The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity - Oxford University Press - due May 2014

Advance Praise for The Deconstructed Church

“As growing numbers of Americans say they are ‘nonreligious,’ observers note a comparable shift among those who are religious toward looser, more individualistic, anti-institutional, experimental expressions of faith. Marti and Ganiel have done a superb job of examining these emerging expressions, illuminating both the practices and beliefs of individuals and the innovative congregations they are forming.”

• Robert Wuthnow, Gerhard R. Andlinger ‘52 Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Princeton University

“In the midst of a polarized landscape, where ‘religion’ and ‘church’ signal a lack of vitality and authenticity, Emerging Churches are putting together something new out of the debris. Marti and Ganiel show us why we should pay attention. They describe the faith found here as neither shopping nor seeking, but a conversation carried on in congregations that are determinedly open and inclusive. This book provides a careful analysis of this much-discussed movement and shows why it is so well-suited to our times.”

• Nancy T. Ammerman, author of Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life

 

Religious Nones Spark Even More Sociological Research

Quick Post: The annual meetings of the American Sociological Association and the Association for the Sociology of Religion have kept my last several days full bouncing between meetings, presentations of research, catching up with friends, and a little bit of sleep here and there.

Scholars don't accomplish much all by themselves. While it can be a lonely business, and we can publish papers with our names on it, the foundation of our work is how we all participate in larger conversations on broad topics and questions. These large, yearly get-togethers become critical for our work.

Image by ruSSeLL hiGGs via Flickr

In attending these conferences, one of the most important things for me to do is to listen to what other people are paying attention to. This year, so much attention is focused on "religious nones." Religious Nones are people who do not mark a religious preference or affiliation on surveys. The percentage of Nones have gone up (lots of news this year on this like here), but we are still trying to figure out what this really means.

Everyone agrees on one thing - being a Religious None does not mean a person is an atheist.

Religious Nones is a survey category, and it can be asked in a lot of ways. For example, there are people who go to church and others who do not. Among those, there are people who go to church who believe in God (as we expect), but there are people who go to church who say they do not believe in God (not many). This simple example shows how there are different ways to discover types of Religious Nones, adding further complications about what it means.

In a session with sociologist Michael Hout, he demonstrated using new data how over the past decade the proportion of Conservative Believers becoming Religious Nones is greater than any other religious group. Conservatives are moving toward Nones more than any other segment of the religious population. Hout thinks this may be due to the growth of attention on the Religious Right from the media - he showed a striking parallel between the two - and that Conservatives are eschewing the label of religion to get away from the stigma of being part of those fundamentalist-moralistic crazies.

Think about that for a moment. If Conservatives are leaving a label, are they leaving religion? Or is something else going on?

In short, are Religious Nones less "religious"? Hmmmm...

Image via Wikipedia

Well, we frankly don't know in part because we do not have a commonly agreed definition of what it means to be religious. Working with notions of "atheism" doesn't seem to help either. But other research out there seems to suggest that we need to pay attention to how people are defining and living out their religious practices rather than relying on these survey scores.

There are probably lots of ways to be a Religious None.

Still, the notion of a Religious None has filtered it's way into congregational leader's thinking about ministry for a long time. Here's one thought -- From my own research, I believe much of the vitality we see among entrepreneurial evangelicals comes from the attempt to craft a church that will appeal to a growing culture of "Religious Nones". This has some relationship to the "unchurched" or "seeker" ideas of the last decade.

Catch the irony here - creating church for people who have rejected religion. Doing so is based on crafting our own understanding of who is rejecting "church," "God," or "religion" and why they do. Then create church (in language, ritual, style) that seeks to overcome those things.

Anyways, this is only one of several dozen ideas that flow through my head as rich information and new perspectives are being brought by the bright, curious, and ambitious scholars I encounter here every day.

New De-Con Motto: Love the Believer, Question the Belief

I just read another compelling de-conversion story from my favorite "former-fundie," Christine Vyrnon. You can also go back and read my other recent posts on de-conversion.Image by Getty Images via Daylife


In the wake of Rick Warren's inaugural prayer comes another story (and a few rants) from former Christian and de-conversionist Christine Vyrnon. Oooh boy, she seems kind of mad.

Still, her post is an interesting, emotionally-saturated response to the mix of religion and politics.

Most interesting to me?

First, her description of her pre-de-conversion "JC Posee,"

I had miraculously survived an Evangelical Lutheran liberal arts college with barely a scratch to my Faith and therefore they considered me quite world-wise (ha! joke's on them).

We compared notes and occasionally made fun of the intolerance of our evangelical, fundamentalist belief system. We encouraged each other not only in our Faith, but our spiritual and secular musical and thespian endeavors. We “broke bread” together with irony and laughter. We discussed how to not get hung up on the letter of the biblical law while honoring God’s Word, the Bible, as ultimate Truth.

Post-grunge, mid hip-hop, pre-hipster… my JC Posse.

(Here's Christine's re-worked Jesus image on right.)

