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Teresa MacBain is an American atheist activist, chairperson for The Clergy Project and a former Methodist minister. She is active in helping nontheists create alternatives to church called Sunday Assembly. MacBain is also a speaker at many humanist and atheist conventions and a writer for humanist and atheist publications and blogs. == Biography == MacBain was raised as a conservative Southern Baptist and she wanted to be a pastor like her father when she grew up. MacBain recalls that she felt that God had called her to become a pastor at an early age. MacBain eventually became the pastor of Lake Jackson United Methodist Church in Florida. During her time as a pastor, she often had questions about her faith.〔 MacBain told the ''Christian Post'' that her process of becoming an atheist was gradual. She states that she had no problems with the church structure or organization: her deconversion was "just theological."〔 She pointed to "the contradictory nature of the Bible; the lack of scientific or historical foundation or accuracy" as starting points to her questioning her faith.〔 MacBain became one of the first pastors helped by The Clergy Project. She joined in 2011 under the pseudonym "Lynn." MacBain felt less alone with the support of The Clergy Project.〔 She became their first female "graduate." She continues to be active in The Clergy Project. MacBain quit being a minister in 2012. After coming to terms with the conclusion that she did not believe in God any longer, she felt that leaving her position as pastor was the right thing to do. She "came out" publicly as an atheist at the 2012 American Atheists convention.〔 After she came out as an atheist, she says that while "an enormous number of Christians have threatened to physical harm to me. Many others have been kind in their response."〔 MacBain reported that she was also ostracized by friends and extended family, but that her husband and children were supportive.〔 American Atheists named her "Atheist of the Year" in 2012. However, she still lost her job and said that other "job interviews were cancelled" in her hometown of Tallahassee.〔 The Humanists of Florida Association helped by offering to pay her salary for a year.〔 Soon afterwards, she was hired at the director of the Humanist Community Project at Harvard.〔 She moved from Florida to the Cambridge area.〔 Her work with the Humanist Community Project was to help secular communities build connections, and if they wanted to, secular alternatives to church.〔 MacBain was part of an embarrassing controversy in 2013 when it came out that she had claimed a Masters of Divinity from Duke University on her resume to Harvard which she had never actually completed. She was quoted in saying "I have committed a grave error in judgment that I deeply regret. While I did not do anything with malice or intention to harm others, my actions were still wrong." It was true that she attended Duke, but she never received the degree she claimed on her resume.〔 After the controversy, MacBain to be active in supporting nontheists in their activities to build alternatives to church, such as helping communities create Sunday Assemblies. MacBain describes the importance of communities for secular people, "We all need a place to belong, to be accepted and supported, to celebrate life and mourn loss, and to just have fun." MacBain currently lives in Alabama. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Teresa MacBain」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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