Pope Francis waves from the pope-mobile during his inauguration Mass at St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday (March 19) at the Vatican. World leaders flew in for Pope Francis’ inauguration Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday where Latin America’s first pontiff will receive the formal symbols of papal power. RNS photo by Andrea Sabbadini

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In a private homily, Francis described doing good not as a matter of faith, but of “duty, it is an identity card that our Father has given to all of us, because he has made us in his image and likeness.”

Then, referring to non-Catholics and nonbelievers, he said, “if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good.”

Reaction among American nonbelievers ranged from mild surprise to warm welcome. Some say they see Francis’ remarks as a sign that nonbelief — atheism, humanism and other forms of freethought — is being normalized, while others see recognition of what they say they have known all along: Having no faith does not mean having no morality.

“We are a community that is just trying to do good and live good lives, just like most communities are,” said Greg Epstein, Harvard University’s Humanist chaplain and author of “Good Without God.” “His statement is an acknowledgment of that. It is welcome and it is gratifying.”

Epstein was struck by the contrast of Francis’ remarks and Tuesday’s broadcast of an interview by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer of an Oklahoma tornado victim. When Blitzer asked the woman if she wanted to thank God for her family’s survival, she replied she is an atheist.

“You have this small example of this soft-spoken young mother who is recovering from the tornado who by her presence, her quiet dignity, not only exemplified what the pope was saying, but overshadowed him,” Epstein said. “The quiet dignity of her just being a person and so clearly a good and loving person, it makes my reaction, and I would think a lot of people’s reaction (to Francis’ remarks), ‘Well, of course.’”

Dale McGowan is an author and executive director of Foundation Beyond Belief, a nontheistic charitable organization. He was recently enlisted to write “Atheism for Dummies,” the first book about nontheists from the “Dummies” series of books. RNS photo courtesy of Dale McGowan

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Dale McGowan also affirmed the pope’s recognition of nonbelievers. His Foundation Beyond Belief collects funds from nonbelievers and distributes them to charities and relief organizations and organizes teams of secular volunteers. To date, Foundation Beyond Belief has raised more than $35,000 for victims of the Oklahoma tornado.

“Anything that decreases the mistrust and fear between people is a good thing,” he said. “Some people might say it contradicts past statements (of other popes), but I don’t care about any of that. It is terrific when a position evolves to where we can put division behind us, and this is an example of that and I think it is great.”

D.J. Grothe, president of the James Randi Education Foundation, an organization of skeptics, said he hears echoes of the landmark Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) in Francis’ remarks. And while he takes issue with some policies of the Catholic Church — the promotion of miracles, the opposition to contraception — the pope’s address was nonetheless “refreshing.”

Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, was a vocal opponent of secularism and unbelief, even as he approved a new initiative called “Courtyard of the Gentiles” to engage in dialogue with nonbelievers and linked arms with outspoken Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, an atheist who saw trouble in the growth of European Islam.

“I don’t see that disdain for nonbelief that was so apparent before” in other popes, Grothe said. “He is really talking about what I would call humanism — the ethical approach to making the world a better place without recourse to supernatural beliefs.”

In the same homily, Francis said all people, “even the atheists,” are “redeemed” through “the Blood of Christ” — the Christian belief that the sins of humanity are wiped clean through the crucifixion of Jesus. The inclusion of atheists in a belief they do not share seemed to raise few hackles.

“He was using his own language and speaking from his own beliefs,” McGowan said, a statement echoed by others. “That is not the point. The point is he is saying, ‘I don’t fear you,’ and I think that is a lovely thing.”

KRE/AMB END WINSTON

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VJ Day – World War II. Religion News Service file photo

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The study also found that when service members were fearful in combat, they reported prayer was a better motivator for getting them through it than several other factors, including the broader goals of the war.

Researchers say the study, which will be published in a future edition of the Journal of Religion and Health, has implications for health professionals, counselors and clergy who work with veterans with more recent service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The most important thing is that the more veterans disliked the war, the more religious they were 50 years later,” said Craig Wansink, a professor of religious studies at Virginia Wesleyan College and co-author of the study with his brother, Brian Wansink, a professor of consumer behavior at Cornell University.

