Deconversion is the process of losing one’s religious belief or faith. More than that, it is an awakening into acceptance of reality on its own terms.

Doubt is a normal part of faith. For some of us the doubts led to questioning. The questioning led to uncomfortable answers. And for some, the uncomfortable answers led to deconversion.

This doubting, this growing out of faith, this deconversion process, is not new. It is a process from time immemorial. These questions have been asked and to one degree or another answered for millennia. However, in the West and specifically the United States we are experiencing a moment in history in which doubt is coming out into the light. The Pew research shows the “Nones,” people who marked “nothing in particular”, “spiritual but not religious,” agnostic, or atheist are rapidly growing. This site is dedicated to the Nones.

One description of deconversion is the gradual, even subconscious, raising of one’s standards of evidence until the weak, circumstantial, and special pleading nature of the faith tradition’s explanations becomes obvious.

At which point it all comes crashing down.

From Deconversion How To

The article that captures the essence of deconversion is my attempt to describe the deconversion process in general terms that anyone from a doubting believer to an atheist deconvert can relate to and is cheekily entitled:

• How to deconvert in 10ish easy steps

For believers asking questions

• You are not broken, you are human
• The bubble
• Book review: Doubt: A History
• Thought experiments for believers

Join the Deconversion Anonymous FB Group

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/deconversion

Tell your story!

On the podcast I do Deconversion Anonymous interviews. Where regular people who are in the middle of or long since past deconversion can tell their stories. These interviews can either be private or published on the podcast. Contact me if you are interested in being interviewed.

My deconversion story

• A very common message: A deconversion story
• I was mistaken
• The death of a soul
• Is it just that I had the wrong image of god?
• I still haven’t found what I am looking for
• Why I am not a liberal Christian

Deconstruction vs Deconversion

Deconversion is not just deconstruction. Deconstruction is often the process of becoming less  fundamentalist in one’s faith. It usually entails the rejection of scriptures being inerrant or authoritative. Often, one’s theology is liberalized to accommodate the modern world. The key difference here is that typically (not always) the person is still a person of faith. This faith may be sophisticated and nuanced but it is faith none the less. It is very possible for deconstruction to be a step on the way to deconversion.

Deconversion is when one has done the deconstructing, the grieving, the information gathering and “soul” searching but at the end of the process found there was no baby left in the bathwater. Deconversion is when one is no longer capable of believing in a transcendent theistic god whether one wants to or not. Deconversion is when one admits to oneself one no longer believes.

Deconstruction may be the process but deconversion is one possible outcome.

Deconversion Book Recommendations