Atheists to start 1-800 hotline

[rug]

The group Recovering from Religion plans to start a helpline for people struggling with religious doubts.

June 4th, 2013
03:08 PM ET
By Dan Merica, CNN

(CNN) – Who can people call when religious doubts arise, but they're afraid to talk to their faith leaders or families?

A group that helps people "recover" from religion says it's ready to pick up the phone.

Recovering from Religion, which has about 40 support groups in the U.S. and Britain, plans to launch a hotline that will offer doubters an anonymous place to ask difficult questions and find communities of like-minded nonbelievers.

The group plans to staff the help line 24 hours a day and is modeling it after services like suicide prevention hotlines.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/04/atheists-to-start-1-800-hotline/

I wonder how the conversations go.

Recovering from Religion hotline, how may I help you?

Please help me, I think there may be a God.

How long have you had these thoughts?

I don't know, they come up all the time. I found myself fingering a rosary last night.

Is there anyone you can talk to?

I tried but they all say I'm deluded. Please help! It's not meant to be like this.

There is no plan.

What?

There is no God who has a plan for you.

What?

We all live, try to do the best we can, and then die.

Can you connect me with the suicide hotline please?

[Fumesucker]

1. Nah, the conversation probably goes more like this

Recovering from religion hotline, how may I help you?

Wolf Blitzer outed me as an atheist on live national TV and now I've lost my job and my family and all my friends think I'm a Satan worshiper who eats babies. Can you help me?

We have an atheist protection program, we can give you a new identity and help you get established several states away from your former home.

Isn't there anything you can do to let me stay where I live now?

We're sorry but the prejudice against atheists by the religious is just too strong and too irrational, you'll have to move and take up a different identity and perhaps the next time you'll think twice about blurting out something that can screw up your life when harassed by the biggest loser in the history of Celebrity Jeopardy.

ETA: I read the short story version of this the other day and it made me think of Jews and atheists living in Muslim nations..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Presence_of_Mine_Enemies

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. Or you could pray "To Whom it May Concern"

That is an old Unitarian joke.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. I think this is a great idea.

And believe it or not, it is needed.

Your imaginary conversation isn't close to what the real conversation would be, since this is advertised as "support as they leave their religion". Believers are not the people who would be calling, unless they are just going to be assholes and cause problems---you know, be real "Christian". So I would not expect a caller to say "I think there may be a god"......it would be more like "I don't think there is a god anymore".

People may think that atheists are in-your-face types, but it is more likely that they have gone through a lot of soul-searching and thinking about religion and god, and have had real problems with their loss of faith. It isn't easy to lose your faith, and I love the idea that there will be a place where they can go to talk about it. No one "wants" to turn their back on their religion or their faith...it just happens.

[goldent]

4. The sample call was hilarious!

Did you write that? I didn't see it in the blog.

The thing is, I don't think people really are comfortable talking with people on the phone anymore. I think it should probably be text-based. Maybe they could have an atheist Siri who would argue with you about being agnostic.

[EvilAL]

5. This could be good for

the more 'culty' religions like Jehovah's witnesses where they will get shunned by their entire family and community for leaving the religion. They truly need support when leaving. I had a friend tell him family he was atheist and everyone just fuckin tossed him out like a piece of shit. He almost killed himself over it, everyone he grew up with and loved turned on him overnight. They still don't talk to him after 15 years.

[rug]

7. There's a few for them.

http://www.jehovahswitnessrecovery.com/

The most effective ones seem geared toward specific religions and specific experiences. Although I have yet to see a Buddhism recovery group.

[EvilAL]

8. hehehe, yeah,

but the shunning ones really get under my skin, the way they treat the 'apostates' and shit. I know about the JW sites, there are a few of them, I used to post and read on a couple of them, learned a lot about the JWs through those sites. Sifted through some bullshit of course, but that's to be expected. Those websites weren't around 15 years ago though and it's good that people have a place to go for support where others have been through the same thing.

[EvilAL]

9. A one-for-all helpline is kind of

messed up when dealing with specifics I would guess.

[rug]

10. JMO but I suspect the dissatisfaction starts with the religion one is most involved with.

If that's true, people either move on to a different more compatible one or it moves on to question the entire enterprise more generally.

If someone has reached a point of disbelief in general and it's not based on a particular religion, then I suppose this might serve as a good source or clearinghouse.

Your comment prompted me to look for ex Unitarian recovery groups. I found some posts but no real groups. http://cabaretic.blogspot.com/2007/06/confessions-of-ex-unitarian.html

I suppose the more structured a group of belief system, the more the need for a specific recovery group.

[EvilAL]

11. I agree with that.

An atheist group might be able to help one leave the religion if they have lost their faith, but if they are disenchanted with their religion but still have faith it probably wouldn't be much use for them.. If that's what you mean.

[Phillip McCleod]

6. wow the comments on the CNN religion blog are *unhinged*

so much hate pours out every time atheists do anything. i sometimes forget how awful believers on other sites can be.. thx believers here for not being like those jackholes.