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{"id":32899,"date":"2015-12-31T06:00:23","date_gmt":"2015-12-31T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=32899"},"modified":"2015-12-31T06:00:23","modified_gmt":"2015-12-31T11:00:23","slug":"leaving-american-christianity-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2015\/12\/leaving-american-christianity-behind.html","title":{"rendered":"Leaving American Christianity Behind?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"Rachel$ <\/p>\n

Rachel Held Evans shared<\/a> the above words, in a post<\/a> which also says \u201ceven the most painful religious experiences cannot simply be discarded. They must be confronted, molded, repurposed.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0It\u2019s a messy, sacred process<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cYes, we are called to grow and mature, and yes, our convictions and denominational affiliations will likely change, but I\u2019ve found I\u2019m a better writer\u2014and a better person\u2014when I\u2019m more focused on outgrowing the old me than I am on outgrowing other people in my community<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0Click through to read the whole thing<\/a>. It really is a very helpful piece, which does a good job of making the point that people saying \u201cI\u2019m done with X\u201d doesn\u2019t always mean that they are done with whatever \u201cX\u201d is. This applies in the realm of religion and ideology as much as in other areas. And it is often a big hindrance to our actual recovery and moving on, when we think that a mere decision to leave something or someone behind makes that a reality, or even possible.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s worth thinking about, especially if you are the sort of person who makes new year\u2019s resolutions\u2026<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"