Exvangelical
Exvangelical is a social movement of people who have left evangelicalism, especially white evangelical churches in the United States, for atheism, agnosticism, progressive Christianity, or any other religious belief.[1][2][3] The hashtag #exvangelical was coined by Blake Chastain in 2016 to make "a safe space for people to find solidarity with others who have gone through similar experiences". Chastain also started a podcast titled Exvangelical, and there are other popular exvangelical podcasts such as Almost Heretical and Straight White American Jesus.[4][1]
Related movements include #emptythepews—urging opposition to evangelicalism in the United States due to its support for former president Donald Trump—started by exvangelical Chrissy Stroop and #churchtoo to draw attention to sexual abuse in churches.[5][1][4] Deconstructing faith is another movement where traditions are challenged moving many to remain in or leave the Christian faith, written more in-depth Derrick Day's book Deconstructing Religion.[6] Many exvangelicals are young people who choose to leave their religion following disagreements over issues such as science, the role of women, LGBT rights, and Christian nationalism. Specific incidents cited by exvangelicals for leaving include the Nashville Statement and evangelical support for Trump, which they perceived as hypocritical.[7]
Reception[]
Evangelical churches' responses have often been dismissive, rather than addressing the issues raised by the exvangelical movement. In Christianity Today’s The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill podcast, Baylor University professor Matthew Lee Anderson said the experiences of exvangelicals were "something very different than deep, difficult, self-examination in order to find the truth" and any bad experiences that drove people to leave were "sociologically, actually quite marginal experiences inside of white evangelicalism".[8] In a Patheos article on August 13, 2021, Grayson Gilbert wrote that the exvangelical movement is "nothing but an exercise in absurdity on its face" which "relies on sheer ignorance" and is "nothing more than what Scripture calls the way of the fool".[9]
When a Gallup poll showed that less than half of Americans belonged to any church in March 2021,[10] some commentators acknowledged criticisms raised by the exvangelical perspective. Russell Moore, director of the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today, speculated that if he were a teenager today, he may also have left the church. He found that "they have come to think the church doesn’t believe its own moral teachings" and so "the presenting issue in this secularization is not scientism and hedonism but disillusionment and cynicism."[11]
See also[]
- Ex-Muslims – Sociological perspectives of former Muslims
- Irreligion in the United States – Overview of irreligion in the United States of America
Organizations supporting people leaving controlling religions[]
- Faith to Faithless – UK organisation confronting discrimination against people who left religions.
- Footsteps (organization) – American non-profit organization supporting those leaving Haredi or Hasidic Jewish communities in the USA.
- Recovering from Religion – International non-profit organization
References[]
- ^ a b c "The Rise of #Exvangelical | Religion & Politics". religionandpolitics.org. April 9, 2019. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
- ^ Frantz, Kenneth E.; Perry, Samuel L. (August 28, 2019). "The Unignorable Plight of the Exvangelicals | RealClearReligion". www.realclearreligion.org. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
- ^ "What It's Like to Leave the Evangelical Community". www.vice.com. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
- ^ a b Kight, Stef W. "Exvangelicals are breaking away — and spreading the gospel". Axios. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
- ^ "Exvangelical TikTokkers Aren't a Sign of the End Times, But Here's What Evangelicals Need to Understand About 'The Falling Away'". Religion Dispatches. July 22, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
- ^ Day, Derrick (2016). Deconstructing Religion. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1537156835.
- ^ Herrmann 2021, pp. 12–13.
- ^ Chastain, Blake (August 28, 2021). "Evangelicals: You're still not really listening to what exvangelicals are saying". Religion News Service. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
- ^ Glibert, Grayson (August 13, 2021). "Joshua Harris: A (Not So) New Kind of Snake Oil Salesman". The Chorus In The Chaos. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
- ^ Jones, Jeffrey M (March 29, 2021). "U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time". Gallup.com. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
- ^ Moore, Russell. "Losing Our Religion". createsend.com. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
Further reading[]
- Batchelder, Colleen (2020). Exvangelical: Why Millennials and Generation Z are Leaving the Constraints of White Evangelicalism (Doctor of Ministry thesis). George Fox University.
- Fekete, Steven; Knippel, Jessica (2020). "The Devil You Know: An Exploration of Virtual Religious Deconstruction Communities". Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture. 9 (2): 165–184. doi:10.1163/21659214-BJA10021. ISSN 2165-9214.
- Herrmann, Andrew F. (2021). "Purity, Nationalism, and Whiteness: The Fracturing of Fundamentalist Evangelicalism". International Review of Qualitative Research. 13 (4): 414–432. doi:10.1177/1940844720937813.
- Former evangelicals
- Evangelicalism in the United States