“And the takeaway is that for people who work with combat veterans, if veterans have had a bad experience, it is clear that one alternative that has helped people understand the world or find a common community has been religion.”

Using the front of a jeep for an altar, Roman Catholic chaplain Joseph Kenny celebrates Mass for men of the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, before they depart France for the field in Belgium, January 6, 1945. Photo courtesy U.S. Arm Chaplain Museum, Fort Jackson, South Carolina

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The study, titled “Are There Atheists in Foxholes? Combat Intensity and Religious Behavior,” also found that:

• As combat became more frightening, the percentage of soldiers who reported praying rose from 42 percent to 72 percent.
• After the war, soldiers who faced heavy combat attended church 21 percent more often if they felt their war experience was negative; soldiers who described their war experience as positive attended 26 percent less often.
• In general, religious behavior was high among all World War II veterans surveyed — approximately 69 percent were church members and reported attending services slightly more than three times per month.

The study was conducted with both old and new data, including data collected from U.S. Army service members in the Pacific in 1944 and from surveys the authors sent to surviving veterans more than 50 years later.

Brian Wansink said that while it is not surprising that service members in the heat of battle prayed — World War II journalist Ernie Pyle made the famous quip about atheists in foxholes that’s in the study’s name — it is important that those who work with veterans not overlook the impact of faith during and after combat.

“Religious involvement could help these people,” he said. “One reason it may have been so effective in the past is that religion is a very social experience, and that might be healing of itself because these are people who developed strong social bonds with their units and strong commitments to their comrades. That might be missing from current strategies in helping recent soldiers cope with stress.”

Jewish military chaplain Captain Robert S. Marcus conducts outdoor services at the Siegfried Line in Germany, amid “dragon’s teeth” ani-tank barriers, on November 3, 1944. Photo courtesy U.S. Army Chaplain Museum, Fort Jackson, South Carolina

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The authors spent 12 years working on the study — three times as long as the U.S. involvement in World War II — and were influenced by respect for their father, a member of the so-called “Greatest Generation” who fought in the war.

“The takeaway for us is that the best thing you can do on Memorial Day is call that father or great uncle who is a veteran and wish him a happy Memorial Day,” Brian Wansink said.

KRE/AMB END WINSTON

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Embassy of Bangladesh in Washington, D.C. photo courtesy thisisbossi via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/9ftDdZ)

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A coalition of secularist advocacy groups originally planned to rally in London and several cities in the U.S. and Canada over the arrests of four atheist bloggers who were charged with blasphemy in the officially Muslim nation.

Some of the protests were postponed until May 2 after Bangladesh declared Thursday a day of mourning for the victims of Wednesday’s collapse.

Thursday’s rallies in Washington D.C., New York and Columbia, Mo. were scheduled to go on as planned, but rallies in London, Ottawa, Calgary, Toronto and Dhaka were pushed back until May 2.

The U.S. groups — led by American Atheists and the Secular Coalition for America — decided to continue with protests as originally planned, while the International Humanist and Ethical Union, the U.S. and Canadian branches of the Center for Inquiry, and the British Humanist Association decided to postpone.

“My decision to continue … is based on the fact that I feel this is an urgent problem,” American Atheists’ president David Silverman said. “People are in jail for doing nothing but self expression, and that is wholly immoral. This protest is weeks in the making, international in scope, and we aren’t canceling it because of an impromptu day of mourning imposed by the very people imprisoning atheists like us.”

Paul Fidalgo, director of communications for CFI, said the decision to postpone the rallies was difficult, and involved consideration of embassy and consulate workers who might have friends and relatives who are victims of the collapse.

“With their feelings in mind, and the fact that the officials’ attentions would be so firmly on their own country’s disaster, we thought it best to move the protest later to when it would have more of its own space,” he wrote on CFI’s website.

“And we also support the decision of those who opted to go ahead today. We all believe deeply in defending the right (to) freedom of expression.”

