The theologian Bart Ehrman describes his personal journey away from fundamentalist christianity in a recently published book. That may be a place to start. Some seem to assume that christianity is a monolithic set of beliefs and practices. In actuality, of course, there is considerable variation across christian denominations—which themselves change over time. Strict churches tend to ask and therefore receive more from their members in terms of morale and commitment. If you’re in a strict church, I think deconversion presents more of a challenge, but looking back in retrospect, it mostly boiled down to getting over a belief in strict literalism and the perpetual group (quasi-tribal?) exercise of believing in belief. I do not think intellectually migrating away from the literal teachings of a faith tradition need necessarily be abrupt. There is a useful analogy used by social psychologists. Consider your rational mind the rider and your emotional mind an elephant. The elephant may be comfortable with the faith in which you were raised, while your rational mind thinks otherwise, and wants to steer another course. Instead of forcing the proverbial elephant in a new direction, perhaps it is possible to pursue a long standing faith tradition as a rationalist.
The theologian Bart Ehrman describes his personal journey away from fundamentalist christianity in a recently published book. That may be a place to start. Some seem to assume that christianity is a monolithic set of beliefs and practices. In actuality, of course, there is considerable variation across christian denominations—which themselves change over time. Strict churches tend to ask and therefore receive more from their members in terms of morale and commitment. If you’re in a strict church, I think deconversion presents more of a challenge, but looking back in retrospect, it mostly boiled down to getting over a belief in strict literalism and the perpetual group (quasi-tribal?) exercise of believing in belief. I do not think intellectually migrating away from the literal teachings of a faith tradition need necessarily be abrupt. There is a useful analogy used by social psychologists. Consider your rational mind the rider and your emotional mind an elephant. The elephant may be comfortable with the faith in which you were raised, while your rational mind thinks otherwise, and wants to steer another course. Instead of forcing the proverbial elephant in a new direction, perhaps it is possible to pursue a long standing faith tradition as a rationalist.