I have no idea what a CFI is.

I guess by implication inquiry would allow for open discussions. But the fact of the matter is that people who’ve had soft exits from religion have no concept of what it is to have a hard exit from one. And the soft-exit people sometimes actively seek to censor, corral, and control those who’ve had hard exits.

Where does CFI fit in this spectrum? A group more interested in “looking good” or in actual true inquiry where recoverers of conservative religion can honesty express their opinions and experiences?

For example, if a given person volunteers to be an assistant organizer for a CFI group, is the >very first thing< they’re asked to commit to that they conform to “message discipline,” as set by some sort of a central committee? And do such volunteers have to commit up front not to embroil the group via public debate & discussion on online BBSs?

In other words is it the not only implicit but explicit & a required demand that volunteers for CFI commit to put “the message” first, above considerations of whether a given volunteer feels a need to speak honesty about a given issue? Does CFI require their volunteers to “put CFI first,” even above personal considerations that may result from speaking how a person may feel inclined to speak as a recoverer from a conservative religion?

At this point I’m not sure whether CFI is a support group for recoverers from conservative religion or not. There is one key thing that can happen though: people who leave religions as priests and whatnot can seek to be as controlling when they were in their churhes. And also, people who’ve had soft exists often have little tolerance for those of us who had hard exists from religion and the frank way we speak when we assume (perhaps mistakenly) that we’re among friends.

So if you could enlighten me about what CFI is, please do so.

Hmmm ... first, welcome to the forum, birdman. Second, if you want to learn more about what CFI is, check out the webpage:

http://www.centerforinquiry.net/

There is a lot of info there, and if you click around to associated pages you will learn more. Basically CFI is an advocacy organization, promoting a humanist, skeptical and science-based approach to the world. I don’t think it’s correct to describe CFI solely as “a support group for recoverers from conservative religion”. Not to say that there aren’t some people who have had “hard exits” from conservative religion associated with CFI, but many people have not.

As for the specifics of what CFI tells its volunteer organizers, I can’t answer that question because I don’t know. If you are interested in learning, for instance, about CFI On Campus, you can check out the webpage here:

http://www.centerforinquiry.net/oncampus/

What is the difference between a hard exit and a soft exit and how is anyone supposed to know who had what?

psik

That was the first question in my mind, too, psikeyhacker. I couldn’t tell you if you my exit from religion was a soft exit or a hard exit, even though I was in a Pentecostal seminary at the time my eyes opened and I left religion behind.

The OP will have to define these terms so we can discuss this.

Then there is this:

For example, if a given person volunteers to be an assistant organizer for a CFI group, is the >very first thing< they’re asked to commit to that they conform to “message discipline,” as set by some sort of a central committee? And do such volunteers have to commit up front not to embroil the group via public debate & discussion on online BBSs?

That sounds suspiciously like a straw man argument.

On this forum,Birdman,everyone is voicing their own opinion.Just like you did.Who knows,or who cares,why you question religion.
Soft or hard.You’ll find that there is no overriding theme here.So-you exited religion hard?-Now what?
I’ve never felt any CFI influence here.Center for Inquiry.This is a center where you can Inquire,or postulate.