Deconversion



=What is Deconversion?=

The [|loss] of [|faith] in a given [|religion] and return to a previously held religion or non-religion (typically [|atheism], [|agnosticism], or [|rationalism]). According to Streib and Keller (cite), "various names which may be regarded as referring to the same core phenomenon (i.e. deconversion), may also point to its complexity: apostasy, defection, disaffiliation, falling from the faith; exit etc." Deconversion is a relatively new nomenclature to describe the loss of faith. Streib and Keller (Streib, Keller, 2004) state that the study of deconversion came about to document trends with the discipline of religious studies.The same authors have summed up deconversion, "as a turning point phenomenon involving crisis and conflict" ( Streib, Keller, 2004).

There was this presumption that deconversion experiences were negative that followed the below outline:

**Population** People who lost their faith

**Primary Loss** Loss of how individuals saw the world around them and life beyond death

**Secondary Losses** The loss of social support The loss of friends and family The loss of their religious assumptive constructs


 * || ==Stressor== || Process ||
 * ==Grief ==

Oriented
|| # Depression
 * 1) Fear
 * 2) Sadness
 * 3) Hopelessness || # Feelings that life has no meaning or purpose.
 * 4) Lingering feelings of judgment and punishment.
 * 5) Avoiding people that one was familiar with in the past.
 * 6) Avoiding social activities, staying home. ||
 * LifeOriented || # Finding new friends.
 * 1) Finding new social outlets || # Learning to talk to people about deconversion experience.
 * 2) Learning a possible new vocabulary to communicate.
 * 3) Finding support groups or new social community. ||

However, the above may be the experience of some individuals who go through a deconversion experience. Current research is showing that deconversion is much broader with a wide array of experiences, and where some of the experiences are positive (Streib, Keller, 2004).

In order to have an empathetic understanding of what individuals who have a deconversion experience, it is important to understand how society in the United States views religious practices and atheism. Below is a brief summary of religious beliefs and attitudes in the United States.

= Summary of Religious Beliefs and Attitudes in the United States =



Religious belief and practice in the United States, compared to other countries in with which there are political alliances with the United State; Americans typically have an unquestioning belief in God than those other countries and are more willing to turn their religious belief into political actions ("Religious zeal sets," 2006). Such visible demonstrations of faith in both the pubic and private sector gives the impression that America is a nation steeped in faith traditions and practices. In other words, that religious beliefs are the norm and not the exception to the American way of life. A three year Gallop poll following attendance of religious services in the United States from 2008 through 2010 shows that at 2008 religious attendance was at 42.1% and has been climbing to 43.1% in 2010 (Newport, 2010).

Even though attending religious services is still less than 50% of the total population in the United States, belief in God, in contrast to attending religious services remain extremely high. According to another Gallop poll, 92% of Americans believe in God ("More than 9," 2011). Chart 1 tracks the history of Americans who believe in God from November 1944 to May 2011. This poll does not address every year from 1944 to 2011, but gives a snapshot of those claiming to believe in God over a sampling of seven years. This chart shows that those Americans polled regarding their belief in God reached its highest percentage during the 1950’s and 1960’s with a total of 98% of those polled believed in God. Since reaching its highest percentage the May 2011 poll shows a drop of six percentage points. Believe in God is still very strong in the United States compared to recent Ipsos Social Research Institute survey found that little over a half at 51% of people polled globally believe in God (Bohon, 2011).

Chart 1

Even though chart 1 shows that belief in God remains high, what this chart also reveals that those who do not believe in God is the highest since this Gallop poll began with 7% of American claiming that there is no such thing as an universal divinity. This is a 6% increase from the previous polling period. To understand attitudes of Americans towards atheists, a University of Minnesota study published in the //American Sociological Review// (Edgell, Gerteis, Hartman) ranked responses around two survey questions: which group that does not at all agree with my vision of American society and I would disapprove if my child wanted to marry a member of this group. Chart 2 shows the break down based on percentages respective to each question. The number one answer to both questions is that atheists have a high percentage of disapproval regarding constructs of vision and marriage within American society. Even though Muslims is one of the major monotheistic faith traditions globally, their high ranking in chart 2, according to Edgell, Getreis and Hartman (University of Minnesota p. 217) is based that Americans perceive Muslims as an external treat to American culture since the attacks of radical Jihadists on 9-11.

