered through The Secular Therapist Project. The Clergy Project was launched in March 2011 to create a safe and secure Online Community of Forums composed entirely of religious leaders who no longer hold to supernatural beliefs. The Clergy Project is primarily a peer support group, although the organization has steadily expanded their scope--they now provide more tangible assistance that includes re-employment preparation and secular counseling. Non clergy and clergy with motives contra to the mission of the project are excluded from participation in the community. The Story of The Clergy Project Early Ambitions. We have a secure forum website and a closed Facebook group, both accessible to The Clergy Project participants only. Gaining Momentum. [9][10], On March 20, 2011, the Clergy Project officially launched with 52 charter members, many of whom were longtime contacts of Barker's and participants from LaScola and Dennett's study. This blog post, by a Clergy Project member, and originally posted on Debunking Christianity, represents them well. The Clergy Project was created through the auspices of The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Project applicants must meet two qualifications for forum admission: being both religious professionals (current or formerly employed) and non-supernaturalist. In our Online Community of Forums, participants come from a wide range of religious and cultural backgrounds, including Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Scientology, and more than thirty different segments of Christianity. TCP's Mission is to provide support, community, and hope to current and former religious professionals who no longer hold supernatural beliefs. Soon she met with LaScola and Barker at the National Museum of the American Indian's Mitsitam Cafe in Washington, DC, in January 2011. [14], Many former clergy are very concerned about leaving their religious careers and education because they are not sure where to find jobs while still needing to provide for their families. Those two anonymous participants went by the pseudonyms "Adam Mann" and "Chris". Keep a close watch on this situation, which is shaping up to be a MAJOR threat to church-state separation. Our Media Coordinator will respond regarding availability. Here they planned the details of what would become their project's Online Community of Forums, aided by two anonymous current ministers on the other side of their computer screens. [7] Dawkins wanted to find a way to help others in situations like Barker's, but a solution did not immediately present itself.[6]. Recovering from Religion's Secular Therapy Project has made free counseling available to all Clergy Project forum participants. The group aids members who need to transition into secular employment and also provides a … TCP's Mission is to provide support, community, and hope to current and former religious professionals who no … TCP's Mission is to provide support, community, and hope to current and former religious professionals who no longer hold supernatural beliefs. In 2010, the philosopher Daniel Dennett and the researcher Linda LaScola published a pilot study called "Preachers Who Are Not Believers". Identify yourself with a pseudonym and an avatar image if you prefer. The Clergy Project centers on a private, safeguarded, and multifaceted Online Community of Forums. [5] In order to help forum participants obtain secular employment, the Clergy Project, aided by the Stiefel Freethought Foundation, provide funds for a transitional assistance grant (TAG). 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 have faith. The goal for both is to help people think through matters of importance to their personal, religious, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual lives, both to help them come to what they really think is the truth and to support them as they move forward in life thinking and believing as they do. In 2004 , Prof. Michael Zimmerman at the University of Wisconsin (its Oshkosh campus)—and also its dean of the College of Letters and Sciences—began what became known as “The Clergy Letter Project.” This is move by some clergy to promote Evolution. We do it in a different way. The stories of clergy who have come out as atheists were moving as well as painful, to say the least. Terry Plank was selected to serve as TCP's first president, along with John Compere as vice-president, Gretta Vosper as secretary, and Robert Parham as treasurer. The Clergy Project UTBB Episode 30 : A Saylor Weathers The Storm. The online community also provides the kind of support that former clergy need because of the sense of loss that many feel when leaving their religion. In January 2018, the Clergy Project's board of directors selected Lon Ostrander to serve as its third president, following Terry Plank (2014–2016) and Drew Bekius (2017) . [2] Co-founder Carter "Adam Mann" Warden was the first recipient of an outplacement grant in 2013. The group's focus is to provide private online forums for its participants,[1] and assistance through career transition grants, hardship grants, and free sessions of psychotherapy. Contact The Clergy Project Press and Media. This time Dawkins brought Robin Elisabeth Cornwell on board, then-executive director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. This episode we start out with some Twitter love that was thrown our way, which is always welcome. Also in 2010, Barker and Dawkins met once again to discuss what a potential project might look like in their efforts to help clergy closeted in disbelief. Posted on January 28, 2019 by FreshLA. The Freedom From Religion Foundation likewise assisted TCP with a focus on its financial side.