In “Preachers Who Are Not Believers,†a report by Daniel C Dennett and Linda LaScola of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University, there are five case studies of Christian ministers who no longer identify themselves as believers – but their churches don’t know it.
Many of us have known Preachers who have left the ministry for one reason or another, many times due to some loss of faith or confidence, either in the church or even in God. But when preachers lose their faith in God and continue to preach it is a sad commentary indeed on the state of our world.
Different ones who have been interviewed for studies like this mention that they have difficulty believing in many of the extreme stories recorded for us in scripture. Are we looking for a God that we can understand with our own cognitive abilities? I certainly hope not. For any God that I can fully understand is no better than I am and I need a God that is much better than me.