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You will find more resources in the online community for the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality.

Please let me know if there is a topic, subject or question you would like me to address on a future podcast

Visit the ⁠Center for Non-Religious Spirituality⁠ to accesses resources and discover a community of like-minded people.

The CNRS online community exists for the following reasons:

- Making new friends and connections with people who are on a similar path, understand, and accept you as you are

- Being a community of support and encouragement for people who are in the process of rebuilding their lives after leaving religion

- Offering individual and group spiritual direction within the framework of "non-religious spirituality"

- Opportunities for individual and group counseling and support groups with trained professionals for those who have experienced religious trauma, spiritual abuse, or toxic religious indoctrination

- Providing a network of resources for people in the process of detox, deconstruction, and reconstruction

For more resources and online community for those deconstructing and cultivating a post-religion spirituality, visit the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality.

Peter asked:

Jim, I have a MDiv, former pastor and exvangelical. I have a few questions about your journey. How hard did you work in your deconstruction process at hanging onto something you called "Christianity"? Also, I realize there are kinder, gentler ways of understanding the bad-God stories in the Old Testament and one can even exegete away troubling Christian doctrine in the New Testament. But, why put forth all that effort. If you left Christianity, why do you have to drag the Bible with you? I know you're a super busy guy. It's no hurry. If you're able I'd be interested in knowing your thoughts. Thanks, Peter Ansley asked:

Hi Jim, I noticed your recent answers to Peter. I too have an M. Div. and was an evangelical pastor. But a situation in my church, involving abuse and violence of a congregant, led to my resignation. That experience started me on the road of deconstruction and reconstruction. I still deeply value the Bible. And I cannot “deconstruct” Jesus. I see many paths people wrestle with, depending on their unique backgrounds and personal processes. There sure aren’t simple formulas for untangling what’s useful and life-giving in new ways forward. What do you have to say for those still wanting to sort out and reframe the Bible? Sometimes people discourage my continued love of Jesus. While I respect whatever paths they take, it discourages me. What thoughts do you have for people like me. I hope you do a post on this. Sincerely, Ansely The short answer to both:

You do you. There is no "right" way to do "deconstruction". There are no deconstruction gods requiring you to shoehorn your current beliefs or spirituality into something that sort of sounds or appears "Christian". Neither is it necessary to drag the Bible forward in your post-religion spirituality. However, "deconstruction" doesn't require you to leave this behind if it works for you to incorporate them in your "reconstruction" process.

I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love."

For me and deconstruction, I think of it this way:

"Deconstruction" at its best enables a person to cultivate an authentic and meaningful spirituality. (Essentials)

How you get there. (Non-essentials)

Being a person of compassion and love. (All things)

Visit the ⁠Center for Non-Religious Spirituality⁠ to accesses resources and discover a community of like-minded people.

The CNRS online community exists for the following reasons:

- Making new friends and connections with people who are on a similar path, understand, and accept you as you are

- Being a community of support and encouragement for people who are in the process of rebuilding their lives after leaving religion

- Offering individual and group spiritual direction within the framework of "non-religious spirituality"

- Opportunities for individual and group counseling and support groups with trained professionals for those who have experienced religious trauma, spiritual abuse, or toxic religious indoctrination

- Providing a network of resources for people in the process of detox, deconstruction, and reconstruction

Visit the online community for the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality for more discussion and resources related to the deconstruction/reconstruction process, recovering from religious trauma, and cultivating a post-religion spirituality.

A book to read, related to today's podcast: Finding Purpose in a Godless World: Why We Care Even If the Universe Doesn't Hardcover by Ralph Lewis

Visit the ⁠Center for Non-Religious Spirituality⁠ to accesses resources and discover a community of like-minded people. The CNRS online community exists for the following reasons:

- Making new friends and connections with people who are on a similar path, understand, and accept you as you are

- Being a community of support and encouragement for people who are in the process of rebuilding their lives after leaving religion

- Offering individual and group spiritual direction within the framework of "non-religious spirituality"

- Opportunities for individual and group counseling and support groups with trained professionals for those who have experienced religious trauma, spiritual abuse, or toxic religious indoctrination

- Providing a network of resources for people in the process of detox, deconstruction, and reconstruction

Enrollment for the Spiritual Direction and Certification Course is October 20.

The training equips and certifies people to do faith transition coaching, deconstruction and reconstruction guidance, religious trauma recovery work, and spiritual mentoring in the space of non-religious spirituality. Find out more and enroll in the course at this link.

Join the online community for the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality at this link The Fun Fact book I referred to: The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman.

Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS) occurs in response to two-fold trauma: first the prolonged abuse of indoctrination by a controlling religious community, and second the act of leaving the controlling religious community. RTS has developed its own heuristic collection of symptoms informed by psychological theories of trauma originating in PTSD, C-PTSD and betrayal trauma theory, taking relational and social context into account when approaching further research and treatment.

