Katie J.M. Baker has an excellent article in the latest Newsweek about young New Yorkers who left their faith.

Like Jacob Link, who spent much of his youth in the grasp of his evangelical Christian megachurch… until he began to change his mind:

In middle school, Link met “real gay people” for the first time through a secular theater. “I went into that audition clasping my gold cross,” he recalls. “It was like meeting aliens.” He quickly realized his church had misconstrued homosexuality and started asking innocent questions in Bible study. After his teacher complained, Link found himself blacklisted by the community. His parents made him shave his head and do manual labor to repent, and he eventually switched schools. Link says he “zombied through” high school and landed a full scholarship to college, where he met his current girlfriend, whom he credits with helping him leave the church behind. But even she can’t understand his past as well as the people he has met through Beyond Faith, an ex-Christian support group for New Yorkers under 30 eager to leave Christianity behind.

Unlike a lot of other local atheist groups, most of the members of Beyond Faith rely on their (often-religious) families for shelter, food, and money, so coming out isn’t always a viable option. But discussing their situations with the other members has help some of them open up — slowly — to their families.

The group’s next meeting will be on December 2nd.



