Learning to Live

Wes Fornes

July 9, 2017

One of the most impacting statements ever is the Socratic statement: the unexamined life is not worth living. It takes courage to view yourself as the subject matter for interrogation, scrutiny, and questioning. Wes will come at this idea with experience from counseling patients in their last stage of life while on hospice.

Wes Fornes is a former Evangelical pastor who is now an Atheist chaplain. Once a passionate evangelist for Jesus Christ, Wes now uses his passion for meaning-making to help the dying and bereaved deal with loss. The fundamental focus for Wes is: How can I have meaning and purpose in life? Unable to shake his deep conviction for spirituality, his career now as a Secular Humanist revolves around helping terminally ill patients on hospice cope with grief and death.

After receiving a master’s degree in Theological Philosophy and studying Existentialist Philosophy at Oxford’s Green College, Wes spent 12 years deeply committed to full-time ministry. Wes pastored churches in both Baptist and Pentecostal traditions while in Texas and Virginia. In 2010, Wes left the ministry after being a closet Atheist for a year while still a pastor.

Currently, Wes directs the psychosocial team of chaplains and social workers whose goal it is to provide spiritual and emotional support to patients and their families. Wes often speaks in the Bay Area on issues concerning ethics, morality, grief and terror management theory.

Humanist Community Forum (2017-07-09): Learning to Live (Wes Fornes) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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