In his “Versions of Deconversion” Barbour (1994), claims that deconversion is characterised by four factors which are intellectual doubt, moral criticism, emotional suffering and disaffiliation. Furthermore, Steib (2009) holds that every exit from a religion is a form of crisis for the individual and the end results in social and psychological change. Often, deconversion is an involuntary process. According to Hunsberger (2000), the process of becoming an apostate is “strongly intellectual and rational, and seems to result from a slow, careful search for meaning and purpose”, ending in “a dramatic transformation of self in becoming one’s own person’” (p.245.). They reported that they felt compelled to deconvert due to intellectual
reasons, because “They could no longer believe in God, the Bible, and other teachings. They had an unusual drive for the truth and personal integrity” (Hunsberger, 2000, p. 241), some even reported that they wished that they would have liked to stay religious, but didn't feel that was possible.
Nissimi, Hilda . "Religious Conversion, Covert Defiance and Social Identity: A Comparative View." Numen, 2004: 367-406.
they must also overcome the spiritual battle: abandoning the attitudes of doubt and despair, in order
Social support withdrawn. Friendship cessation. A family disowns its own. A community turns its back. These are the hallmarks of religious shunning. Because many people have never dealt with a repressive religion, they may not understand the concept of ‘being cast out.’ A person who experiences religious shunning may suffer many turbulent emotions and phases. Many ex-followers may endure extreme disbelief and fear during their initial shunning. Similarly, shunned members may experience turmoil and extreme depression after being shunned. Without social and physical support, the transitional period after their disassociation is marked by extremely negative circumstances. If a member survives the initial shunning, they often feel anger and resentment, while others may eventually return to their faith. Apostolate members may become a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ inasmuch that many openly begin to denounce their previous religion. Although shunning is said to be an act of love, ultimately, the act is a painful means of control that causes the ‘beloved’ to suffer greatly.
Religion in May 1966. It was reprinted with comments and a rejoined in The Religious Situation.
Marc Galanter, M.D., Richard Rabkin, M.D., Judith Rabkin, PH.D., and Alexander Deutsch, M. D. (1979). The “Moonies”: A psychological Study of Conversion and Membership in a Contemporary Religious Sect. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136(2).
This Is a letter regarding the joint resolution to remove federal troops from the citizens in the south. Personally, I believe that reconstruction should not end due to lack of political focus, failure of long-term racial integration, and failure in rebuilding the economics
Peterson, Michael - Hasker, Reichenbach and Basinger. Philosophy of Religion - Selected Readings, Fourth Edition. 2010. Oxford University Press, NY.
The sociological studies on cults and those who join them have found “that many of the converts are young people, often without strong family ties, who are unsuccessful in dealing with life’s problems and are seeking instant solutions supplied by others” (U.S. News and World Report 23).
...en civilization and the individual. Living in a nation still recovering from a brutally violent war (Germany), Freud began to criticize organized religion as a collective neurosis, or mental disorder. Freud, a strong proponent of atheism, argued that religion tamed asocial instincts and created a sense of community because of the shared set of beliefs. This undoubtedly helped a civilization. However, at the same time organized religion also exacts an enormous psychological cost to the individual by making him or her perpetually subordinate to the primal figure embodied by God.
Some sociologists claim that what changes primarily is the social system and religious change is an effect of the change in the former. It is not religion but, to a larger extent, the economy that is supposed to legitimize reality. From this perspective it is the social system that changes and this change in relation to religion means secularization, which generally speaking means the diminishing impact of religion on social life at various levels, degrees and intensities. Theories such as Luckmann’s privatization thesis or Hervieu-Le´ger’s emotional theory of religion may be categorized as giving priority to changes within the individual. The fundamental thought is that in contemporary society it is primarily the individual who changes. It is the individual that seeks direct contact with the sacral sphere, is driven by emotion, feeling, a personal and individualized need. The third current of theoretical solutions to the question of what predominates in modern and post-modern changes is the one that points to religion itself as the sphere of these changes. It is neither the society nor the individual, but rather religion that is pushed to the forefront of the phenomenon. Religion in confrontation with modernity takes on new forms which function well in the modern
I would say I support DNA conviction and exoneration cases today, but wouldn’t say a decade or two ago. The Innocence Projects reports that since 1989, there have been 330 cases where the inmate has been exonerated from prison based on DNA evidence—twenty of these individuals were death row inmates. The average time that a person that has been exonerated by DNA evidence spends in prison before being let out? Fourteen years of freedom gone. Playing devil’s advocate though, I attribute this to the fact that technology starting out during DNA testing was obviously not at the same level we have today and thus, mistakes were made—to be exact, about forty-seven percent of these wrongful convictions handed down were found to be wrong following
Most of the contemporary problems bedeviling our society are because of lack of proper spiritual anchorage. Civil and technological differentiations embodied in the media have aggravated the situation. Technological differentiation has undermined religion by taking the place of spirituality in adherents’ lives.
After arguably the most divisive and polarizing election in the history of the United States, many Americans are asking how exactly did we get here? Political scholars and experts overrun cable news shows and newspaper editorials with troubling claims declaring that America may be a more polarized nation today than at any other time in its long history. There is no doubt that the American electorate is divided nearly along party lines on almost all current policy issues. Republicans and Democrats seem to be shifting farther and farther toward opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. This paper aims to answer the question of what the primary cause for this current state of polarization is.
Would cause you if I was to tell you that I was leaving our religion
" Religion is not just a social, cultural, political, or ideological factor; instead it finds its power in the personal chambers of the soul of the individual. Within the soul we discover the source of the private motivation that forms perceptions and behavior ( pg 7, Rediscovering the Kingdom)."