How Rare Is It That A Christian Deconverts?

[Phaceless]

I find it interesting that this website, which is probably #1 website for exchristians ( when I google), when taking in consideration how large the internet is and how many millions of english speaking christians are online,

I find it facinating that there are relatively few members here. ( and even fewer christians!)

Is deconversion really so rare that there would only be 500 visits to the websites today?

How rare is it that a christian deconverts? Is it 1 out of a million christians you think? Maybe even less?

[ogilvy]

I find it interesting that this website, which is probably #1 website for exchristians ( when I google), when taking in consideration how large the internet is and how many millions of english speaking christians are online,

I find it facinating that there are relatively few members here. ( and even fewer christians!)

Is deconversion really so rare that there would only be 500 visits to the websites today?

How rare is it that a christian deconverts? Is it 1 out of a million christians you think? Maybe even less?

I dont know. It does seem strange, when you put it that way. I've hardly ever known it to happen among members of churches i was involved with, well, not personally. I've heard a lot of people say they used to go to church,like a long long time ago, and no longer do, but i don't think thats necessarily the same as deconverting. i've never known a very devoted Christian, as i once was, to stop believing, and give it all up. Mabe its not very common.

[florduh]

My guess is that some nominal Christians just become disinterested and some marry into another faith and convert to that one. These people aren't very visible.

 

It seems to me the greatest reason a serious, Bible-believing Christian leaves the faith is because he/she has studied the Bible a little too much. These are the ones we generally hear from, the ones who write books and become anti-theist activists.

 

So there is probably a range of "I was a Christian I guess, but I don't think about it much anymore" to "I fervently believed and gave my entire life to God, and it turned out to be a lie and I'm pissed!"

[chefranden]

It has been my experience as a dedicated Christian that most Christians are pew sitters and don't give what they are believing much thought. They leave that to the professionals much like they leave the study of medicine to the professionals. The laity can be roused to defend the faith, without their knowledge of what the faith consists of. For example they will defend the posting of the 10 commandments on city property while at the same time not have the ability to list what they are or tell you what bible book they are from.

 

As a minister I used to condemn them a bit for this. But they are really to busy with life to take care that the professionals know what they are doing. They don't read the bible in part because they don't read much of anything, and if they attempt the bible they find it is one damn boring book with little actual connection with their own life. They are supplied with the few interesting bits in Church. The Church fills a social need for them, and that's enough. Also their Church participation ebbs and flows with the seasons of their lives.

 

I've also noticed in my long membership here that deconverts tend to be from people who took the whole thing rather more seriously than the average pew sitter, and/or are from more fundamentalist denominations. I don't think that many of us are former Lutherans, Methodists, or Episcopalians for example. It is my guess that most pew sitters that leave the faith, especially those from "liberal" denominations, mostly just drift away into other pursuits without giving it much thought or having a traumatic separation. It would never occur to them to look for a site like this. And if they ran across it by accident it wouldn't have much appeal.

[Ouroboros]

Religion is kind of like water. When you keep it cold it's a fluid and stays in the pot. But if you start heating it up, then suddenly it starts to vaporize and disappear. I think there is a similarity here, that if you keep your religion cold, it won't disappear. But as soon as you start heating things up, you start to realize it's all bogus, and your faith is gone.

[Euthyphro's Thorn]

My guess is that some nominal Christians just become disinterested and some marry into another faith and convert to that one. These people aren't very visible.

 

It seems to me the greatest reason a serious, Bible-believing Christian leaves the faith is because he/she has studied the Bible a little too much. These are the ones we generally hear from, the ones who write books and become anti-theist activists.

 

So there is probably a range of "I was a Christian I guess, but I don't think about it much anymore" to "I fervently believed and gave my entire life to God, and it turned out to be a lie and I'm pissed!"

 

I was in the "I was a Christian I guess, but I don't think about it much anymore" group, but started paying more attention to religion because of how it controls politics.

[florduh]

" . . . but started paying more attention to religion because of how it controls politics."

 

That's what happened to me. I was in the cult pretty deep, even attended Moody, but when I left I was just pissed at myself for being so naive. I never gave religion, and eventually god, a second thought. It was just irrelevant to me. Then the wacko fundies became politically effective and aggressive - I felt a threat to freedom and began announcing my atheism and actively opposing the move toward theocracy.

