Towards the Light

by John Compere

Overview

Towards the Light describes the agonizing journey of a devout minister and fifth generation clergyman from faith to atheism. The book details the logical necessity for his outgrowing the religion of his forebears and moving towards the light of reason. Upon leaving the ministry, the author went back to graduate school for a PhD in Clinical Psychology, and the book includes psychological explanations for many religious phenomena including being “born again”, believing in the efficacy of prayer, and why religion continues to be so ubiquitous in an otherwise modern society.

The author is convinced that many people of faith have entertained serious questions about the religion they inherited and should be supported in their search for how to live a good life without a belief in the supernatural. Dr. Compere provides an analysis of all the essential tenets of the Christian faith, an explanation of their origin, and cogent reasons for no longer accepting the myths upon which the Christian faith rests.

"Growing up a minister's son, the church was not just a part of my life -- it WAS my life. Everything in my world revolved around the church and its teachings. From my earliest memories, it was relentlessly drilled into me that my only purpose on earth was to glorify God. Anything short of that was failure. I got the message. I gave my first sermon at age fifteen and became an ordained minister in the Southern Baptist Church at eighteen. Although serious theological doubts began in college, I managed to continue in the ministry until I had completed a seminary degree and served two pastorates of 3 1/2 years each. Finally, I admitted to myself that if I stayed in the church, I would most certainly become publicly phony and privately cynical. At age 32, I left the ministry, which had been my whole life, and struck out in a new direction, one which would allow me to live with integrity. This is the story of my journey “Towards the Light” and of the logical, but heretical, conclusions about religion which occurred along the way."

Product Details

BN ID:	2940014536202
Publisher:	Writers Cramp Publishing
Publication date:	04/23/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	226
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

John S. Compere, PhD, is a retired Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Professional Speaker who currently lives in Chandler, Arizona, with his wife, Joyce, a retired special education teacher, the former co-owner of an auto racetrack, and Executive Director of the Astoria Sunday Market.

Dr. Compere received a BA in English from Mississippi College (1956), a BD in theology from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (1961), an MA in psychology from Wake Forest University (1969) and a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina (1972) and subsequently taught psychology at Wake Forest University and Medical School in Winston-Salem, NC, as well as having a private practice as a clinician. He was a member of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists. He also was one of the initial consultants at the Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, NC, and from that association began speaking to corporate and professional conferences on Psychology You Can USE. He became a full-time professional speaker in 1989 and has spoken in 48 of the 50 states in the USA. He was a member of the National Speakers Association and served as the President of the Carolinas Speakers Association while living in North Carolina. He is currently a member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the American Humanist Association, the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix, and of Americans United For Separation of Church and State.

Prior to going back to graduate school in psychology, Dr. Compere was a Southern Baptist minister, having been ordained at 18 as the fifth-generation in his family of Baptist ministers. His great, great grandfather came to America as a missionary from the London Missionary Society, working with Native Americans. John also served as a student missionary to Alaska on two different occasions during his teens, living and building a church building in the small Eskimo village of Selawick, AK. Including student pastorates while in college, he served four different churches as pastor, as well as serving as youth minister at the campus church while in seminary.

John's doubts and concerns about the authenticity of the tenets of the faith he had inherited began in college and finally culminated in his leaving the ministry at age 32 to go back to graduate school.