A life Dedicated to Serving Others, with God Finally Left Behind

Testimony to the high moral standards of many non-believers

One of the surprising developments of our time—or maybe it’s not so surprising—is the marked increase of people who admit that they have no religious affiliation. They have been labeled the “nones.” One factor might be that some churchgoers decided to read the Bible, and discovered just how flawed it is. That it falls far short of being a divinely inspired book; they’ve been fooled by the clergy. Another factor is increased scientific understanding of the world and how it works. In Western Europe, after two world wars that killed up to ninety million people, belief in god has declined sharply. Surely Christianity is also taking a hit because one of the least religious, least moral persons on the planet has been championed by fanatical Christians—and this week returned to the White House. That will certainly cause substantial damage to the faith in the long run.
 
 
Of course, the process of “leaving god behind” varies greatly from person to person, and I’ve always been drawn to books written by those who have managed to escape the faith, whether it was sudden or gradually over time. I have finished reading Dr. Carolyn C. Shadle’s excellent new book (2025), From Religion to Reason: My Journey.   
 
Shadle was raised in a conservative Christian home in Washington, D.C. Naturally she accepted what she was taught about the Bible, God, and Jesus. But over the years, reality poked holes in her religious assumptions:
 
“My earliest memories of Sunday School are pleasant ones. I felt safe and comfortable in the all-White congregation. I never doubted what I told about the church. It was much later when Martin Luther King pointed out that the most segregated hour in America was at eleven o’clock on Sunday morning. Until then, I had experienced the world as White. I was oblivious to how segregated our churches were. Later, this emerged as a factor in my young adulthood, questioning my ongoing affiliation with the church and religion” (p. 16, Kindle).
 
It was during her junior year of college, when she studied abroad in Switzerland, that her horizons expanded dramatically. 
 
“Looking back, I can see how that year of study impacted my beliefs. The readings required in the Church History course made me aware of the variety of theologies. This included Martin Luther’s opposition to the Roman Catholic Church and then the scores of break-away groups that formed new denominations within the Protestant movement” (p. 53 Kindle).
 
“My study of Calvin’s theocracy gave me better insight into the roots of Presbyterian doctrine and how eager a religious group can be to impose its theology on others. This study prepared me to understand current efforts by the Religious Right that sound a lot like the Calvinist movement. Probably the major effect of my year in Europe was to soften the way I saw the world. The harsh black-and-white absolutist thinking began to fade” (pp. 53-54).
 
Since my own belief in god evaporated while I was in seminary, I can sympathize with Shadle’s experience at Union Theological Seminary in New York. “My disposition leaned more toward the cerebral, leaving my feelings detached from religious rituals. This experience marked my initial awareness that prayer had always been meaningless to me” (p. 72, Kindle). 
 
“Over time, there was a growing sense that God didn’t hear me or appeared to be indifferent to my supplications…I do remember praying privately as a very young child, but I confess that I had no sense of a response. Despite my profound regard for the church and my study of the Bible and theology, I think I became uninterested in God. Maybe the ‘God up there’ didn’t really exist, I thought. Maybe life ‘down here’ was the real thing” (p. 72, Kindle).
 
Despite this startling realization, Shadle still saw value in what she considered Christian values, namely being compassionate and caring, and wanting to help others improve their lives. Describing the ups and downs she faced, Shadle forged a successful career implementing her convictions. She also married and had two daughters. Her book is an engaging, highly readable description of the ways in which these events unfolded, including, eventually, her divorce. 
 
But as her life continued to unfold, the god-factor was reduced more and more. In her final chapter, At Last, and Identity, she states:
 
“I’m not surprised that so many are unaffiliated with a religious group given improved scientific understanding, a better understanding of history, new developments in exegetical techniques for understanding biblical writings, changing social norms, and an increasingly pluralistic religious culture with more freedom to doubt and question. I believe that the Enlightenment, science, and the notion of liberty have been more responsible for human progress than religion. In fact, given all these factors, I wonder why so many people are NOT a ‘none’” (p. 238, Kindle)
 
And the day came when atheist seemed like the right designation for herself: “One day I saw an atheist in the mirror. I felt that it was more honest and clear-cut to admit that my belief led me to call myself an atheist. I finally excoriated silence” (p. 242 Kindle).
 
By the time I had finished my PhD in Biblical Studies (1975)—and served for nine years as pastor of two Methodist parishes—I realized that belief in god was delusional. All of the strained apologetics I witnessed in seminary were a major clue that the foundations of theology could not be sustained. I left the ministry, gave up my ordination, and eventually landed in a business career. The last fifteen years, before my retirement in 2014, I was the director of an association of career coaches. It was gratifying indeed to be in a helping profession. 
 
But during her long career, Dr. Shadle kept her focus on helping people. She got a PhD in interpersonal communication from the State University of New York in Buffalo, which proved far more helpful than my doctorate in Biblical Studies! And she has identified the huge danger that Christianity now poses:
 
“As I have rethought my religious faith, I’ve grown to appreciate and respect the diverse religious traditions as well as the right to hold no belief at all. Consequently, I see Christian nationalism as a perilous initiative, defining who belongs to this nation and who does not, whose religion holds significance, and whose does not…. I think the movement now is acting out of fear based on the steep decline in the number of Americans who identify themselves as Christian” (p. 212-213, Kindle). 
 
Shadle belongs to and supports the Freedom from Religion Foundation, whose co-presidents are Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker. They recently interviewed her on their Freethought Radio Program. Here’s the link. Carolyn is introduced at the 23:25 mark.  
 
From Religion to Reason: My Journey is indeed an important addition to the growing library of books written by humanists, secularists, and atheists. Dr. Shadle is living proof that non-believers, nones, can be highly productive, compassionate, and moral contributors to our society. We can think of this book as a love letter to churchgoers who may suspect that something is not right. The next big holiday is Valentine’s Day—a perfect occasion for gifting this book! 
 
 
 
David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of two books, Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes, the first of which is Guessing About God (2023) and Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available. 
 
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
 
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.