Dan Barker's classic narrative. Here is excerpt of Chapter 4 of his book Losing Faith in Faith. I Just Lost Faith In Faith This was my first article for Freethought Today. It ran in the June 1984 issue. Religion is a powerful thing. Few can resist its charms and few can truly break its embrace. It is the siren who entices the wandering traveler with songs of love and desire and, once successful, turns a mind into stone. It is a Venus fly trap. Its attraction is like that of drugs to an addict who, wishing to be free and happy, becomes trapped and miserable. But the saddest part of the dependency is the fact that most participants are willing victims. They think they are happy. They believe religion has kept its promises and have no desire to search elsewhere. They are deeply in love with their faith and have been blinded by that love--blinded to the point of unquestioning sacrifice. I know this is true because I was one of Christ's disciples for over nineteen years, and my subsequent self-excision was/is traumatically painful. -- Dan Barker, ex-pentecostal minister The Freedom From Religion Foundation also has a fan page on facebook Continues at the Freedom From Faith Foundation website (via URL above).