Chart 2 The list below shows the attitudes that those polled of which groups of people do not agree with their vision of American society.
 * Atheist || 39.6% ||
 * Muslim || 26.3% ||
 * Homosexual || 22.6% ||
 * Conservative Christian || 13.5% ||
 * Recent Immigrant || 12.5% ||
 * Hispanic || 7.6% ||
 * Jew || 7.4% ||
 * Asian American || 4.6% ||
 * African American || 4.6% ||
 * White American || 2.2% ||

The list below shows the disapproval rates of those polled if their child would marry a member of this group.


 * Atheist || 46.6% ||
 * Muslim || 33.5% ||
 * African American || 22.7% ||
 * Asian American || 18.5% ||
 * Hispanic || 18.5% ||
 * Jew || 11.8% ||
 * Conservative Christian || 6.9% ||
 * White || 2.3% ||

What is noted is that atheists rank the highest for those polled for both not agreeing with the construct of the "American" vision for society as well as a high disapproval rate for if one of their children would marry an atheist. With such high polling numbers that indicate Americans disapproval with atheists, no wonder those individuals who have had a deconversion experience often remain silence because of the social stigma that atheists have in American society. Those who go through a mourning period due to their loss of faith often experience disenfranchised grief because of family and societal marginalization.

Throughout this wiki there will be stories presented by a wide range of people regarding their deconversion experiences. This qualitative look into the narratives of these stories reveal the experiences in why a decision was made to move away from belief to non-belief. With each one there will be a Dimensional Assessment of Bereavement. This will a qualitative review of the experiences expressed by the individuals and their deconversion stories. Also, these deconversion narratives are mixed with an array of emotions that run the range from sadness to joy.

= Deconversion Story #1 = media type="youtube" key="n3l8xgBtpT4" width="425" height="350" align="center"


 * =  ||= ==Stressor== ||= ==Process== ||
 * = ==Grief==

Oriented
||= 1. Sadness 2. Vulnerability 3. Guilt ||= 1. Holding onto emotional attachments. 2. Reliving painful experiences. || 2. How to talk to others within the African-American community about persona atheism. ||= 1. Wanting to know the truth through study and asking questions. 2. Learning to make the best decisions for ones own life. 3. Looking at life in new ways. ||
 * = LifeOriented ||= 1. How can I think that friends are going to hell because they believ differently than me?

For this young African-American female, the beginning of her deconversion experience started when she started to encounter a pluralistic society in which there were a wide variety of beliefs and values that differed from her experiences. Exposure to different beliefs and values can be the beginning of questioning ones own values and beliefs. For this young woman she could not accept that her friends, who had different religious beliefs, were going to hell based on her religious beliefs. She began her quest for "truth" over behavior, that is; what was important to her was her pursuit for truth over worrying doing what was "right" based on religious beliefs. Her pursuit of truth would create its own moral and ethical practice that embraced diversity of beliefs, practices, constructs that would not be, or could not, be tolerated based on her religious background. What was interesting is that her childhood education in her religious tradition never really left her. It was like a shadow self that kept nagging at her from time to time...questioning if her ongoing pursuit for truth was actually harmful or helpful in her life. This may be the experience of many who have gone through deconversion because of the religious upbringing during their formative years. Letting go of childhood beliefs is a grieving process that moves from make-believe to reality and that transition may be very difficult for some. Altemeyer & Hunsberger suggests that this young lady did not experience a deconversion, but a conversion based in the rational and intellectual, "and seems to result from a slow, careful search for meaning and purpose resulting in a dramatic transformation of self in becoming one's own person" (Altemeyer, Hunsberger, 1997).

= __Deconversion Story #2__ = media type="youtube" key="5ttnSxh4g8Q" width="425" height="350" align="center"

This particular case has a double deconversion experience. The first deconversion experience is from atheism to Christianity and the second deconversion experience is in reverse order from Christianity to atheism. Each deconversion experience had it's own set of processes that were unique to the experience. Below you will see these processes he went through.

