Religious Leaders

[Angrboda]

Do not too skeptical on the intelligence part, there are very intelligent christians out there. That said I kind of think that when you ask religious leaders there stance on things they tend to feed you the status quo , weither they buy it or not. The reason is that these are very public people and things have a way of getting to church memebers, some of whom are often very judgemental and snotty people (every church has a few.) Not to mention religious leaders that no longer believe will find themselves in a very difficult situation: Tell the truth and lose allot(Including possibilities of physcial harm), or go along with the lie and become sick with yourself.

Daniel Dennett conducted a study in which they interviewed about a half dozen church leaders, priests and pastors, who were atheists. They no longer believed in God, yet they continued to function as church leaders and hide their atheism. The reasoning was quite simple. Being a church leader is all they're qualified to do, it's all they've trained for, and it's all they've done for many years. They have no transferable job skills, and many have financial obligations which they wouldn't be able to meet if they gave up their church positions. Moreover all their professional and social contacts are a result of their work and belief, and much of their support would be withdrawn if they revealed themselves as atheists. They basically have no viable alternative but to remain closeted.