Shattered Faith: The Social Epistemology of Deconversion by Spiritually Violent Religious Trauma

David Efird; Joshua Luke Cockayne; Jack Robert Warman

Shattered Faith: The Social Epistemology of Deconversion by Spiritually Violent Religious Trauma

David Efird, Joshua Luke Cockayne, Jack Robert Warman

Philosophy

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Abstract

Many people lose their faith in God, not because of some knock-down argument against it, but rather because they were knocked down themselves, whether literally or figuratively, by the seemingly faithful. Such people, those knocked-down by the faithful, are survivors of religious trauma and, in some cases, spiritual violence. Adding insult to injury, some would have us believe that such survivors never really had faith in God in the first place; it just seemed to them that they did. We believe that this is wrong. It’s possible to have faith in God, and then lose that faith due to the actions of other people, particularly church people, who shame them with religious texts and rituals. Church hurt really can cause deconversion. That’s what we aim to argue for in this essay.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Marginalized Identities, Peripheral Theologies
Subtitle of host publication	Expanding Conversations in Analytic Theology
Editors	Michelle Panchuk, Michael Rea
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 2 Feb 2019

Publication series

Name	Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology
Publisher	Oxford University Press

Cite this

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title = "Shattered Faith: The Social Epistemology of Deconversion by Spiritually Violent Religious Trauma",

abstract = "Many people lose their faith in God, not because of some knock-down argument against it, but rather because they were knocked down themselves, whether literally or figuratively, by the seemingly faithful. Such people, those knocked-down by the faithful, are survivors of religious trauma and, in some cases, spiritual violence. Adding insult to injury, some would have us believe that such survivors never really had faith in God in the first place; it just seemed to them that they did. We believe that this is wrong. It{\textquoteright}s possible to have faith in God, and then lose that faith due to the actions of other people, particularly church people, who shame them with religious texts and rituals. Church hurt really can cause deconversion. That{\textquoteright}s what we aim to argue for in this essay.",

author = "David Efird and Cockayne, {Joshua Luke} and Warman, {Jack Robert}",

year = "2019",

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day = "2",

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series = "Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

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Shattered Faith: The Social Epistemology of Deconversion by Spiritually Violent Religious Trauma. / Efird, David; Cockayne, Joshua Luke; Warman, Jack Robert.
Marginalized Identities, Peripheral Theologies: Expanding Conversations in Analytic Theology. ed. / Michelle Panchuk; Michael Rea. Oxford University Press, 2019. (Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

TY - CHAP

T1 - Shattered Faith

T2 - The Social Epistemology of Deconversion by Spiritually Violent Religious Trauma

AU - Efird, David

AU - Cockayne, Joshua Luke

AU - Warman, Jack Robert

PY - 2019/2/2

Y1 - 2019/2/2

N2 - Many people lose their faith in God, not because of some knock-down argument against it, but rather because they were knocked down themselves, whether literally or figuratively, by the seemingly faithful. Such people, those knocked-down by the faithful, are survivors of religious trauma and, in some cases, spiritual violence. Adding insult to injury, some would have us believe that such survivors never really had faith in God in the first place; it just seemed to them that they did. We believe that this is wrong. It’s possible to have faith in God, and then lose that faith due to the actions of other people, particularly church people, who shame them with religious texts and rituals. Church hurt really can cause deconversion. That’s what we aim to argue for in this essay.

AB - Many people lose their faith in God, not because of some knock-down argument against it, but rather because they were knocked down themselves, whether literally or figuratively, by the seemingly faithful. Such people, those knocked-down by the faithful, are survivors of religious trauma and, in some cases, spiritual violence. Adding insult to injury, some would have us believe that such survivors never really had faith in God in the first place; it just seemed to them that they did. We believe that this is wrong. It’s possible to have faith in God, and then lose that faith due to the actions of other people, particularly church people, who shame them with religious texts and rituals. Church hurt really can cause deconversion. That’s what we aim to argue for in this essay.

M3 - Chapter

T3 - Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology

BT - Marginalized Identities, Peripheral Theologies

A2 - Panchuk, Michelle

A2 - Rea, Michael

PB - Oxford University Press

ER -