[11]. Then, from the home page of the Clergy Project I read: “The purpose of The Clergy Project is to provide a safe haven for active and former clergy who do not hold supernatural beliefs.” “Uh oh,” I … And our private-access website is held secure with air-tight features to make sure your anonymity is in the best of hands. https://thehumanist.com/magazine/january-february-2020/features/john-muirs-radical-religion-of-beauty, We've just reached a milestone of 1,000 verified non-believing clergy (current and former) participating! [13], Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, "The Wisconsin State Journal In the Spirit Column", "Unbelieving Preachers Get Help to 'Come Out' as Open Atheists", "When Religious Leaders Lose their Faith", "Atheists to start 1-800 hotline for doubters", "Groups Support Pastors, Priests Leaving the Pulpit", "The Clergy Project, an Online Community of Ex-Clergy, Reaches Membership Milestone", "Atheists Launch Scholarships for Clergy Who Want to Escape the 'Supernatural' & Abandon the Pulpit", "When God Dies: Deconversion from Theism as Analogous to the Experience of Death", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Clergy_Project&oldid=1001538819, Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 20 January 2021, at 03:42. Many of our project participants have deep privacy concerns, and for that reason, we place your security among our top tier of priorities. Posts about The Clergy Project written by FreshLA. [1][4] Though most Clergy Project participants come from various streams of Christianity, membership also includes those of Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Scientology.[5]. Our participants reside in all fifty states in the USA and over forty different countries around the globe and come from varied perspectives of culture and lifestyle. Access to the private community site is by invitation only which can be obtained by contacting the administrators at clergy@mail.clergyproject.org. Through it all The Clergy Project exists to offer you support, community, and hope. The group's focus is to provide private online forums for its participants, and assistance through career transition grants, hardship grants, and free sessions of psychotherapy. 10 taler om dette. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rationaldoubt/2019/09/the-clergy-project-has-1000-participants/. [5] Members can ask for help, seek information and find themselves in a community where they are not being judged. If you would like to support the work of The Clergy Project click here. Many of our project participants have deep privacy concerns, and for that reason, we place your security among our top tier of priorities. The Clergy Project was launched in March 2011 to create a safe and secure Online Community of Forums composed entirely of religious leaders who no longer hold to supernatural beliefs. This second study featured 30 additional participants, many of whom were individuals who had reached out to Barker over the previous twenty years. The Clergy Project (TCP) is an American non-profit organization based in Florida that helps current and former members of vocational clergy who no longer believe in the supernatural. A few of them are as follows: Presented at the American Humanist Association 74th Annual Conference, May 7-10, 2015, in Denver, Colorado. The Clergy Letter Project is a project that maintains statements in support of the teaching of evolution and collects signatures in support of letters from American Christian, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, and Buddhist clergy.The letters make reference to points raised by intelligent design proponents. We then mention that Joe was on Zachrilege Cast, on which they talked mostly about beer and sports. The Clergy Project traces its origins to the 2006 International Humanist and Ethical Union Convention in Reykjavik, Iceland, where Dan Barker, a former Christian minister, met with scientist and activist Richard Dawkins. 