Understanding deconstruction:

Deconstruction is a process of personal religious re-examination. People who deconstruct have described destabilizing feelings of anxiety, guilt, anger, confusion, and fear, as well as curiosity, awe, and liberation.

As an open-ended process, the outcome of deconstruction is uncertain. During deconstruction, people doubt their beliefs, identity, and practices. They may struggle and experience anxiety.

Some eventually modify their beliefs. This results in:

• a rejection of religion for some,
• a revised or renewed faith for others.

So why do people deconstruct their faith?
Apologetic responses to the deconstruction process often oversimplify the true experiences of people wrestling with their beliefs. This video discusses three unhelpful things that friends and family sometimes say about faith deconstruction.

Defining Faith Deconstruction:

“The deconstruction of their previously received faith leads people engaged in this process to successively examine the individual components of their faith.

People engaged in the deconstruction of their faith remove each article of the belief and value system of their received faith and submit it to a process of ongoing reflection. This process involves a questioning and scrutinizing of the particular belief or value.

– Jamieson, Alan. A Churchless Faith: Faith Journeys Beyond the Churches. United Kingdom, 2002.