{"id":3044,"date":"2025-10-31T06:48:44","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T11:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/youmightberight\/?p=3044"},"modified":"2025-11-01T22:47:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T03:47:13","slug":"former-christians-embrace-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/youmightberight\/2025\/10\/former-christians-embrace-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Many Former Christians Continue to Embrace Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Many former Christians continue to embrace Jesus, but they do NOT embrace the political division and theological speculation that characterize contemporary Christianity.<\/p>\n

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Many former Christians continue to embrace Jesus. Image in the public domain\/AI-generated<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Many Former Christians Continue to Embrace Jesus<\/h2>\n

I wrote about the things that I like about Christianity her<\/a>e. Granted, my list was short, and my defense of Christianity was tepid, but it struck a nerve among atheists and other former Christians. Like me, many continue to embrace the words and works of Jesus, even as they reject the political and theological trappings of contemporary Christianity.<\/p>\n

One astute reader described how Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist<\/a> teacher, reminded him that \u201cI needed to not just tear down or throw away my toxic religion. I needed to rebuild my spirituality. I needed to recapture the \u2018jewels\u2019 of my Christianity.\u201d Maybe when we discuss deconstructing<\/em> and reconstructing<\/em> our traditions, we need to include recapturing<\/em> or reclaiming<\/em> them, too.<\/p>\n

As a former Mennonite said, \u201cI left the Church decades ago, but I carry with me in my bones a deep appreciation for the core values of nonviolence, communalism, mutual aid and concern to guard the dignity of fellow human beings\u2026. Whatever labels I put on my current belief system (post-Christian, interfaith, universalist, unitarian), I will always be a Mennonite-flavored this or that.\u201d<\/p>\n

One deconstructing ex-Christian said, \u201cOne thing I do personally like about Christianity is the symbolism of the incarnation. As you say, not in the literal sense\u2026 but where the figure of Christ symbolically<\/em> represents the place where the spiritual and natural meet.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it is more correct to say that \u201cWe create God in our image\u201d than to say that \u201cGod creates us in his (sic) image.\u201d Once, I witnessed a conversation between a Hindu teacher and a student:<\/p>\n

Student:\u00a0 How can we summon the gods?<\/p>\n

Teacher:\u00a0 The gods are always with us.<\/p>\n

Student:\u00a0 What are the gods like?<\/p>\n

Teacher:\u00a0 The gods are not \u201clike\u201d anything. The gods are symbols.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Would Jesus Do?\u201d<\/h2>\n

According to one atheist, \u201c\u2018What would Jesus do?\u2019 is not a bad question. He still inspires me with how to have one foot in the wilderness and one foot in the world, flipping tables of the institution, yet preserving the heart of spirituality.\u201d Many atheists, such as Richard Dawkins, practice a naturalistic spirituality<\/a>, grounded in our interconnectedness, without any supernaturalism.<\/p>\n

Another atheist pointed out that, \u201cYou can be an atheist and hold all those noble feelings toward others.\u201d Yes, that\u2019s the point. Many of us love our neighbors as ourselves, as most traditions say. But do you think that we have to embrace some of the speculative doctrine, supernatural events, and unkind practices that conservative Christianity embraces? Me neither.<\/p>\n

Many churches insist that we believe that Jesus was the second person in the Trinity (a fourth-century invention, never mentioned in the Bible) who was born of a virgin and rose from the dead.\u00a0 So, if we follow Jesus, but we do NOT believe everything that the church believes about him, have we left Jesus, or have we left the church? And have we left the church, or has the church left us?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Would Donald Trump Do?\u201d<\/h2>\n

The last time that I set foot in a Protestant church was the Sunday after Trump was elected the first time. An elder prayed a prayer of thanksgiving that the \u201cright\u2019 person had been elected. But, here\u2019s the thing: I did NOT want to go to \u201cTrump church.\u201d I did NOT want to go to \u201cBiden church\u201d or \u201cClinton church\u201d or \u201cHarris church.\u201d I just wanted to go to church. Is that such a big ask?<\/p>\n

Actually, not too many of us want to go to \u201cTrump church.\u201d One Christian said, \u201cThe political right has co-opted the public perception of Christianity in this country, and that is truly unfortunate.\u201d\u00a0 In 2023, the National Council of Churches (NCC) predicted that about 100,000 churches would close<\/a> by 2050 throughout the U.S. That is approximately one in four churches operating today.<\/p>\n

At a recent meeting of the Post-Evangelical Collective<\/a>, which connects, cultivates, and resources post-evangelical churches, the leader remarked on the decline in church attendance since 2016. \u201cWe don\u2019t know if politics had anything<\/em> to do with it,\u201d he added. \u201cI think that politics had everything<\/em> to do with it,\u201d I responded. \u201cMe too,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n

Many former Christians continue to embrace Jesus, but they do NOT embrace the political division and theological speculation that characterize contemporary Christianity.<\/p>\n

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Many former Christians continue to embrace Jesus, but they do NOT embrace the political division and theological speculation that characterize contemporary Christianity. \u00a0 \u00a0 Many Former Christians Continue to Embrace Jesus I wrote about the things that I like about Christianity here. Granted, my list was short, and my defense of Christianity was tepid, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5496,"featured_media":3059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[974,968,971],"class_list":["post-3044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-100000-churches-close","tag-atheist-spirituality","tag-naturalistic-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nMany former Christians embrace Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"But they do NOT embrace the political division and theological speculation that characterize contemporary Christianity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/youmightberight\/2025\/10\/former-christians-embrace-jesus\/\" 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