My Deconstruction Heroes: Tony Campolo

You may be surprised to learn that many of my greatest exvangelical heroes  are Christians.  In fact, it was an evangelical whose writings walked me through the process by which the Moral Majority came into power – how Nixon dabbled in creating a voting base out of the religious right, and how Reagan ran with …

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My Story: The Tiger-Eyed Kid – An Exvangelical’s Tale of Amazing Grace

Some of my favorite people are evangelicals. Unless they are using their authority and influence to actively take advantage of others, I'm really not angry at the folks in the pews at all. I've learned that the primary difference between evangelicals and exvangelicals is that the latter have simply realized that we are all victims. …

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Exvangelical Musings: How to Talk to an Evangelical When You are Deconstructing

Growing up in the Southern Baptist Church was basically life in a bubble in which we pretended the world we created for ourselves was the only one truly worth living in for everyone. Sometimes, people would just leave and we'd hear they were “backsliding,” but it's okay – we were prepped in Sunday school and …

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Exvangelical Meditation: God-Shaped Hole

I was indoctrinated from a young age into believing that I had a "God-shaped hole" in my heart that only a personal relationship with Jesus could fill. In its way, teaching the exclusivity of this theological belief (as if it is a one-size-fits-all salvation package) is very deceptive, because when a "relationship with Christ" didn't …

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Exvangelical Meditation: Hell Theology is Child Abuse

Here is today's brief reminder that Hell Theology is child abuse, and I am doing what I can to be a part of the change that will make it reportable to children's services.  To those of you who have experienced the psychological trauma of Hell Theology: There is help and resources, and the anxiety you …

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My Story: Walking Away is Only the Beginning – A Tale of that Time I Accidentally Joined a Micro-Cult

After walking away from a childhood faith that taught me that it holds the absolute Truth (about God, life, the universe, your eternal soul, and everything else), transitioning out took more than simply walking away from it all. It required a complete deconstruction of the way that I was taught to think – all things …

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Exvangelical Musings: Acquire the Cult Fire

Ron Luce is the founder of Teen Mania Ministries, a foundation that recruits teenagers to accept Jesus as their Savior as the first step in battling the "powers of darkness" that have infiltrated America through pop culture, the media, and liberal politics. "This is war," Luce insists, "and Jesus invites us to get into the …

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