December 17, 2024

In a previous article, I reviewed research which suggested that, despite the reputation Christians have for being anti-intellectual and unsophisticated, on average, they actually are every bit as sophisticated as atheists in their thinking – if not even slightly more so. This research used a system called “Integrative Complexity Analysis.” This form of analysis takes a text or speech and analyzes it for multiple approaches to the subject at hand: the presence of nuanced rather than black-and-white thinking, the ability... Read more

November 29, 2024

The 2024 book Devout by first-time published author Anna Gazmarian is an autobiography exploring her journey of doubt and discovery through the faith of her childhood in light of her struggles with mental illness. While the book is entirely autobiographical, with no overt attempts to draw lessons or meaning which might be applicable to the reader, it does follow three themes: faith, mental illness, and creative writing. Synopsis Anna grew up in the church, but as she began to experience... Read more

November 21, 2024

Published in October of this year, Deconstructing: Leaving the Church and Finding Faith is a book which is both an autobiography and a life-coaching guide for people struggling with their Christian beliefs or belonging. The book was written by and follows the life of Karla Kamstra, a reverend and social media star who has made her mark online by talking about faith, feminism, and the problems with Evangelicalism. Synopsis Kamstra grew up in a Kentucky church with broadly fundamentalist views... Read more

September 13, 2024

Introduction The purpose of this article is to examine the 2000 book The Consequences of Ideas and, after reviewing the book, apply the principles of the book to psychology, and specifically to my particular area of psychology: religious conversion and deconversion. The book itself looks at the history and development of philosophy with the thesis that this history is influential in the way in which current society functions. The question is, can philosophy interact with psychology? This is the question... Read more

August 6, 2024

As a deconversion researcher, it is becoming ever more apparent that culture and time period have a heavy influence on the form deconversion tends to take. In my review of the book You Lost Me, I demonstrated how the researcher had captured a time when millennials were the young adults of the world, and how the culture at the time influenced the reasons and ways they left religion. In my review of the more recent book Deconstruction of Christianity, I... Read more

July 30, 2024

Deconversion and Abuse Several years ago when I published my initial model of deconversion, one of the responses I received was that it did not include the people who left for reasons of abuse by the church. In the initial 32 case studies I considered when forming my model, I had not seen anything which resembled a pattern of abuse or mistreatment. Granted, several of the deconverts complained that the various teachings and doctrines caused emotional distress, but this was... Read more

July 22, 2024

Like so many of the books written in recent years on the topic of the exodus from Christianity, The Deconstruction of Christianity (2023) was written by Christians with the purpose of explaining this exodus, comforting Christians who have lost friends and family to the exodus, and defending the truth of Christianity to those who were in the process of “Deconstructing.” However, this book does add a unique element to the discussion which has been absent in previous literature I have... Read more

July 15, 2024

The movement most prominently embattled against Christianity in the United States has been labeled the “Deconstruction Movement.” But what is this movement, how did it arise, and what is the history leading up to it? The Founding of the United States Christianity has been an ever-present force in American culture, with the United States largely being founded by Christian sects attempting to escape persecution by government-sanctioned religions in Europe. As a result of this history, one of the founding principles... Read more

July 9, 2024

Conversion Within Christianity, there is a theological and social concept called “conversion.” In the mind of most Christian, there exists a demarcation line in time that represents the moment in which a person is “saved.” So that, if the person were to die a second prior to this moment in time, that person would go to hell, but if the person were to die the next second after, he or she would go to heaven. The social sciences, however, do... Read more

March 28, 2024

How Human Attitudes Form Versus How We Think They Form I am a researcher whose primary concern is Conversion (meaning how people transition into a religion) and Deconversion (meaning how people transition away from religious practice and belief). As such, it is within my interest to study how humans form attitudes, come to conclusions, and change their minds. Since at least the time when Aristotle began to write his philosophical works, it has more or less been assumed that humans form attitudes based... Read more


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