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The rallies are in support of four Bangladeshi men arrested earlier this month for “hurting religious sentiments,” a crime tied to an 1860 law that can carry up to 10 years in jail.

The four men — all bloggers — staged a sit-in at a public square demanding a ban on the country’s largest Islamic political party; Islam is the official state religion in Bangladesh.

Supporters of the party launched a march in response and demanded the arrest of the bloggers, who they termed atheists and anti-Islamic. The bloggers remain in custody, but denied that they are atheists, according to a CNN reporter at the scene.

The rallies are being organized by the Center for Inquiry, American Atheists and the International Humanist and Ethical Union. They will be held outside Bangladeshi institutions in New York, Washington, London; the Canadian cities of Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver; and in a public park in Columbia, Mo.

“We are trying to show the Bangladeshi government that there are a lot of people in the U.S. and around the world who care about the right to freedom of expression and the plight of the bloggers and others they have put in jail for speaking their minds,” said Michael De Dora, director of public policy for the Center for Inquiry, a humanist and skeptic organization.

De Dora said he has been in touch with several people in Bangladesh who know the arrested men and has been told that they all identify as atheists.

“The government has an interest in calling them atheists,” he said, because it would then be easier to convict them of blasphemy. “But my sources in Bangladesh tell me they are all atheists, though at different levels of outspokenness.”

The alliance of three groups representing humanists, skeptics and atheists in the protests is “historical,” De Dora said, and may mark a new level of cooperation in the nonreligious community, which has had some past difficulty in organizing.

“Although we agree on many issues, we don’t always have the same approach,” De Dora said. “Hopefully we will show people there is wide agreement among this community that freedom of expression is a universal human right.”

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“You’ve shown us, Boston, that in the face of evil, Americans will lift up what’s good. In the face of cruelty, we will choose compassion,” Obama said.

The 90-minute service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross featured local political figures and religious leaders from Christian, Jewish and Islamic traditions. Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley shared a greeting with the congregants from Pope Francis.

“The Holy Father invokes God’s peace upon our dead, consolation upon the suffering and God’s strength upon all those engaged in the continuing work of relief and response,” O’Malley said.

Obama opened his remarks with Scripture, and quoted it throughout his speech.

“Scripture teaches us, ‘God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.’ And that’s the spirit you’ve displayed in recent days,” Obama said.

Obama said that for millions of Americans, the attacks on Boston were personal. “Every one of us has been touched by the attack on your beloved city. Every one of us stands with you,” he said.

The president also encouraged those who were injured: “You will walk again,” he said.

“This time next year, on the third Monday in April, the world will return to this great American city to run harder than ever and cheer even louder for the 118^th Boston Marathon. Bet on it,” Obama declared to rousing applause.

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Texas-based duo Smythe and Taylor sing songs with an uplifting message at a meeting of Houston Oasis, a community for nonbelievers. RNS photo by Kimberly Winston

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In the so-called “atheist churches” that have popped up across the globe in the last year — there are Sunday morning gatherings for nonbelievers in London, Houston, Boston and Calgary, Canada, with more planned for New York and Melbourne, Australia — music plays as central a role as it does in many churches and synagogues.

The intention of the music is similar: to uplift the mind and the spirit of listeners and prepare them for the meaningful message at the heart of the gathering.

• READ: Atheists find a Sunday morning connection with other nonbelievers

At London’s Sunday Assembly, which attracts as many as 300 people and frequently turns people away at the door, the music has included songs by Queen and Stevie Wonder. At Houston Oasis, a community of nonbelievers established last fall, there are covers of popular songs, rewritten renditions of old songs and original music as well.

“We say we are a community grounded in reason, and music is a part of that,” said Mike Aus, Houston Oasis’ founder, leader and a former Lutheran pastor. “The music we include is intended to inspire and improve your life somehow.”

A recent Houston Oasis gathering that drew 80 people featured the singing of Smythe and Taylor, a Texas-based award-winning musical duo who performed John Waite’s “Missing You,” James Taylor’s “The Frozen Man” and their own “Heaven’s Not the Great Beyond,” about an encounter with a homeless man who may — or may not — be Jesus.

