Atheists Plan Live Hotline for Religious Doubters

Operators will tailor their advice to each caller's needs and even suggest alternative faiths to ease doubters' troubled conscience.

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Atheists already have a Facebook page, a Twitter feed and support groups for their fellow non-believers. Soon doubters who are lying awake at night wondering if there is a God will be able to call a 24/7 hotline run by an atheist group to discuss life’s deepest questions.

(MORE: America’s first atheist monument is a 1,500-pound granite bench)

The organization behind the hotline, Recovering From Religion, stresses that the service will not prod every caller towards atheism. Instead operators will tailor their advice to each caller’s needs and even suggest alternative faiths that might ease the caller’s troubled conscience.

In an interview with CNN, Executive Director Sarah Morehead likened the loss of faith to a “coming out” process – slow, confusing, and often stressful for ex-believers and their families. She speaks from experience. Many of the organization’s board members come from — or “out” — of deeply religious households, including one director whose father is the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, the congregation that became infamous for waving anti-gay placards outside of military funerals.

The group is currently seeking $30,000 in donations to fund the hotline, which should be up and running by Thanksgiving.

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