1. Conversion, deconversion, and disenagement

2. Deconversion: move from one religion to another (But how about becoming skeptics, agnostics, or atheists?)
Disengagment: detach from mainstream religion
What are the similarities and difference between deconversion and disengagement?

3. Current trend Chaves (2011): Religious trends in US
The portion of Americans who never attend church has increased from 13% in 1990 to 22% in 2008.
Fewer people grow up in a religious household (from 70% for those born before 1900 to about 45% born after 1970)
Parental factor is crucial (Vaidyanthan, 2011)

17. Seth grew in a Christian family in Oklahoma
Nothing made sense when getting older
God in the OT condones rape and genocide
Oral Roberts University: God would like Oral Roberts unless he gets $1 million

18. Losing my religion and found peace
Lobdell, W. (2009). Losing my religion: How I lost my faith reporting on religion in America and found unexpected peace. New York: Harper.
Dr. William Lobdell was a Christian who investigated the Catholic sex abuse cases. He reported that in one case a mother sent her daughter to a Catholic retreat camp. The young girl was raped by a group of priests and was pregnant.
The church told the mother that her daughter was a “bad” girl, and then covered this up by sending the young girl out of the country.

19. He also reported that he attended a church meeting
He also reported that he attended a church meeting. In the meeting the members voted to name a church after an abusing priest (The priest had admitted the crime). A policeman was among the audience. He stood up and yelled, “I am a cop. I see criminals every day. Shame on you! All of you are Christians. But no one ever mentioned the victims. And now you want to name a church after a criminal!”
Dr. William Lobdell described that this experience is his “road to Damascus” (in a reversed fashion). Later he lost his religion and found “unexpected peace.”

21. You lost me The author of “Unchristian”
Use empirical data and statistical methods, not just guessing or use a preconceived theory
18-29 years old

22. Three types of devonversion or disengagement
Nomads:
wander around the church and maintain their church connections and relationships
not fully committed, inconsistent
Prodigal
Deny the faith for various reasons
e.g. sexual conducts, intellectual challenges
4 out of 5 evangelicals have sex, just like the general population
Exile
Like Daniel, wants to be faithful to God in “Babylon” (a non-Christian culture)
would like to transform the culture, but without support from the church.

23. Is college a faith killer?
No. The tendency of deconversion happens around the senior year of high school.
About 60 percent of young people who went to church as teens drop out after high school.
Christians are too confident that they know the answers (52%)
Churches are out of step with the science world we live in (41%)
Christianity is anti-science (34%)
I have turned off by the creation-evolution debate (34%)
Christianity makes complex things simple (29%)
Christianity is anti-intellectual (26%)

24. Recent study
Yu & Hui (2014): Top 10 predictors of deconversion and disengagement
Most are related to church experience
Two are about psychological factors (stimulation and universalism)
One is an intellectual issue (Creationism)

25. Assignment
Talk to a person who changed his religious belief (e.g. from Christian to Buddhist, from Hindu to Christian, from Christian to atheist…etc.) about his or her deconversion experience.
Do not debate with him or her. Just listen and try to understand his or her thought process.
What are the reasons of his or her deconversion? Intellectual? Life crisis?
Present your findings in class