NOM

Over the weekend I was in NYC with DW to watch a play called The Unbelieving. I may have mentioned it before but I was interviewed when I was a bishop about 10-11 years ago by a researcher who was researching clergy who had lost their faith. A fellow NOM member back then through NOM messaged me and got me in contact with her. She wrote a book a few years later (with Dan Dennett who is known as one of the "four horsemen of atheism" and very well known professor/scholar) and then recently it has been made into a play and I was invited to the premier.

It was a really powerful experience watching an actor play me and use my own words as his lines. It was also amazing to see the different experiences of various other clergy of other religions and how there is so much commonality with those experiences. I had read the book (Caught In The Pulpit) obviously, but seeing it in a theatrical way was extremely surreal and powerful. It was a window into my life here on NOM over a decade ago when I first discovered issues about the church in a new way.

Here is a review of the play:

https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-off-b ... h-20221028

Stealth, your participation here at NOM all these years has been invaluable to so many of us. I always feel a sense of loss when posters move on and stop participating. I felt that for the short time you were away only to find a sense of happiness and joy when you came back! Especially with the news that your wife has joined you and is working her way out. It’s been a long decade for a lot of us, sometimes with a sense of no hope. However, your shared experiences have always been a bright spot. Thank you (and everyone) for participating here.

I wish I could go see this in person. Or hope someday it will come out on VHS, DVD, or Netflix.

Red Ryder wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:05 am Stealth, your participation here at NOM all these years has been invaluable to so many of us. I always feel a sense of loss when posters move on and stop participating. I felt that for the short time you were away only to find a sense of happiness and joy when you came back! Especially with the news that your wife has joined you and is working her way out. It’s been a long decade for a lot of us, sometimes with a sense of no hope. However, your shared experiences have always been a bright spot. Thank you (and everyone) for participating here.

I wish I could go see this in person. Or hope someday it will come out on VHS, DVD, or Netflix.

Thanks a lot RR! This place feels like home. It's good to be back. I can't believe how fast time has flown!

Red Ryder wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:05 am Stealth, your participation here at NOM all these years has been invaluable to so many of us.

Amen!

Red Ryder wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:05 am I wish I could go see this in person. Or hope someday it will come out on VHS, DVD, or Netflix.

Amen and amen!

Red Ryder wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:05 am Stealth, your participation here at NOM all these years has been invaluable to so many of us. I always feel a sense of loss when posters move on and stop participating. I felt that for the short time you were away only to find a sense of happiness and joy when you came back! Especially with the news that your wife has joined you and is working her way out. It’s been a long decade for a lot of us, sometimes with a sense of no hope. However, your shared experiences have always been a bright spot. Thank you (and everyone) for participating here.

I wish I could go see this in person. Or hope someday it will come out on VHS, DVD, or Netflix.

Perfectly stated! Stealth has added SO much to this forum since he arrived years ago (and was a Bishop at the time).

What an awesome experience to attend this in NY, Stealth and what an amazing journey you've been on....so far
More to come, I'm sure....



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Awesomeness!
It's been a very strange experience to grow up in a cult, so many years dedicated to the tribe, then face up to the big slap. It's definitely an experience many will never have and it's worth while to share it. I hope I get to see this play someday!

I wept when I watched "Under the Banner of Heaven", the scene where he was out in the garage in his car late at night, agonizing in cogdis in the midst of his faith crisis. It's a high level of mental anguish and pain I'd experienced that all came rushing back. I think it's important we share these things openly when given the right opportunity. Thanks you for sharing yours Stealth!

Thanks so much everyone! Very much appreciated.

I really felt that NOM is a part of this story because it would not have happened without NOM.

I'm also really excited to share that the play made it into the NYT as the critics pick with another great review:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/01/thea ... eview.html

stealthbishop wrote: ↑Wed Nov 02, 2022 10:53 am I'm also really excited to share that the play made it into the NYT as the critics pick with another great review:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/01/thea ... eview.html

Very exciting. Go Team NOM!

Thanks for sharing the review, Stealth.

the enormous fear of being cast out and the frantic desire to continue belonging, even if that means living dishonestly.

Boy, that's what it's all about, isn't it?