[agnosticator]

Chefranden,

 

BINGO!!!!!!! You hit the nail on the head.

 

Edit to wish you a

 

:happybday:

[buffettphan]

I heard someone say that religion is like sex. It's not an issue unless you're not getting what you want from it.

 

[Jasen]

In the U.S, 13% of children raised Protestant and 14% of children raised Catholic deconvert to the no religion category.

 

This comes from the Pew Forum Survey.

[Vigile]

Chef beat me to it.

[chefranden]

Chefranden,

 

BINGO!!!!!!! You hit the nail on the head.

 

Edit to wish you a

 

:happybday:

 

Ahhh, thanks

[OpheliaGinger]

Since Christianity also does not foster any scientific growth, the pew sitters are still being taught the old old arguments against evolution, and studying evolution is discouraged if not outright condemned, so the pew sitters never get to hear about the compounding evidence for evolution--and that the old arguments have been answered. That is just one of the explanations.

 

Possibly the answer could be is that those who have become blase to Christianity are just staying because they fear hell, and church is also a time to catch up on the weeks gossip.

[Deva]

I would say it must be rare. I have never known anyone outside this site who made a complete break who was raised in it.

 

Most mainline churches and the Catholic Church do not push the creation science agenda in the average pew sitter's face. If they did, there would probably be more deconverts. Its the old-fashioned, USA Bible Belt fundamentalist type churches that push it and are anti-science. I still cannot really understand how intelligent people can reconcile it. Maybe they haven't thought about it too much or there is such a social pull to the church that they just deal with it.

 

Many people are raised in Christianity,but it never means that much to them anyway. These people usually do not attend any church regularly after they leave the parental home, but still consider themselves Christians. I think there are large numbers of these types.

[par4dcourse]

Many people are raised in Christianity,but it never means that much to them anyway. These people usually do not attend any church regularly after they leave the parental home, but still consider themselves Christians. I think there are large numbers of these types.

Most people I've talked to just sort of wander away and stop going to church without any pronouncement. They fear condemnation from family and friends for their perceived lack of faith.

Also, how many de-converts are computer literate web surfers? I think the ranks of at least doubters is much larger than our website numbers indicate. At least I hope so. Besides, I have enough lack of faith for two or three people.

[ShadowWolf]

I suspect the number is constantly rising, and that number probably is in direct correlation with the availability of information.

And just because someone deconverts doesn't mean they want to join a forum. My girlfriend use to be Catholic, and she doesn't do the web forum thing. I myself deconverted years before I knew of this site.

[mwc]

I'd have to say chef is probably pretty darn close on this.

 

Most people don't really care. They're "lukewarm," "creasters," "CINO's" or any number of other names. They drift in and out as they see fit and it's not a big deal. If they drift out and never bother to drift back in again that doesn't mean they deconverted that simply means they're "unchurched" but still a xian (even if they don't know a single word of xian doctrine or have a clue who that guy on the "T" is). This makes them perfect for use as pawns by those who choose to manipulate them. Since they identify as xians they tend to rally around those who use it as their battle cry even if those don't truly know or care about their cause in general.

 

mwc

[Taphophilia]

I know this is Ex-C blasphemy, but there are other forums besides this one. Freethinker, Humanist, and Atheist/Agnostic oriented forums can provide a lot of support to former Christians. Almost all of the atheists that I know are former Christians of one stripe or another.

[♦ nivek ♦]

There are thousands of humans sitting in pews and chairs wondering what a lot of we did, "What the fuck does this crap have to do with me? How can I get out and not raise a fuss?".

 

Quite a few folks come here, register, post. Thousands more just read, we get hits on this board that far outweigh the amount of posts.

 

ExC gets read, and in turn *some* of the multitudes wash up here, others *just read*.

 

How many folks want out and haven't a clue? More than we may ever know. The few, the *blessed* of the religious pack end up here and eventually freed of some of their shackles.

 

Even fewer can remove all of their chains when they realize there never was a key.