“‘Hey, Man, what’s the secret,’ I yelled as he faded from my view,” sang TC Smythe, the female half of the pair. “He said, ‘Treat a stranger like a friend, my friend, just do what you can do. And live your life full every day, and one more thing before I fly, If you want to get to heaven, don’t wait until you die.’”

Smythe, who books musical performers for each of Houston Oasis’ Sunday morning gatherings, said she looks for music that “fits the mission of the organization” and she always tells the guest musicians that they will be playing to a crowd of atheists, humanists and agnostics.

“I don’t tell them what to play, but I do try to make sure they leave the hymnal at home because it would not be as well-received,” she said. “I say, ‘Sing a love song, a good story or something that you are proud of.’ We are not here to give glory to God; that’s not our purpose.”

Which is not to say that the music at Oasis doesn’t have a purpose, she said. In fact, it’s not much different than traditional church music.

“The value of the music is to add punctuation to the flow of events,” Smythe said. “It does prepare the room to listen to something. It makes the room very respectful, and that is what we are after.”

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Mike Aus, founder and leader of Houston Oasis, a community for nonbelievers, welcomes people to a Sunday morning gathering that borrows some of the forms of church. RNS photo by Kimberly Winston

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But the 80 or so attendees at this new weekly gathering for nonbelievers come for many of the same reasons that others pack churches in this heavily Christian corner of the Bible Belt — a sense of community and an uplifting message that will help them tackle the challenges of the coming week, and, maybe, the rest of their lives.

“Just because you don’t believe in God does not mean you do not need to get together in community and draw strength from that,” said Mike Aus, a onetime Lutheran pastor who is now an atheist and founder of Houston Oasis.

“We are open to any message about life as long as no dogmatic claims are made.”

• READ: Atheists embrace Sunday-morning music

Still, inside the conference room in a nondescript office building on the city’s west side, it’s hard to ignore the structural similarities to a Sunday morning church service. There is live music played and performed by members that is intended to spur reflection as well as entertain; a collection is taken up in a passed wicker basket.

A banner taped to a window declared what might be called Houston Oasis’ creed. It pointedly says “we think,” not “we believe”:

“People are more important than beliefs.

Only human hands can solve human problems.

Reality is known through reason, not revelation.

Meaning comes from making a difference.

Labels are unimportant.  

Everyone should be accepted wherever they are as long as they are accepting in turn.”

The day’s message, delivered on a recent Sunday by Ray Hill, a former Baptist pastor and a longtime activist for civil and gay rights, would not have been out of place in many churches. All human beings, he said, regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation are of equal worth and deserving of respect.

Texas-based duo Smythe and Taylor sing songs with an uplifting message at a meeting of Houston Oasis, a community for nonbelievers. RNS photo by Kimberly Winston

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“Humans go out of this world the same way that they come in,” Hill wrapped up, as the room erupted in applause.

Afterwards, attendees gather for coffee at the back of the room before moving on to lunch at a nearby restaurant. There are plans for a kind of summer vacation Bible school for kids — minus the Bible, of course — and a charitable blood drive.

But don’t call this an “atheist church,” Aus insisted. He and other founding members are aiming for something new — a community that looks to nurture the common human qualities that can unite people.

“Homo sapiens is a tribal species; we thrive in community,” he said. “There are elements of church life that serve human needs but transcend church life, like the need to gather, the need to be together. We can offer those in a secular way.”

That offer is getting a healthy number of takers — attendance averages 70 people, but has hit 100. Twice during a recent gathering, volunteers had to bring in additional chairs to accommodate latecomers, and some attendees reported driving over an hour to get there.

It’s a diverse crowd, ranging from high school to retirement age and including a number of African-Americans, Latinos and Asians. They came in casual attire, in tune with the jeans and black turtleneck Aus was wearing.

Houston Oasis is part of a growing trend. Atheists and other nonbelievers have long gathered for events with meaning and music, but in the last year, a number of nontheistic groups have initiated Sunday morning events that include elements of a standard church service.

