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! _________________________________________ The video of when Dan and Annie met on Oprah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-zbZWL6Sis Dan's Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001KIS5DU/allbooks Freedom From Religion Foundation https://ffrf.org/ FFRF's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UC28jWiP7HV6mBBW3C8AXuEg The Clergy Project https://clergyproject.org/ Godless Gospel YouTube videos https://www.youtube.com/@FFRForg/search?query=godless%20gospel The Freethought Caucus https://huffman.house.gov/freethought-caucus _________________________________________ 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] _________________________________________ Your support for my channel, Harmonic Atheist, is needed and appreciated! One time PayPal: paypal.me/harmonictim Venmo: @harmonicatheist Zelle email: [email protected] GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-tim-stay-full-time-on-harmonic-atheist Monthly https://www.patreon.com/harmonicatheist Thanks! --Tim _________________________________________ Ending music by Kazuya / Eyal Raz, "Friends" https://artlist.io/royalty-free-music/song/friends/2825 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qbqNO6DdAQ _________________________________________ If you are facing emotional distress, please call 911 or the National Suicide Hotline 1-800-273-8255.