First Deconversion Experience: Atheist to Fundamentalist Christian

 * || ==Stressors== || ==Process== ||
 * ==Grief==

Oriented
|| 1. Anger || 1. Kicking and screaming when parents forced him to go to church ||
 * ==Life==

Oriented
|| 1. Letting go of previous beliefs 2. Lack of knowledge 3. Feeling called to be a pastor || 1. Wondering if there was a God 2. Reading the Bible and various Christian authors 3. Involved in forming new churches, becoming a youth leader, going to a Bible College ||

Second Deconversion Experience: Fundamentalist Christian to Atheist

 * || ==Stressors== || ==Process== ||
 * ==Grief==

Oriented
|| 1. Disillusionment 2. Discomfort || 1. Felt he had to wear a mask in order be accepted by the Christians he knew 2. Could no longer tolerate associating with fundamentalist Christians ||
 * ==Life==

Oriented
|| 1. Desire to be authentic || 1. Stopped wearing masks and started to associate with nonjudgmental non-Christians 2. Started to drink alcohol with wife and non-Christian friends || This gentleman not only experienced two deconversion experiences, but he experienced moving to four different countries in his lifetime, but he did not mention the effects of those moves on his life. However, he grew up as an atheist until he was twelve years old when he was exposed to Christianity. He was not excited to this new exposure because his parents forced him to attend church. Through his forced attendance he started to question his previous held beliefs as an atheist and started to believe in the God found withing the Jewish and Christian scriptures.He became more involved in church activities that he felt that God was calling him to a particular vocation in becoming a pastor. Even though his parents, who first forced him to attend church, stopped attending religious services, he still continued to attend the denomination of his choice. It was during his time at Bible College in the United States that he started to have a change of faith and felt that he was wearing masks in order to be accepted by other fundamentalist Christians. He felt that he had to live up to their image and not be true to himself. During this time he had his second deconversion experience from being a fundamentalist Christian to being an atheist again.

Janet Jacobs in her article, //Deconversion From Religious Movements: An Analysis of Charismatic Bonding and Spiritual Commitment//, states that there are five factors that create disillusionment for believes and places them on the path of deconversion and they are as following:
 * 1) The breakdown in member's insulation from the outside world.
 * 2) Unregulated development of dyadic relationships within the communal context.
 * 3) Perceived lack of success in achieving world transformation.
 * 4) Failure to meet affective needs of a primary group.
 * 5) Inconsistencies between the actions of leaders and the ideals they symbolically represent (p.176)

The above gentleman experienced the above five factors at various stages of his belief, and each factor he experienced and engaged in as a new behavior, became mini steps and movements away from his belief. The above story shows that deconversion is typically not an epiphany moment where one is instantaneous deconverted, but it is a series of movements away from belief to disbelief. Beside the loss of faith borne out of crisis and conflict as stated at the beginning of this wiki, deconversion can be seen as a movement within a particular faith tradition

Deconversion: Qualitative and Quantitative Results from Cross-Cultural Research in Germany and the United States of America. By Heinz Streib, Ralph W. Hood, Jr., Barbara Keller, Rosina-Martha Csöff, and Christopher F. Silver. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009. 259 pp. $90.00 hardcover.)

= Deconversion Story #3  =

media type="youtube" key="imbS04bWzBQ" width="425" height="350" align="center"


 * || ==Stressors== || ==Process== ||
 * ==Grief==

Oriented
|| 1. Doubt 2. Guilt || 1. To face doubts head-on and find answers to questions that are authentically real for the individual. 2. To find new information about the world around oneself and move forward with ones life. ||
 * ==Life==

Oriented
|| 1. How to live life when faith has changed. 2. What do I believe? || 1. Becoming comfortable in rejection certain notions that were damaging. 2. Rejecting what others say about God, and believe what I need to believe in about God. ||

The above discussion shows what (Streib, Hood, Keller, Csoff and Silver) state as a particular movement within a faith tradition. That individuals have deconversion experiences away from previously head beliefs, but still continue to believe. Deconversion of previously held beliefs, as stated in the above Youtube video clip starts with doubt. For some doubt doesn't lead to complete disbelief, but allows one to face the doubts and to look for answers that are authentically real to them, and which also fits within their constructs of the nature of God. It is about rejecting what others have told individuals about the nature of God and to have the courage to figure it out on ones own regardless the outcomes.

