Life Without God

A church member recently sent me a blog entry titled, "Life Without God." It was an interview with a United Methodist minister who had lost his faith and eventually left the church. Its been my experience that no one is immune from the "crisis of faith," not even a minister. And more then once I've had questions about certain aspects of my faith but I don't consider the questioning process to be a loss of faith. In fact, its been my experience that people don't fully own their faith until they learn to question it. It saddens me that someone who considered himself  called to ministry has concluded he's been "sold a bad set of goods." Still I don't fault a minister for losing faith. I do fault them for continuing to lead a church despite this loss of faith. To me this is dishonest, selfish, and subverts the servant role of clergy. While I understand the economics of losing one's job and the loss of face that might occur, to remain active in this role is to make a mockery of the people a minister is entrusted with. In short, it is to alternately "sell them a bad set of goods." Its been my experience that the people I serve, while far from perfect, would be genuinely concerned and supportive of a minister transferring out of a leadership role because a crisis of faith. And I think to automatically assume otherwise, is to sell short their compassion. For my part, I can't imagine life without God.