Ex-Christian
Encyclopedia : E : EX : EXC : Ex-Christian
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An Ex-Christian is an individual who previously accepted the Christian revelation (regardless of denomination), but is now apostate and considers the claimed essential truths of Christian doctrine to be fallacious and without merit to his or her life.
Note that an Ex-Christian does not necessarily default to being an Atheist. An Ex-Christian may convert to another religion, such as Buddhism or Islam.
De-conversion is the process of apostasy. The matter of how long it takes is often based upon the depth of the apostate's involvement within Christianity. For example, someone who has considered themselves a Christian for a few months will likely have a rapid de-conversion versus someone who was born into fundamentalist Christianity and has spent the majority of their life in it. It is not uncommon in this case for a full de-conversion to take many years.
Full de-conversion does not consist in dropping every Christian belief at once, but rather slowly rejecting a belief after examination, reflection, and ponderance. De-conversion is not the original goal by those who have undergone it, but instead was simply a natural consequence of their experiences, sometimes with their original intent being simply to better understand their faith.
Reasons cited for apostasy by Ex-Christians commonly include:
Such reasons tend to hold a consistency for whether or not someone rejects all religion or converts to another. If an Ex-Christian is not satisfied with the perceived efficacy of prayer, another religion that practices prayer will often not appeal to him or her. However, if one de-converts because of physical or mental abuse, he or she may conclude that such behavior is restricted to their previous religion (in this case, Christianity), and seek guidance in another religion. In this, the more foundational the religious practice and its occurrence in other religions that an Ex-Christian rejects, the more likely they are to reject religion altogether.
Many followers of Christianity claim that it is not possible to be an Ex-Christian because a person who leaves Christianity was never a "true Christian" in the first place, or that Ex-Christians are simply lapsed or rebellious Christians.
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''Steps to : De-conversion
Reasons for Apostasy
Reasons such as these are not the full source of de-conversion, but are rather the 'first cause' of a de-conversion; a discovery that leads to questions and doubt and subsequent rejection of belief, leading to another discovery, and so on. Other 'first causes' include traumatic events in a person's life which are irreconcilable with their faith, or for which their faith provides no answer or closure.Controversy
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