Faith deconstruction

Faith deconstruction, also known as deconstructing faith, religious deconstruction, or simply deconstruction, is a process during which religious believers reexamine and question their beliefs. It originated in American evangelicalism, where it may be called evangelical deconstruction.{{cite web |last1=Schaal |first1=Kevin |title=Evangelical Deconstruction: Biblical Fundamentalist Thoughts |url=https://www.proclaimanddefend.org/2021/12/05/evangelical-deconstruction-biblical-fundamentalist-thoughts/ |publisher=Foundations Baptist Fellowship International |access-date=20 June 2022 |date=5 December 2021}} The term rose in popularity in connection with the exvangelical movement, which began in 2016.{{cite web |last1=Szterszky |first1=Subby |title=Deconstruction: A look at a popular and polarizing concept |url=https://www.focusonthefamily.ca/content/deconstruction-a-look-at-a-popular-and-polarizing-concept |publisher=Focus on the Family Canada |access-date=20 June 2022}} It is sometimes called the deconstruction movement. Subsequently, the term religious deconstruction has been applied to other religions as well.

During deconstruction, people doubt their beliefs, identity, and practices. They may struggle and experience anxiety. Some eventually modify their beliefs into something more satisfactory to the believer. This results in a rejection of religion for some, and a revised or renewed faith for others.

The term takes its name from Jacques Derrida's philosophical concept of deconstruction, although it has only a loose relationship to that concept.

Description

Deconstruction is a process of personal religious re-examination. People who deconstruct have described destabilizing feelings of anxiety, guilt, anger, confusion, and fear, as well as curiosity, awe, and liberation. As an open-ended process, the outcome of deconstruction is uncertain.{{cite magazine |title=Why People Quit Religion—and How They Find Meaning Again |magazine=Greater Good Magazine |first=Daryl R. |last=Van Tongeren |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |date=September 24, 2024 |url=https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_people_quit_religion_and_how_they_find_meaning_again?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us }}

=Definitions=

The term can have a range of meanings. Alisa Childers defines deconstruction as "the process of systematically dissecting and often rejecting the beliefs you grew up with".{{cite web |last1=Childers |first1=Alisa |title=Why We Should Not Redeem 'Deconstruction' |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/redeem-reconstruction/ |publisher=The Gospel Coalition |access-date=20 June 2022 |date=18 February 2022}} Tyler Huckabee, writing for Relevant magazine, defines it as "a process of re-examining the faith you grew up with".{{cite news |last1=Huckabee |first1=Tyler |title=Skillet's John Cooper: It's Time to 'Declare War Against This Deconstruction Christian Movement' |url=https://relevantmagazine.com/current/skillets-john-cooper-its-time-to-declare-war-against-this-deconstruction-christian-movement/ |access-date=20 June 2022 |work=Relevant |date=9 February 2022}} John Stonestreet and Timothy Padgett note that it is used both descriptively (covering everything from the deconversion of Kevin Max, through the soul searching of Derek Webb, to the theological revisions of Jen Hatmaker and Rob Bell), or prescriptively ("recommended, especially to those questioning what they’ve grown up with, as a courageous thing to do").{{cite web |last1=Stonestreet |first1=John |last2=Padgett|first2=Timothy D.|title=The Problem with Deconstructing Faith |url=https://www.breakpoint.org/the-problem-with-deconstructing-faith/ |website=BreakPoint |date=October 26, 2021 |publisher=Colson Center |access-date=20 June 2022}}

Alan Jamieson, in his book A Churchless Faith, describes faith deconstruction as follows:{{cite book |last1=Jamieson |first1=Alan |title=A Churchless Faith: Faith journeys beyond the churches |publisher=SPCK |location=London |isbn=0-281-05465-7 |pages=68–69 |date=2000 |url=https://archive.org/details/churchlessfaithf0000jami |access-date=8 January 2025}}

{{Blockquote|text=The deconstruction of their previously received faith leads people engaged in this process to successively examine the individual components of their faith. People engaged in the deconstruction of their faith remove each article of the belief and value system of their received faith and submit it to a process of ongoing reflection. This process involves a questioning and scrutinizing of the particular belief or value. The important aspect of this process is that each component of their faith is critiqued on the basis of whether the individual will appropriate it as part of their own personal belief or value system.}}

There is broad agreement that the term is derived from Jacques Derrida's philosophical concept of deconstruction.{{cite web |last1=Jackson |first1=Jesse T. |title=Matt Chandler Responds to Deconstruction Controversy |url=https://churchleaders.com/news/412237-matt-chandler-responds-to-deconstruction-controversy.html |website=ChurchLeaders |access-date=20 June 2022 |date=8 December 2021}} David Hayward, also known as "nakedpastor", says that he "co-opted the term" from Derrida, whose work he was reading at the time his beliefs started to erode.{{cite web |first=Becky |last=Garrison |date=September 9, 2020 |title=Doubt, Marriage, and the NakedPastor |url=https://thehumanist.com/arts_entertainment/books/doubt-marriage-and-the-nakedpastor/ |website=TheHumanist.com |language=en-US}}