Second, her absorption (or re-absorption) of the tenets of forgiveness and love,

...while I try to sort through my emotions of yet another evangelical pastor blessing a head of state, while I steel myself for potentially 8 more years of yet another brand of evangelical christianity, while I test my ability to stomach 8 more years of watching politicians and religious leaders giving head and hand jobs to each other above and below the table to the point of a twisted orgy, I HOPE to practice overcoming my (self)righteous anger.
Image via Wikipedia
Love and forgiveness is the evangelical christian's cornerstone. I am determined to return it to them “seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22).

Third, her determination to "out-evangelical the evangelicals" brings her to her new "de-con" motto. She writes,

"Love the Sinner - Hate the Sin" is soooo Bush era politics.

My new motto:

LOVE the Believer. QUESTION the Belief.

Once again, Christine surprises me with her remarkable compassion for people while utterly rejecting the conservative beliefs they hold.

A few other reactions to Rick Warren's inaugural prayer:

• The Inaugural Invocation by Rick Warren
• Was Rick Warren's Invocation Less Inclusive Than He Let On?
• Rick Warren gets mixed reviews

De-conversion and Evangelical Disenchantment - A New Book

On the theme of "de-conversion," I found an interesting book by Harvard Professor David Hempton thanks to the Books and Culture newsletter. The reviewer, writes, "Hempton argues compellingly that evangelicalism needs to learn from the complaints of its "conscientious objectors and wounded lovers."


Since reading Christine Vyrnon's story of de-conversion on her blog, I've started noticing other de-conversion stories. In particular, in my post on the online atheist support group I mentioned that the only book I had found was Versions of Deconversion: Autobiography and the Loss of Faith by John D. Barbour back in 1999.

Well, I was wrong. Thanks to Tim Larson's review in Books & Culture, there's a brand-new book out by the respected Harvard professor David Hempton:

Evangelical Disenchantment: Nine Portraits of Faith and Doubt
by David Hempton

Hempton wrote the book Methodism: Empire of the Spirit which received outstanding reviews. Now, this new book features a series of mini-biographies to isolate common reasons for leaving the faith.

Quick excerpts from Tim Larson's review:

Hempton argues compellingly that evangelicalism needs to learn from the complaints of its "conscientious objectors and wounded lovers." His selections all offer the perspective of those who had a precise faith drain away and were left with only, at best, a vaguer spirituality.

The nine studies are

• the Victorian novelist, George Eliot;
• the reformer and brother of John Henry Newman, Francis W. Newman;
• the abolitionist Theodore Dwight Weld;
• three American advocates for women, Sarah Grimké, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Frances Willard;
• the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh;
• the English man of letters Edmund Gosse; and
• the African American writer James Baldwin.

Hempton observes that these people were often frustrated idealists. If I may augment this argument, it is also noticeable that many of them once championed an unusually strict or rigid form of evangelicalism.

Larson provides an insightful review, challenging certain points while appreciating the sensitive scholar's effort to put an intriguing dynamic into perspective.

You can read the full review here.

Meet the De-Cons, A Support Group for Atheists and Those Losing Their Religion

This week, I shared part of a story on one woman's de-conversion. Today, I'm sharing with you a website that provides support for "de-cons" and solicits de-conversion stories to put on their site. Who are these de-converts?

At De-Conversion.com, you'll find a community for skeptics and former Christians.

Its a place for "de-cons" to gather together.

We know very little about de-conversion, so sites like this give us an opportunity to form questions and create some guesses. Who are "de-converts" and what is the process of losing one's religion? This site invites a bit of speculation.

De-Cons Describe Themselves

The de-cons on this site self-describe themselves as formerly committed, "active" Christians. On one list, they write, "We were the 20% that did 80% of what needed to be done." While commenting on various aspects of atheism and non-belief, they comment on their own experiences in posts like

• You might be a Fundy if…
  
• Blue Like Jazz: A book for disillusioned Christian fundamentalists
  
• 33 Reasons why I left the Mormon Church
  

A link on the homepage provides lets you "Submit your De-conversion story."

An Alternative Identity to Atheist

The website provides resources, comments, and "sermons" to help recovering fundamentalists live out their non-faith. In my mind, the most important resources is that of providing an alternative identity -- away from religion while negotiating the meaning of atheism.

By changing the label "atheist" to "de-con" and talking about what this label means through comments and conversation, the site provides a means for expressing an anti-religious identity.

On first glance, the label de-con invites dialogue. Atheist seems to create antagonism, and those who have lived as Christians seem to bristle at becoming an atheist. Also, while atheism is generally defined as a lack of belief in a God, the word de-conversion is more nuanced, more specific. More than not believing in God, these are people who once believed in God fervently and have gone through a process -- often painful -- of shedding that belief.

De-Conversion is an Emotional Process

Its the expression of their emotions I find compelling. Rather than philosophical arguments, many long paragraphs describe the "fear and anguish" felt when walking away from religion. A tone of sadness mixes into the bitterness and frustration throughout their stories.