Deconstruction is a process of rethinking one's religious faith or belief system as well as discarding previously held beliefs, sometimes to the point of no identifying with that religious or belief system. It often includes the process of systematically dissecting and often rejecting the beliefs one grew up with. Deconstruction is more than just changing our beliefs. It’s the experience of being able to notice and name our existential paradigm, and question whether it is still sufficient for our lives. This process of deconstruction provides the raw materials for cultivating a meaningful, authentic and liberating post-religion spirituality.

To learn more about the CNRS training and certification course, visit this link.

To join the online community for the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality, go here.

If you are interested in exploring Process Philosophy, consider this book.

A summary of "dependent arising" in Buddhism might go like this. Interconnectedness is a central tenet underlying all Buddhist teachings. It is expressed in Buddhism as “When there is this, that comes to be; with the arising of this, that arises. When there is not this, that does not come to be; with the cessation of this, that ceases” (Ñāṇamoli and Bodhi 1995, p. 655). It delineates the interdependent nature of all phenomena in the world, implying that the arising of all matters is conditioned on the arising of one another. In other words, all matters are mutually influencing one another and co-arising dependently.

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An assignment to help you in deconstructing religious trauma:

Investigation: Processing Your Religious Past

This Investigation involves reflecting upon your journey through religion. This is the first tool that will help you disentangle yourself from your religious past. It will aid you in sorting out the dynamics that entangled you, and give you the opportunity to process your former religious involvement.

Identifying what your religious past cost you

This part of your self-reflection involves specifically finding out what your religious past cost you.

● How do you feel that religion most negatively affected your life?

● In what ways did religion damage your spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, and psychological health?

● What deep wounds did religion leave behind in you?

● What do you feel your involvement in religion stole from you?

● What do you most grieve having missed or lost as a result of your involvement in religion?

As you work on this part of your personal inventory it is natural to feel hurt, sadness, disillusionment, anger, and betrayal.

Naming destructive messages and beliefs you have internalized

This second area involves specifically naming the damaging fear-based and shame-based messages you absorbed through your involvement in religion. It is important that you identify these messages as succinctly and accurately as you felt, experienced and internalized them. Some examples may be: “I am not good enough.” “I can’t trust myself.” “I am bad.” “It’s not okay to be me.”

Name and write out the three most damaging messages you internalized from your involvement in religion.

Acknowledging the continuing impact of religion

Another area involves taking an honest look at where you are now in terms of the continuing impact of toxic religion in your life.

● Thinking about your life and spiritual journey, what religious beliefs, mindsets, narratives, and mentalities have been difficult for you to shake and still impact you?

● In what ways is your religious past still holding you back, preventing your peace, freedom, happiness, and personal growth, or at the root of self-sabotaging beliefs and mindsets?

Working yourself through these questions is not something to tackle in one setting for thirty minutes or even an hour. It is more the kind of personal work that could take a few days. It is an activity of vigorous self-reflection. It is important that you record your thoughts and feelings in your written or computer journal.

A second optional part of this assignment is to share this personal inventory with someone else. That person could be a trusted friend, someone who is walking a similar path, a significant other you trust, or a therapist. Also feel free to share as much as you would like with our group in a comment on this post. I encourage each group member to consider sharing an insight, discovery, or realization in a comment for each day’s investigation.

If you are interested, you can visit my personal website.

Visit the online community for the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality.

Visit the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality to accesses resources and discover a community of like-minded people.

My latest podcast is entitled: "Don't make this happen when you leave religion!"

The podcast discusses a trap I often see people get stuck in when they are trying to disentangle themselves from religion. It involves being cornered into false choices, which misrepresent the spectrum of possible alternatives for your post-religion.

For example, here are 7 realizations I made in my deconstruction process:

• I don't have to believe in the "God" of religion in order to know and experience the significance, liberation, peace and transformation of ultimate reality.
• I don't have to accept the religious script about Jesus in order to embrace the truth of his life, teaching, spirituality and humanity.
• I don't have to read the Bible through the lens of religion in order to appreciate and apply the universal truths, themes, stories, archetypes, and mythologies in order to deepen my spirituality.
• I don't have to attend a religious organization or group in order to cultivate meaningful, authentic, supporting and mutually beneficial and fulfilling relationships.
• I don't need a religious system of rewards and punishments in order to be a person of integrity, responsibility, goodness, and compassion
• .I don't have to follow a religious teacher or guru in order to discover, know and embrace the truth that sets me free.
• I don't need a systematic belief system to know that love is the highest expression and fulfillment of any true philosophy, religion, and spirituality.