Sunday mornings at Houston Oasis may have the look and feel of a church, but there’s no cross, Bible, hymnal or stained glass depictions of Jesus. There’s also nary a trace of doctrine, dogma or theology. RNS photo by Kimberly Winston

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The largest is London’s Sunday Assembly, which meets in a former church and has been turning away people due to lack of space since its launch in January. There are plans to establish Sunday Assemblies in New York and Melbourne, Australia. Calgary Secular Church meets in Calgary, Canada, and several humanist communities associated with large U.S. universities have regular Sunday morning events.

Chris Stedman, author of “Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious,” said the Harvard Humanist Community, where he is an assistant chaplain, has begun to incorporate more churchlike elements in its Sunday gatherings at the request of attendees, including reflections and inspirational readings.

“There is a lot to be gained by looking at the forms of religion and in the ways that people make meaning and assemble a community,” Stedman said. “As a movement, I think we will struggle to appeal to people who are leaving religion if we cannot offer them the structures that religion has offered them. People need to come together and talk about meaning and value.”

At Houston Oasis, members stress that any similarities to a church service are secondary, at best. If fact, it’s what second-timer Katherine Alspaugh likes least.

“What I like about it,” she said, “is to look around and see there are this many people who believe the way I believe and I am not alone.”

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Ten years after her mysterious disappearance in August 1995, the legacy of activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair still influences atheists in America today. She was known for her role in the landmark 1963 Supreme Court decision in Murray vs. Curlett, which, combined with Abington vs. Schempp, ended prayer in public schools across the U.S. and turned her into the self- described “most hated woman in America.” She is depicted here in a Religion News Service file photo from the 1970s.

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New Jersey-based American Atheists, the group O’Hair founded here in 1963 to further the separation of church and state, is marking its 50th anniversary with a three-day convention that’s expected to draw more than 900 people in its former hometown.

There’s O’Hair memorabilia up for auction, including a doll made in her grandmotherly image and a sampler she stitched and signed. Attendees were given T-shirts that bear one of her quotes: “An atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that deed must be done instead of prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated.”

But the annual Easter weekend convention is more than an in-your-face slap at religious America. It is also a delicate balancing act between past glories and future goals, and a search for the fine line between the group’s image as the angry bulldog of secular organizations and its need to attract younger nonbelievers, including many who do not see religion as a foe.

David Silverman, president of American Atheists, addresses the Reason Rally on March 24 on the National Mall in Washington. RNS photo by Tyrone Turner

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‘We are the grumpy atheists’

“We are the bad guys,” American Atheists President David Silverman said to about 80 people at a pre-conference dinner overlooking Lady Bird Lake on Thursday (March 28).

“We are the grumpy atheists who say you can’t use dead cops as a shield to put up a cross at Ground Zero and the fact that you are religious shouldn’t get you out of paying taxes.”

Being the grumpy bad guy is in the organization’s DNA. O’Hair gained notoriety as the mother of the plaintiff in Murray v. Curlett, the 1963 Supreme Court case that ended Bible recitation in public schools. Over the next 30 years, she filed dozens of lawsuits against everything from “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency to “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

At a time when people rarely admitted to nonbelief, O’Hair became the face of atheism for a generation. A year after she founded American Atheists, Life magazine gave her the “most hated” title and she embraced it until her death in 1995. She, her son and granddaughter were murdered by a former American Atheists employee after being forced to withdraw funds from organization accounts. Their dismembered bodies were found on a ranch south of Austin in 2001.

Silverman, who became president in 2010, also embraces the role of provocateur, calling himself, “America’s loudest heathen.” He makes frequent radio and television appearances where he happily challenges religious symbols on public land, tax exemption for religious organizations and the inclusion of a cross in plans for the Ground Zero memorial.

“I do think there is a role for me that maybe I inherited from Madalyn,” he said before the convention. “It is to not be politically correct. If I don’t challenge the efficacy or the legitimacy of religion, nobody else will, and somebody has to challenge that.”