=Spread=

Notable advocates of faith deconstruction include internet comedy duo Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (who published multiple podcast episodes detailing their spiritual deconstruction),{{Citation |title=Rhett's Spiritual Deconstruction | date=9 February 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qbna6t1bzw |language=en |access-date=2022-11-30}}{{Citation |title=Link's Spiritual Deconstruction | date=16 February 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1AZhlyoD9s |language=en |access-date=2022-11-30}} John D. Caputo (who in 2007 wrote What Would Jesus Deconstruct?: The Good News of Postmodernism for the Church), and Richard Rohr.{{cite news |last1=Austin |first1=Terry |title=Jesus and deconstruction |url=https://baptistnews.com/article/jesus-and-deconstruction/ |access-date=20 June 2022 |agency=Baptist News Global |date=22 November 2021}} Prominent former Christians who underwent deconstruction include Joshua Harris (whose book I Kissed Dating Goodbye was foundational to purity culture and who briefly offered a course on deconstruction),{{cite news |last1=Mayberry |first1=Carly |title=Josh Harris Launches Course on Deconstructing Faith, but Some Theologians Question His Motives |url=https://www.newsweek.com/josh-harris-launches-course-deconstructing-faith-some-theologians-question-his-motives-1619263 |access-date=20 June 2022 |work=Newsweek |date=13 August 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Gryboski |first1=Michael |title='I kissed dating goodbye' author Josh Harris offering 'deconstruction' class on Christianity for $275 |url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/josh-harris-offering-deconstruction-class-on-faith-for-275.html |access-date=20 June 2022 |work=The Christian Post |date=13 August 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Lea |first1=Jessica |title=UPDATE: After 'Valid Criticism,' Josh Harris Takes Down His Deconstruction Course |url=https://churchleaders.com/news/403209-joshua-harris-deconstruction-course.html |access-date=20 June 2022 |work=ChurchLeaders |date=16 August 2021}} Abraham Piper,{{cite web |last1=Poletti |first1=Johnathan |title=Abraham Piper deconstructs his dad |url=https://medium.com/belover/abraham-piper-deconstructs-his-dad-37b3bdd9b519 |publisher=Medium |access-date=20 June 2022 |date=16 April 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Jackson |first1=Jesse T. |title=Not Desiring God–John Piper's Son Criticizes His Upbringing to 925k TikTok Followers |url=https://churchleaders.com/news/394762-not-desiring-god-john-pipers-son-criticizes-his-upbringing-to-925k-tiktok-followers.html |website=ChurchLeaders |access-date=20 June 2022 |date=14 April 2021}} and Marty Sampson.{{cite news |last1=Kuruvilla |first1=Carol |title=Evangelical Songwriter Says He's No Longer Christian In Emotional Instagram Post |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/marty-sampson-hillsong-christianity-doubt_n_5d605421e4b02cc97c8d8724 |access-date=20 June 2022 |work=HuffPost |date=26 August 2019}}

As of February 2022, there were 293,026 posts on Instagram using the hashtag #deconstruction.

On Reddit, the r/Deconstruction community had almost 10,000 members as of March 2025.{{cite web |title=r/Deconstruction |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Deconstruction/ |website=reddit}}

=Outcomes=

Psychologist Daryl R. Van Tongeren catalogs these possible outcomes following deconstruction:

Religious reconstruction is retaining or rebuilding religious beliefs, often with a shift in religious identity. Some people who reconstruct report a feeling of spiritual growth and maturity.
Religious deidentification is a reduction in religious identity or religious beliefs. Deidentification may be broken up into:
Disbelief in core tenets of religion, as for example an atheist or agnostic
Disengagement from emotional connection with the spiritual or divine
Discontinuance of religious rules, for example, reconsidering the requirement of sexual purity
Disaffiliation from religions social communities, for example, no longer attending worship services

Responses

After preaching a sermon in which he equated deconstruction with leaving the faith, Matt Chandler clarified that it "doesn’t mean doubt or theological wrestle or struggling through church hurt". John Cooper has stated, "It is time that we declare war against this deconstruction Christian movement... There is nothing Christian about it. It is a false religion."{{cite web |title=Skillet's John Cooper Warns 'Young People' of 'False Religion' in Viral TikTok |url=https://www.movieguide.org/news-articles/skillets-john-cooper-warns-young-people-of-false-religion-in-viral-tiktok.html |publisher=Movieguide |access-date=20 June 2022 |date=11 February 2022}}

On the other hand, Tyler Huckabee argues that it can result in "deconversion", or "in your faith looking more or less the same it always did" but "most often, it's somewhere in between—rethinking the things you’ve always believed and coming to a new, different understanding of parts of it". On the other hand, it can result in "reconstruction", where individual faith is re-formed which often aligns more with Progressive Christianity. Huckabee goes on to suggest that Martin Luther's own theological revolution "fits into the paradigm of what researchers would call deconstruction today".

Carl Trueman argues that the "(mis)use of the Derridean d-word gives the whole a specious veneer of intellectualism and a certain superannuated postmodern chic".{{cite news |last1=Trueman |first1=Carl |author1-link=Carl Trueman |title=Josh Harris's Message Remains the Same |url=https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2021/08/josh-harriss-message-remains-the-same |access-date=20 June 2022 |work=First Things |date=12 August 2021}}

Faith deconstruction

Description

=Definitions=

=Spread=

=Outcomes=

Responses

See also

References

Further reading