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. [2], 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. Tag Archives: The Clergy Project Post navigation The Damn Dark Room. https://www.npr.org/2020/01/23/798668729/supreme-court-could-be-headed-to-a-major-unraveling-of-public-school-funding, Here's an excellent essay from @americnhumanist, penned by @chrishighland, one of our own Project participants: The Clergy Project aka Compromisers. July 16, 2015 utbbpodcast Leave a comment. [6], The Richard Dawkins Foundation provided the funding and technical support needed to create and administer TCP's Online Community of Forums as well as the subsequent website ClergyProject.org, which was later launched as a marketing tool and application portal. The process of coming out of theology is often compared to experiencing the death of someone because research shows that there is a sense of loss and a real loss of community support. In January I blogged about the Humanists at The Unitarian Church in Summit.Although it’s a small group, they’re very friendly, unlike some atheist and Humanist groups I’ve had the displeasure of … Our founders first conceived of this online safe space as a platform that would allow post-belief religious leaders around the world to gather in support of one another. For even more, click here, here and here. In The Clergy Project’s Online Community, forum discussion includes everything from practical concerns like finding a new career path and discerning when and how to come out as a non-believer to one’s spouse to more philosophical conversations centered on ethics and humanism. Propelled by Research. In early 2014, the ad-hoc board decided to discontinue plans for an executive director position, instead determining that TCP would remain entirely volunteer-led without paid staff, overseen directly by a board of directors and staffed by a number of committees. Approximately one-fourth of Clergy Project participants are currently employed in their religious vocation with approximately three-fourths having transitioned out. [6] At the convention, Dawkins expressed interest in Barker's former history as a minister and in better understanding the challenges that come with leaving professional ministry, such as translating the value of a Master of Divinity degree to secular employers and the loss of community support structures. 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 have faith. So welcome. [16], Several participants entered the project while still in their religious vocation and subsequently transitioned to new careers through the help of the project, such as co-founder Carter Warden, mentioned above. Many of our project participants have deep privacy concerns, and for that reason, we place your security among our top tier of … Welcome to The Clergy Project. Access to the forum is "invitation only".[13]. Grants are distributed on a case by case basis. Anyway, clergy project... yes, there are people who, regardless of knowing the whole bible and all the rites and sermons, still manage to believe it all. If you are interested in booking one of our speakers for your conference or event please email us at press@clergyproject.org to explain your event. [3] The grant provides six months of outplacement services through RiseSmart which helps grant recipients in their search for new employment. 10 talking about this. [12], The focus of the Clergy Project is that they have a private online platform for screened and registered participants, who are "current or former religious professionals who no longer hold supernatural beliefs". 10 talking about this. He publicly announced his atheism at the Freedom From Religion Foundation Convention in Pittsburgh in October 2016.[10][15]. As of September 2019 TCP reached a milestone of 1,000 verified non-believing clergy (current and former) participating. On Sunday, March 13 at 12:45pm I’ll be speaking to the #Humanists at @SummitUU about The Clergy Project. [citation needed] Clergy and other professional religious leaders can come out "anonymously, using an alias" and avatar before they are ready to come out completely. [The Clergy Project] will not only provide guidance and support and community for those who are trapped in their pulpits, but also provide a perspective on the clerical life that might alert many idealistic young people to the dangers and dissuade them from committing themselves to such a life. The Clergy Project is a confidential online community for active and former clergy who no longer hold any belief in the supernatural. In special circumstances, the Clergy Project makes individualized hardship grants available to its forum participants. Disputed erudite, undocumented freethinker, and a devoted truth-seeker with a flare for adventure… [8] Barker had assisted them in locating three of their five original participants, and a larger study was later conducted and published as Dennett and LaScola's book Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind. Hope for a better day, for a next chapter far surpassing anything the previous could have offered. Interested in being interviewed for the Online Community? The Clergy Project does this in a very focused way. In 2012 Jerry DeWitt was dubbed the first "graduate" of the Clergy Project because he was the first member to give up his anonymity and come out publicly as an atheist, though the organization does not use the term "graduate" in any technical sense. Learn about our Online Community Participants and their struggles at, Books and Blogs: Writers at The Clergy Project, Organizations and Forums for Non-Believers, Clergy Project Milestone 1000 – The Elephant in the Room. 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