That challenge has potential pitfalls. American Atheists membership is 4,000, Silverman said — a small sliver of the 2.4 percent of Americans who identified as atheists in a 2012 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Less strident groups are larger: the Freedom from Religion Foundation claims more than 19,000 members, and the American Humanist Association claims 40,000.

American Atheists president David Silverman addresses organization members at a fundraising dinner at the group’s 50th annual convention in Austin. RNS photo by Kimberly Winston

A ‘forum to vent’

Phil Zuckerman, a professor of sociology at Pitzer College and an expert on secularism, said that while he applauds the passion and purpose of O’Hair’s acolytes, they do not represent mainstream atheism.

“There is a place for American Atheists, definitely, but clearly, most atheists are not angry, do not hate religion and do not need a forum to vent,” he said. “I think the fact that their numbers are so low shows that the strident, aggressive version of atheism is a distinct minority.”

While he respects other “softer” nontheistic organizations, Silverman argues that his organization’s aggressiveness is critical to advancing the broader acceptance of atheism in the U.S.

“They do not serve the need of overtly defying religion to its face,” he said, ahead of his announcement Friday that the group plans to open its first-ever office in Washington. “We are smaller, but we need to be heard.”

One of the ways it does that is by filing multiple lawsuits. Recent targets include roadside crosses, the National Day of Prayer, a cross at Ground Zero and, of course, displays of the Ten Commandments and creches on public property. Some legal scholars say the short-term victories often result in rulings that are later overturned.

“American Atheists and the Freedom from Religion Foundation make a lot of bad law by exercising so little judgment about what claims they file,” said Douglas Laycock, a professor of law and religious studies at the University of Virginia.

“(It’s) not clear whether any other tactics would be more effective. What they’re doing doesn’t seem to be helping. On the other hand, nonbelief is clearly increasing in numbers and visibility, and that is making a difference.”

Another challenge for American Atheists is that the “average atheist” is increasingly younger. Pew’s 2012 poll showed one-third of Americans under 30 are now religiously unaffiliated, an all-time high. Yet American Atheists — and many other nontheist organizations — remains largely white, male and older.

A Madalyn Murray O’Hair doll up for auction greets attendees at American Atheists’ 50th annual convention in Austin. RNS photo by Kimberly Winston

“It is a problem,” Silverman said. “I think what has to happen is that minorities need to be solicited to, they need to be pulled in, otherwise we will stay a white guy movement, and that is not representative of this country.”

To that end, American Atheists placed its first-ever Spanish language billboard in Austin this month — not for the first time — included African-American and Hispanic nontheists in its convention speaker lineup.

“It is a different world since Madalyn,” Silverman said, “and it is a different world because of Madalyn.”

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Teresa MacBain of Tallahassee, Fla. was a Methodist pastor for 10 years, in March of 2012 she spoke at the American Atheist convention and announced she no longer believed in God. MacBain left her position as senior pastor at Lake Jackson United Methodist Church in Tallahassee, a post she held for 3.5 years, prior to speaking at the conference. Photograph taken in Tallahassee, FLa. on April 19, 2012. RNS photo by Colin Hackley Photo

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Last March, MacBain, now 45, stood at a podium before hundreds of people in a Maryland hotel ballroom at the national convention of American Atheists and told them that, after a lifetime as a Christian and 15 years as a pulpit pastor, she had lost her faith.

• From the RNS archives: For clergy, lost faith can lead to lost jobs, family

Her coming out was national news, and she expected it would cost her her position as pastor of a United Methodist church, and she expected she might lose some friends and family members. In the last year, she has lost all those things.

But there have been gains, too, including a new career, the embrace of a new community that she had been taught to distrust and a newfound sense of confidence.

This week, on the day the old Teresa MacBain would have marked as Good Friday, she will return to the American Atheists convention, in Austin, Texas, to deliver a talk she describes as “a road map of the last 12 months.”

If there are any pastors there who find themselves perched on the edge of going public with their own loss of faith as she did, she will have some advice to give them.

