Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/99812762657?pwd=NXZ5ZzFwRDYyZUtqNE5KQ1NlZVRtdz09
Musical guest: Kelsey Reid
Community moment: Marj Long
Featured speaker: Eric Wells
Leaving a religious faith can be tough. Doubts, trauma, fear, depression, loneliness and confusion can be ongoing issues for those at all stages of transitioning out of religion, from the first time they question a belief to decades after their deconversion. The nonprofit organization Recovering from Religion was formed in 2009 to support these folks and since then has been there for tens of thousands of individuals by directing them to resources and communities, connecting them with professional mental health services and, perhaps more importantly, listening to their struggles with an empathetic ear and open mind with no strings attached. Eric Wells will talk about what services RfR has to offer its clients and what volunteering for the organization has done for him.
About the speaker:
Eric was raised in Southern California Baptist churches and private schools, and finally left his faith in 2012. In 2000 he started the nonprofit organization Volunteers Unite. When in operation, Volunteers Unite built homes for the needy in Mexico and matched hundreds of volunteers to causes they were passionate about. After moving to Missouri, he became a humanist and atheist. In Missouri, he volunteered with a local secular group, the Springfield Skeptics, for whom he served as the Activism Director and the Executive Director. He has organized hundreds of community service events and volunteer activities, as well as the 2017 March For Science rally in Springfield, Missouri. He was the State Director for the American Atheists and fought to keep church and state separate at the city, county and state levels. In 2015, Eric co-founded the now thriving chapter of RfR in Springfield, Missouri. He is a homebuilder, general contractor and a humanist celebrant. In his free time, Eric enjoys researching genealogy, volunteering, activism, educating as a speaker at various conferences, exploring the outdoors and spending time with his wife in their home in Colorado.