The research shows that deconversion is a process...a process of moving from faith to disbelief and even a process of changing beliefs within a particular faith systems. The processes and experiences individuals have in their deconversion are as unique to the individual. There are many similar grief stresses that are experienced, but how they are processed depends on the outcomes the individual desires to have in their deconversion.

=Questions Asked By Students =

fit all asked questions by the answers below.
> Answer: As students of social work we learned from HBSE I (Human Behavior in the Social Environment) it "all depends". There are a wide variety of reasons why a person leaves their faith, changes there faith or moves to a different expression within their own faith tradition (conservative to liberal or even liberal to conservative). Typically deconversion experiences happen when an individual encounters pluralistic beliefs: either in college or the work environment. Individuals question long-term beliefs that no longer fit within their expanding experiences. If the individuals faith does not expand or cannot expand then typically there is a deconversion experience. > Answer: The question can be asked also of any faith tradition, for example: How would members of a Temple or Mosque react to someone who leaves their tradition. Even though I have not read how members of a faith tradition react, I can only make a hypothesis based on what I have read. If the faith tradition is more conservative, the membership would respond more negatively to the individual. Reactions may be ostracism, that is to exclude that individual from that faith community. In one particular faith tradition, the Amish shun an individual who has decided not to follow the beliefs of the Amish church. Shunning is the act where church members avoid a person on every level of life to show that the shunned individual is outside the church and does not belong to the faithful. > http://amishamerica.com/why-do-the-amish-practice-shunning/ > Answer: The answer is a resounding "yes". Many believe that their deconversion experience(s) allows them freedom to think and believe as they will without the social constructs/constrictions of religious beliefs. Those who move away from a more conservative/fundamental faith tradition experience the greatest liberation from a constrictive faith belief. More liberal and progressive faith traditions see deconversion as a normal life process and are not threatened by deconversion experiences, but are encouraged because deconversion allows the individual to question their faith as a healthy life process. > Answer: Going back to HBSE I, the answer is "it all depends." Many see their experience as a natural evolution of life and do not resent or harbor ill will. But it seems that those who moved away from a more conservative/fundamental tradition, there is more anger not regarding their experience in that faith tradition, but they are angry at those more conservative/fundamental traditions because they believe that those traditions are limiting, deceiving and controlling people. In other words they are not angry that they believed, but angry at a tradition that continues to suppress believers from reaching their full potential.
 * 1) What caused the decision (to deconvert) in the first place?
 * 1) How do church members react?
 * 1) Are there positive processes/experiences with deconversion?
 * 1) Does the person feel angry about the time they spent believing a different faith?

=For Further Reading=

Deconversion: Qualitative and Quantitative Results from Cross-Cultural Research in Germany and the United States of America. By Heinz Streib, Ralph W. Hood, Jr., Barbara Keller, Rosina-Martha Csöff, and Christopher F. Silver. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009. 259

The Economy of Love in Religious Commitment: The Deconversion of Women from Nontraditional Religious Movements. By Janet Jacobs, //The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion//. 1984. 23(2) 155-171.

Deconversion from Religious Movemenets: An Analysis of Charismatic Bounding and Spiritual Commitment. By Janet Jacobs, //The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.// 1987, 26(3): 294-208.

Versions of Deconversion: Autobiography and the Loss of Faith. By John D. Barbour. Charlottsville, University of Virginia, 1994, 238 pp.

The Religious Critic in American Culture. By William Dean. State University of New York Press, 256 pp.

=Work Cited=

=
Bohon, D. (2011). Gallup: More than 90 percent of americans believe in god. The New American, Retrieved from http://thenewamerican.com/culture/faith-and-morals/7808-gallup-more-than-90-percent-of-americans-believe-in-god=====

=
Edgell, P., Getreis, J. & Hartman, D. (n.d.). Atheists as "other": Moral boundaries and cultural membership in american society. //American Sociological Review//, Retrieved from http://www.soc.umn.edu/~hartmann/files/atheist as the other.pdf =====

Streib, H., & Keller, B. (2004). The variety of deconversion experiences: Contours of a concept in respects to emperical research. //The Psychology of Religion//, //26//, 1810200. Retrieved from http://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/publication/1877169

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