“Go for it, but be prepared,” MacBain said from her home in Tallahassee, Fla. “They should be prepared for unexpected love and acceptance from the freethought community and they should be prepared for the worst from friends and family and people you would have never imagined.

“They need to have their mind ready ahead of time to look for the small pieces of joy and the small victories and hold on to them because that is what will get them through.”

There have been many such small joys and victories in the last year, MacBain said. Chief among them is the acceptance she found in the local freethought community — atheists, humanists and other nonbelievers — after her former church fired her and locked her out of the building.

“The freethought community just wrapped its arms around us,” she said. “Not just me, but my whole family.”

That includes her two adult sons and her husband, who is still a Christian and stood by MacBain through her change of heart. He has become a regular at weekly freethought meetings where she said his beliefs are respected.

• LISTEN: From minister to atheist: A story of losing faith (NPR)

There has been a broader acceptance, too. Not long after coming out, MacBain was hired by American Atheists as communications director — a job she loved, but had to give up when her husband couldn’t find a job near the group’s headquarters in New Jersey. MacBain returned to Tallahassee earlier this year and is now the executive director of the Humanists of Florida Association, which has about 500 members.

While she no longer believes in the divinity of Jesus, she has not lost faith in what she calls “the philosophy of Christ.” Leaving religion does not mean she has left morality, she said. She still adheres to the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule and other moral teachings common to many world religions.

And she has found a new way to use her pastoral skills in the phone calls and emails she receives from people who have also lost their faith but are afraid to openly acknowledge it. “They say, ‘I heard your story and I am in a rough spot and I don’t know what to do.’ I am really happy that I am able to help them. That is part of the reason I became a pastor.”

Catherine Dunphy is the executive director of The Clergy Project, a support network for pastors who are questioning or have lost their faith and may be looking to transition out of a religious environment. She called MacBain a successful example to the project’s 425 members.

“It is a big upheaval,” Dunphy said. “She had to make a space for herself. It is not just a change of career, it is a change of lifestyle and there is grieving that goes hand in hand with it.”

MacBain knows that all too well. For almost every gain, there has been a loss. The biggest, for her, has been the many friendships she lost, some decades long.

“I don’t think anybody is ever prepared for that,” she said. “It is something I still deal with. When you care for somebody, the caring doesn’t go away because they have removed themselves from your life. That does not happen. Those have been very hard things for me.”

Another low: the emails, messages and phone calls from people who wish her harm. Anonymous people have threatened her with violence and rape.

“I had to shut down one of my email accounts because I could not stand to open it anymore,” she said. “I was a mess.”

And when she lost her faith, she also lost the tools with which she managed her life.

“For me, religion was everything, my entire world,” she said. “All my friendships, connections, family, all the places I went to deal with difficulties, to do good works, to find resources to raise kids — everything was contained within that environment. I miss that social connectivity, that network.”

Now, she said, she is reassembling that sense of connectivity in the freethought community. She travels to speak to atheist, humanist and other nontheistic groups nationwide, sharing her story.

“In the past, everything I accomplished I felt was a gift from God,” she said. “But I have learned that those things are actually who I am and skills I have, not something that has been mystically appointed to me.”

And that, she said, is something she does not expect to lose.

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Vlad Chituc, 23, stirs Quinoa Tabbouleh near an already-made portobello burger at his apartment in Durham, N.C., Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Chituc, an atheist, is participating in Lent by converting from vegetarian to vegan, something he hopes to continue indefinitely as an act of good morals and good health. RNS photo by Ted Richardson

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They have given up alcohol, animal products, and various Internet and cellphone interactions. One has vowed to make a daily Lenten practice of telling those he encounters how important they are to him.

But their observance of the 40-day period in which many Christians abstain from worldly desires in a bid to come closer to God has upset some atheists who say borrowing religious traditions is antithetical to nontheism.

The exercise has also illustrated a divide in the nontheist community –  between older atheists who see religion as inherently evil and younger atheists who are more open to interactions with religious belief.