Just as the process of conversion is reinforced through relationships that affirm religious choice, so is the process of de-conversion. The site provides a form of relational connection.

Now that they've moved on, they help others make the transition. Can they alleviate the pain?

Also, part of bridging belief to non-belief is by proving alternative schemas. The site is full of them. For example, playing on Pascal's famous "wager" of belief in God, the site features the "de-conversion wager" on the bottom-right homepage with its own theistic slant of a God who rewards morality rather than blind belief.

The site began in March 2007, and it seems likely that the passion and network feeding the site will keep it a source of a very particular form of anti-religious vitality in the coming years.

Resources

The time seems right for new research on deconverts and the deconversion experience.

The only book I found reinforces that the process of de-conversion involves a form of grieving. Although you can find plenty of books of people describing their own de-conversion, perhaps the best study of deconversion was published in 1994 and titled Versions of Deconversion: Autobiography and the Loss of Faith (Studies in Religion and Culture) by John D. Barbour. It offers an insight into how people who have walked away from their religion intepret their loss.

Two journal articles from sociologist Janet Jacobs are still interesting and useful:

"Deconversion from Religious Movements: An Analysis of Charismatic Bonding and Spiritual Commitment" by Janet Jacobs
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Sep., 1987), pp. 294-308

"The Economy of Love in Religious Commitment: The Deconversion of Women from Nontraditional Religious Movements" by Janet Jacobs
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Jun., 1984), pp. 155-171

What do you think?

Hot-For-Jesus Former Fundie - A Story of Deconversion, Doug Pagitt, and 9/11

Compelling prose and heart-wrenching stories often center on religion. In fiction, I think of Flannery O'Conner. In non-fiction, I listen for personal stories. And I just found one.


A Story of De-Conversion

I clicked on Christine Vyrnon's blog because of its title: HOT-FOR-JESUS FORMER FUNDIE. Humorous and personal, her blog features quirky and ironic pictures of Jesus. Her writing focuses on her own experience of faith.

A note posted last October caught me. It's part of a story of de-conversion, and features one of the most influential member of the Emerging Church Movement - Doug Pagitt and Solomon's Porch. In

JINXED: Solomon's Porch and My Leap From Faith into the Arms of Yoga

she writes,

The night of 9/11 I attended an impromptu prayer service at my favorite “church”: Solomon’s Porch. Under 12 people showed up. We talked and prayed and consulted scripture. I, who never liked praying out loud, a form of improv on one’s knees, prayed aloud, fervently asking God to keep our nation from resorting to violence in response to violence.

Solomon’s Porch was there when I needed it the most. I was settling into a church, which was a Big Deal for a girl who had seen church politics at its worst...

As she tells more about her path to Solomon's Porch, she writes about the service that night,

After careful consideration and prayer, the Spirit moved me to tell my story, something I’d never done before. Though I’d been singing solos in church my whole life, I’d never spoken so publicly about my dedication to Jesus.

The time had come.

Read the blog entry to see what happens next.

Affirming-Rejecting Religiosity

One thing I find compelling in her story is her deep appreciation for Solomon's Porch as a church while adamantly rejecting Christianity. We don't know enough about how this kind of paradoxical religion-affirming/yet-religion-rejecting religiosity.

I think it's part of the "new atheism" in today's world. Not all atheism "hates" all aspects of religion. And as the percentage of atheists in the world is growing (sloooowly), we will move away from simple dichotomies and come to understand the variety of "atheisms" that exist out there.

What do you think?

A Little Extra - Books by Doug Pagitt

• A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive-and-well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind, and Let Down in us All
• An Emergent Manifesto of Hope
• Church Re-Imagined: The Spiritual Formation of People in Communities of Faith
• Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives
  

Why Young Adults Lose Their Religion

I found a great article available online describing how and why teens seem to "lose their religion" as they grow into young adults. One of the co-authors is sociologist Mark Regnerus. I mentioned his excellent book on sex and religion among teens Forbidden Fruit a few days ago in a post on teen virginity pledges.

Does College Secularize Younger Adults?

Yesterday, I wrote about a Muslim Televangelist who had lost his religion in college before re-discovering his faith. I am reminded that most people believe that going to college leads young adults to move away from religion.

But here's published research that shows those who avoid college are actually more likely to lose their religion.

Image by murplej@ne - under deconstruction via Flickr

From the introduction:

Contrary to expectations, emerging adults that avoid college exhibit the most extensive patterns of religious decline, undermining conventional wisdom about the secularizing effect of higher education. Marriage curbs religious decline, while cohabitation, nonmarital sex, drugs and alcohol use each accelerate diminished religiosity – especially religious participation – during early adulthood.

This article is easy to read and challenges our common sense assumptions.

How to Get the Essential Points from the Article

If you don't have time to read the whole article, focus on pages 1-6, and 17-20.

What do you think?

Other Online Resources

• A shorter summary of the article is also available.
• Many other essays and bibliographies available on a website on the "Religious Engagements of American Undergraduates."