VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Broga|DATE|1357665627|CONTENT|@Graham:   Thanks for the links.  What a dilemma for the atheist clergy.  Declare themselves, alienate friends and family, be out ot a job or preach what they do not believe.  I suspect there are a great many covert clerical atheists who just feel they have to live with their mental and emotional pain.  As they are intelligent men and women, certainly literate, the numbers must surely grow with so many best selling atheist books becoming available.  

I remember many years ago asking a clergyman if he believed the story of the animals being in the Ark.  Not only was he dismissive of this but he said that if he preached what he studied and discussed in theological college his congregation would never let him appear in the pulpit.  We probably often have the interesting situation where on secularism the clergy are increasingly ahead of their flock who prefer the same comforting mantras without applying any thought to what they are supposedly signing up to. |EMAIL|denis.watkins1@virgin.net|IP-ADDRESS|82.26.189.120|MODERATIONFLAG|