“I really like the idea of Lent,” said Chelsea Link, 23, a Boston-based Humanist who is abstaining from alcohol. “It’s giving yourself a set amount of time to break a bad habit or form a new good one, and that seems like a really healthy practice. But we are not doing it because God told us to; we are doing it because there is a benefit to us.”

The idea of atheist Lent came from Vlad Chituc, a 23-year-old atheist blogger, who was inspired by the Swiss-born Humanist Alain de Botton, whose recent book, “Religion for Atheists,” suggests adapting religious rituals can create community and meaning among nonbelievers.

Vlad Chituc, 23, prepares Quinoa Tabbouleh and a portobello burger at his apartment in Durham, N.C., Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Chituc, an atheist, is participating in Lent by converting from vegetarian to vegan, something he hopes to continue indefinitely as an act of good morals and good health. RNS photo by Ted Richardson

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“Religions have been working on how to live as good human beings for thousands of years,” Chituc said. “So it made sense to me that they have figured out some stuff that those of us trying to live good secular lives can learn from.”

Chituc observed his first Lent last year by eating a vegan diet. His success was limited, but he was inspired by the mindfulness of the experience.

“Atheists love to talk about abstract intellectual values like logic and reason,” he said, “but I realized that there were other things I needed to think about and I started being more aware of them.”

This year, Chituc, a lab manager in Durham, N.C., invited several fellow atheist bloggers to join him in observing Lent. A half dozen agreed, and they are tracking the experience on the blog NonProphet Status. All but one are under the age of 25.

Their posts have upset some atheists, including Tom Flynn, executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism. He wrote an online column refuting the idea and calling Lent, “one of the most profoundly anti-humanistic features of Christianity.”

In a telephone interview, Flynn singled out Lent as dangerous because it suggests atonement can be gained by giving something up — like meat on Fridays — instead of by making amends to those who have been wronged. And because atheists are not bound to a liturgical calendar, they can practice abstention any time.

Vlad Chituc, 23, gets ready to eat his Quinoa Tabbouleh and portobello burger, much to the interest of his dog “Toad”, at his apartment in Durham, N.C., Wednesday, March 13, 2013. RNS photo by Ted Richardson

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“More broadly, we have to be cautious in borrowing traditions and forms from the churches,” Flynn said. “There is an awful lot in congregational practices that hark back to an earlier pre-democratic, pre-Enlightenment time and that can bring a lot of baggage that is contrary to secular ideals.”

Chituc, meanwhile, is unimpressed with that argument. Instead, he is concerned he might offend religious observers of Lent.

“They might think it is trivializing to say all Lent is about is giving something up,” he said. “It is obviously more than that to them, so I am trying to say we are not trying to capture the meaning of your tradition, we are trying to make the most of our lives, and we have found something meaningful and useful in what you are doing.”

Virginia Kimball, a Catholic theologian at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., who mentors people in Lenten practices, sees nothing wrong in atheists borrowing Lent. The desire to find meaning in ritual, she said, is a universal human desire.

“I give every credit to these young people who are humanists and atheists because they are sensing that human life is more than just animal processes and that is worthy of the great philosophers,” she said.

Chris Stedman, author of “Faitheist,” a memoir of his journey from evangelical Christianity to atheism, has joined Chituc in observing Lent. He thinks young atheists are more accepting of religious forms and believers than their older counterparts because they have grown up in a more diverse environment than previous generations.

“So it does not surprise (me) when I see people under 30 who identify as atheists and yet are curious about the religious beliefs and practices of their peers,” Stedman said. “I think this is a trend, that we are going to see more interactions between religious believers and atheists and I think we’ll also see more borrowing from the religious traditions.”

Link, the Boston Humanist who’s giving up alcohol, agrees. She said she is distancing herself from organized atheism because of the hostility she feels it exhibits towards religion.

“I think there is definitely a transition going on,” she said. “A lot of younger atheists are saying, ‘I don’t believe in God either, but I don’t understand why you are foaming at the mouth about it.’”

The post After giving up religion, atheists try giving up something else for Lent appeared first on Religion News Service.