Over the past several months we\u2019ve been doing a lot of deconstruction work with the Bible on my blog, discussing how an unquestioning reading of Scripture leads to a lot of hurt. It\u2019s an important conversation to have, one motivated by compassion. Because we care about people, and because we love the Bible we need to confront a way of reading that justifies harm as wrong. Still, even so, it\u2019s hard. It takes a toll because, even though we believe we are doing something good, it cuts away at our old beliefs in the process, and that means it cuts us. After doing that kind of hard deconstructive work it can feel like there\u2019s nothing left to stand on.\u00a0<\/span> \u201cEvery new conception of God necessarily requires doubting or rejecting the prevailing conception of God\u2026 For many, the process is like peeling an onion. First they lose faith in the 6-day creationist god, then in the bible-dictation god, then in the male-supremacy god, then in the european-supremacy\/western-civilization\/colonialist god, then in the anti-gay god, \u2026 eventually, every layer of the onion is peeled away and one is left with nothing, but maybe some tears. The fear of being left with nothing leaves many people desperately afraid to question anything, which might be a good definition of fundamentalism. \u2026 The question, I think, is this: what happens after one peels away the onion and faces the possibility that there is nothing left\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/span>Brian McLaren recently compared this process of deconstruction to peeling an onion,\u00a0<\/span>
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