Including the existence of god. He finally resigned from the church, accusing it of Persecuting Gay People. Did his own loss of faith betray those he once preached to . Richard holloway, welcome to hardtalk. At the age 01 14, you left your Working Class Home in the West Of Scotland and went off to a very austere place in england. It was to train as an anglican priest. Train as a monk. What was that like . It was lovely. I was a romantic wee boy who wandered the hills where i grew up. The hills give you a sense of beyondness, of otherness, but that was also related to me and the kind of love for western movies, this idea of the lonely hero. Riding on and rescuing. I got kind of bitten by that. I was discovered by the local priest. He invited me to join the choir. The beauty of it somehow consumed me. He talked about the given away life, this mystical thing called a vocation that some people had, to give themselves to a greater purpose. I went to him when i was 13 and said tentatively, m