Caught in the Pulpit ─ Leaving Belief Behind

What is it like to be a preacher or rabbi who no longer believes in God? In this expanded and updated edition of their groundbreaking study, Daniel C. Dennett and Linda LaScola comprehensively and sensitively expose an inconvenient truth that religious institutions face in the new transparency of the information age—the phenomenon of clergy who no longer believe what they publicly preach. In confidential interviews, clergy from across the ministerial spectrum—from liberal to literal—reveal how their lives of religious service and study have led them to a truth inimical to their professed beliefs and profession. Although their personal stories are as varied as the denominations they once represented, or continue to represent—whether Catholic, Baptist, Episcopalian, Methodist, Mormon, Pentecostal, or any of numerous others—they give voice not only to their own struggles but also to those who similarly suffer in tender and lonely silence. As this study poignantly and vividly reveals, their common journey has far-reaching implications not only for their families, their congregations, and their communities—but also for the very future of religion.

Daniel C. Dennett is the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University the codirector of the Center for Cognitive Studies. He is the author of numerous books, including Brainstorms, Breaking the Spell, Consciousness Explained, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, Elbow Room, Freedom Evolves, and Intuition Pumps. He lives in North Andover, Massachusetts. Linda LaScola has been a qualitative researcher for more than 25 years and has traveled around the country interviewing people on numerous subjects, including health, mental health, public policy, and religion. She lives in Washington, DC. Richard Dawkins is a Fellow of the Royal Society and was the inaugural holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair of Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He is the acclaimed author of many books, including The Ancestor’s Tale, Climbing Mount Improbable, The God Delusion, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Selfish Gene, and Unweaving the Rainbow.