 

kevinL, LocksmithTotheGodless

[RevOxley_501]

to the OP

 

I really thing that the reason there are so few people here is that so few people ever actually think that anyone else may be going through this whole thing...That's how I felt, I felt like I was all alone and that no one could possibly be suffering through this deconversion process and then I just stumbled upon this place with some google search and it opened my eyes to just how often this may happen...so my guess is that TONS of people leave the faith, and alot of them become atheists like myself...but there are also a lot that become muslims, pagans, hindu, buddhists etc...so instead of focusing on becoming EX-christians they focus on becoming proficient in their new faith...Atheists tend to be the predominate group here because we are just trying to rectify all the things going on in our minds.

 

just my guesses

 

but this is why i think websites like this are important...I didn't know where I was or what I was going to end up doing to myself or those around me if i hadn't found something like this...and thats why i started blogging on it myself, and promoting it so hardcore.

[white_raven23]

In addition to what Chef said...(smashing good post, that)

 

You have to also consider that the majority of the population does not ACTIVELY think. They are so busy getting from one day to the next, surfing one life crisis to the next, concentrating on certain career goals and whatnot....they just never stop to even consider that they can wind up with contradictory views rattling around in the same brain over time, and since these views are never examined (until someone points it out...and then you just get panicky defensiveness from them), this is how you wind up with people claiming to be christians, who go to church and sit every Sunday, who are HS science teachers.

 

Any one of US would have noted long ago, that the belief system doesn't match the career goal, and we would have mulled that over for a bit. Most people really don't mull, and considering the reactions we've gotten when we provide material that DEMANDS thought to die-hard christians who come here...I'd go far enough to say most people do not LIKE thinking too hard about how the majority of their modern life is in direct contradiction to the 613 Laws (whittled neatly and "magically" down to 10...which the majority of christians STILL F*** up and find to be too many) laid down.

 

Most would not admit it, but their "belief" is a compromised version of christianity they cobble together by half-listening to the guy behind the pulpit (and nothing to do with bible pages actually picked up and read). And when the guy behind the pulpit says something that conflicts with even the compromised belief system? Is it time to re-examine one's life? Nope. Obviously time to find a new church by gum!

 

I have a feeling most people who would identify themselves as christian believe in the historical validity of evolution at the SAME time!

[HelloWorld]

I have a feeling most people who would identify themselves as christian believe in the historical validity of evolution at the SAME time!

 

Are you suggesting that Christian people who accept evolution are holding contradictory views? If so, I would have to disagree with you. Not all Christians take Genesis completely literally. As a Catholic Christian I accepted evolution. In fact, I loved to read about it. I also loved to read about my faith. I have always been a deep, careful thinker.

 

So yes, you can be a Christian and believe in evolution at the SAME time!

[white_raven23]

Are you suggesting that Christian people who accept evolution are holding contradictory views? If so, I would have to disagree with you. Not all Christians take Genesis completely literally. As a Catholic Christian I accepted evolution. In fact, I loved to read about it. I also loved to read about my faith. I have always been a deep, careful thinker.

 

So yes, you can be a Christian and believe in evolution at the SAME time!

 

 

But that becomes part of my point! Modern christianity is about cherry-picking which parts of the bible are 'literal'. How very convinient! Christians can reach a point where they don't believe a single page of the actual books...yet still consider themselves christian.

[OpheliaGinger]

They would have to be liberal to not take the Genesis account to be literal, but then again, you would have to be liberal just to have a kitchen in your church (a little Church of Christ joke).

[HelloWorld]

They would have to be liberal to not take the Genesis account to be literal, but then again, you would have to be liberal just to have a kitchen in your church (a little Church of Christ joke).

 

Is the whole part a joke, or just the last part? Hahaha. Because I was definitely NOT a liberal Christian by any means. I was about as hardcore conservative Catholic as you can get.

 

Then again, the whole discussion about who is liberal and who is not is really subjective. I mean, like, by Amish standards, most of us here would have been considered very liberal even in our most devoted days. That is an extreme example, I know, but it serves my point. There is also the fact that people define liberalism is different ways. You might consider failing to take the Bible completely literally as one of the signatures of liberalism. I, on the other hand, might think that failing to recognize Christ's Real Presence in the Eucharist (ie. treating communion as purely symbolic) is a sign of liberalism.

 

Anyway, I think that this is getting off of the topic of the OP. I think I am going to start a new thread about what our old churches and/or families used to consider signs of liberalism or what they thought were big no-nos when it came to belief or practice. Should be interesting I think.