More deconversion stories
- This is a spill-over area of extra stories that are not
- in the main links
- to be found on the ex-Christian webring, or
- from the ex-Christian archives
- There are also some stories that have been emailed to me.
From Christian to Atheist "The story of my slow and difficult journey to disbelief in god." by Roger Martin.
"Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I do not reject Christianity because of my desire to go around sinning without any guilt; I reject Christianity because I have closely examined its claims and I have found them to be unsubstantiated."
Curt van den Heuvel describes his mounting problems with the doctrine of hell and his discovery of the special pleading in Christian apologetics. This is a part of his excellent site on Christianity.
Joshua Lusion Saved, re-saved and born again according to the various different Christian versions of how to be "truly saved," Joshua Lusion gradually questioned why he believed it at all.
Dan Lewandowski In his tribute to the late Dr. Carl Sagan, Dan describes his journey out of a conservative Christian paradigm and the intellectual and emotional awakening that he found.
Anonymous describes the psychological impact of growing up amongst dysfunctional hellfire Southern Baptists and the mind-blowing effect of taking a philosophy of religion class.
Chris Ashton explains why he left the faith. This is a section from his website section called The Other Side. "The purpose of this website is to lay out the problems with Christianity, to explain why I left the faith, and to help unbelievers refute the most common Christian arguments, all in a clear, well-written, logical format that is easy for any one to read and understand."
Jo Ann Schneider Farris was involved with the "Jews for Jesus" cult and started sensing something was wrong from the homophobic attitude of the group. Her husband used to be a professional fundamentalist missionary. His deconversion story is linked to from Jo's page.
Doug Everingham Doug writes, "I know of several religious people who have, as I see it, overcome the emotional and ethical dependence on leaders or parent-like identities and groups. They seem to me to have matured, rejected priestly manipulation and power-plays like the bribe of eternal life and threat of eternal damnation."
Deconversion story - Thanks to the Jehovah's Witnesses, no longer a Christian The writer hoped to evangelise a Jehovah's Witnesses but instead came to recognise problems with Christianity.
From Good Catholic Boy To Heretic Atheist The writer describes how once he dared to question God's existence, he slowly came to realise how much he had been taking for granted.
Peter Kirby deconverted during discussions on talk.atheism and alt.atheism. The resulting thread can be followed here. Peter's account of why he is an atheist can be found on his website. In particular, see his Why I Am Not A Christian and Why I Am An Atheist.
Peter is the owner of the Xtianity mailing list. I am amazed at the intelligence and erudition of Peter which would be remarkable in one three times his age! Peter's website starts here.
Secular Thoughts by Jim Jeremiah. Originally published as Notes from the Secular Underground in the Internet Infidels November 1998 Newsletter.
Jim Lee describes his journey from Christianity through Judaism to atheism/agnosticism.
Dare To Think For Yourself - A Journey from Faith to Reason by Betty J. Brogaard.
A Journal on Doubt by Bennett Wade Kilpela. This is Ben's book length and extremely well-written soul searching compiled from his journal made whilst a doubting Christian. I am sure many will relate to this intensely examined exploration. Ben wrote the following to Ed Babinski: My book, written more than 10 years ago, is directly about reconciling to doubt and staying Christian, but I eventually left the faith, a blessed conversion event which will form a sequel some day. Though I have left the faith for greener pastures, I continue to go to an evangie church in East Lansing, MI, and, surprisingly, I enjoy church much more than I ever did when I struggled with doubts. Now, frankly, I'm fully relaxed with the spiritual seeking in my church as it is expressed by these friends of mine exclusively in evangie Christian terms. Maybe I was a Christian for so long that I can't quite say goodbye to it entirely. I have been a student of theology, American religious thought, church history, American church history, and American religious culture for so many, many years that I can't bear the thought of losing touch with these cultural movements that I understand so well and have experienced so closely. Thanks for listening and taking a look at my old/new book some time
Dennis J. Ramsey a member of the Church of the Nazarene for 25 years, felt he was brainwashed and left Christianity to eventually became a self-styled "Akkadian"
Ron explains his reasons for leaving Christianity in a letter to a church elder.
Winston Wu describes what it's like to combine Christian fundamentalism with mental health problems and how he recovered from them both.
Losing my religion: thoughts on leaving Christianity by Paul Wright.
The Naked Emperor. Wayne Adkins explains his personal journey from Bible college student to atheist.
Dr. Michael Shermer (the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine and the Director of the Skeptics Society) describes his deconversion and his spirituality as an atheist.
John Stephen Ku was heavily influenced by the arguments of C.S. Lewis until he read C. S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion by the philosopher John Beversluis.
www.exfundamentalist.blogspot.com - On Leaving Fundamentalist Christianity
In 2005, I finally decided to listen to my rational self and conceded that there may be some truth to my doubts about Christianity. I am now an ex-crhistian, but I don't feel like writing my long deconversion testimony in a single article; Instead, as a therapeutic device, I want to write my thoughts on why I left fundamentalist christianity.
The Journey Out …of the fundamentalist wilderness…
Becoming an atheist Michael O'Shaughnessy explains the thinking processes that led to his deconversion from devout Catholicism.
Ex-Christian - from Believer to Skeptic "Baileybear" describes the unhelpfulness of Christians, prayer and the poverty of fundamentalist beliefs about the world, contrasted with the real help she obtained from the science of medicine and the clear thinking and mental health that unhindered investigation brings. She has posted this on a webpage that has resulted in much comment!
Atheism Is the True Embrace of Reality Paula Kirby is a writer based in Scotland. This is the first of a two-part article for The Hibernia Times on atheism. In it she reflects on the diametrically opposed ideas of God that different Christians claim to know for certain from their direct undeniable personal experience of him. She describes how she came to question her Christian beliefs and, ultimately, concluded that there was no reason to think they were true. In her second article, Breaking Out from the Prison of Religion, she considers the reasons why, for many Christians, such questioning is hard to do.
"My Testimony" by Former Pastor Bruce Gerencser
Garry Morris - Garry's Blog where he talks about his personal experience and journey with his deconversion.