A quick recap: For twenty-five years, Jerry DeWitt was a deep south Pentacostal evangelical preacher. A little over two years ago, he became an open atheist. As a result, his home town of DeRidder, Louisiana, has been rather unforgiving: friends deserted him, most of his family shunned him, his wife left him, he was kicked out of his ministry, fired from his secular job and he is still struggling to hold on to his house after bankruptcy. He regularly receives hate mail and threats. Walking away from his fundamentalist Christian faith was not a trivial decision.

Over the next two years, DeWitt became the first graduate of The Clergy Project, is the former Executive Director of Recovering From Religion, and wrote a fascinating book about his experiences as he lost his belief in God but rediscovered his faith in humanity as an atheist. Please join me in welcoming Jerry DeWitt to C&L where our readership can engage in real time questions and answers.