Review: “The Anatomy of Deconversion” by John Marriott
The process and outcomes of deconversion from Christianity
Dr. John Marriott, Professor of Philosophy at Biola University, set out to produce the most comprehensive look to date regarding how and why people leave the Christian faith. If my internet searches are any indicator, he appears to have accomplished precisely that with his new book, “The Anatomy of Deconversion.”
As an Evangelical Christian professor, Marriott has clear motivation for studying the issue: for every new convert to Christianity today, four people are leaving it (p.23). More statistics are provided but the point is made: this is an existential problem for the Christian demographic, and if Christians wish to counter this trend, they need to understand why it happens.
As an atheist, I had… a rather different incentive for reading: can understanding the deconversion process help to encourage it instead?
Having read through “Anatomy,” my review will outline the strengths of Marriott’s examination, the areas where even better understanding of deconverts and atheists is still possible, and the applicable messages that I myself found from absorbing the book.
The Strengths
Marriott put no small amount of research into his work. In addition to poring over countless deconversion stories posted online, he also personally interviewed 24 men and women who formerly identified as Evangelicals in order to hear and relay their journeys out of the faith.
Out of the stories read and heard, Dr. Marriott developed a reasonable model to describe the pattern of the deconversion process:
- Context: The factors (religious or otherwise) in their environment that correlate with setting the stage for deconversion.
- Crisis: A significant event causes the believer to question their faith. This is usually either a bad experience with other Christians, or intellectual doubts about Christianity’s truth.
- Seeking the Truth: The believer feels they cannot ignore the challenges to their faith, and will look to sources from one or both sides of the Christian/secular divide to find answers.
- Effort to Retain Faith: The believer looks for ways to reconcile their doubts and still maintain an honest, sustainable faith.
- Transition from Believer to Agnostic: The individual concludes that their god-belief cannot be feasibly held any longer, though they may carry abstract supernatural beliefs and are not yet prepared to identify as an atheist. (Some deconverts transition directly to atheism, however.)
- Transition from Agnostic to Atheist: The individual fully comes to terms with their lack of god-belief and accepts the designation of atheist.
- Coming Out as an Unbeliever: With the individual’s deconversion fully realized, they now decide when and how to come out to their loved ones.
Personally, I had hoped that the book would dissect each of these stages further in their own chapters, and look deeper into how each stage plays out in real life, thus better supporting the proposed model. A few brief examples are laid out for each stage, but except for the “Context” stage (which does get its own section), description of the model ends in that early chapter.
Nonetheless, Marriott still provides a solid structure for exploring his subjects’ experiences. He gives specific examples of why his subjects left the faith, outlines the consequences of their deconversion (both positive and negative) and describes the ways that the deconverts adjusted to and carry on with life after leaving the faith.
To his credit, Marriott does a fine job in allowing his subjects to speak for themselves. Passages that retell the deconverts’ experiences are presented with minimal commentary between individual stories, and individuals themselves are never criticized. The chapters give thorough accounts of not just what happened to the deconverts, but how they felt as well.
I also applaud Marriott for plainly stating the extent of Christianity’s problem: despite the emotional pain of deconversion and the devastation that it can bring to cherished relationships, all of the interviewees reported their departure being worth it due to the positive changes in their lives.
Lastly, Marriott respectfully confronts the issue of whether apostates from Christianity were ever truly saved to begin with — that is, were they ever “real Christians”? Many deconverts face the accusation that “ You were never a real Christian,” so this discussion is certainly relevant. Marriott explores all sides of the debate over whether apostates were “truly saved,” or if true Christians can ever forfeit their place in Heaven even after renouncing their faith. He concludes this discussion without declaring a position himself, but leaves with excellent practical advice: the accusation of “never being a real Christian” is not helpful when talking to deconverts, even if it’s true (p. 99).
The Critiques
Despite my interest in the subject matter, Marriott’s language makes clear that his target audience is current Christians, not secularists like me — a fact that I frequently reminded myself of while reading.
One of the more problematic moments, for instance, is when he refers to “perceived negative treatment” of future-deconverts at the hands of their church communities (p. 58). Marriott appears to suggest that the treatment wasn’t actually negative — they only perceived it to be so — perhaps to avoid defensiveness in his audience. But the included stories (and I’m sure, the interviewees themselves) would indicate that it certainly was negative.
Other examples abound, and the book also contains whole chapters that essentially read as apologetics sermons. Rather than dissect my every minor disagreement with the text, I’ll focus on two broader areas where Marriott can further improve in understanding the perspective of deconverts.
No True Scotsman/Christianity
Multiple passages wave away deconverts’ rejection of their religion by claiming that they must not have grown up with the proper version of Christianity, but rather a “poor expression of it” that is “certainly not the religion of Jesus of Nazareth” (p. 92, 198).
When you tell a former believer that they must not have gotten the “right version,” it raises questions. Which version is the right one? Why did God allow the person to have the “bad version” as their first or only impression of Christianity?
Most crucially, what does it say about believers who attend the exact same church as the deconvert did, get the same “poor expression” of Christianity, and yet stay believers?
This type of dismissal seems just as frustrating as telling a deconvert that they were “never a real Christian,” which is especially unfortunate, given (as I just discussed) Marriott’s solid handling of that latter issue. Both statements amount to the same thing: telling the deconvert that their experiences “don’t count” and avoiding criticism of the belief system itself.
Standing to Reason
In the book’s chapters devoted to strategies for averting faith crises, Marriott takes aim at the principle of evidentialism — the idea that it is only rational to believe that for which there is adequate evidence. Confronted with the pattern of deconverts leaving because they found Christianity as unsupported by the evidence, Marriott’s answer is for believers to “doubt their evidentialist presupposition as the criterion of rationality” (p. 203) In other words, place less importance on evidence as a criterion for Christian belief.
A later chapter contains a whole sub-section criticizing the limitations of human reason, arguing that reason is founded on presuppositions. Reason as an “ultimate criterion” for truth, it says, can only be justified by using reason, presupposing that reason is a legitimate “ultimate criterion” (p.212). (Although the Bible can be presupposed as such a criterion, of course.)
In a book for lay-audiences whose goal is keeping people Christians, downplaying reason and evidence is a tactic of someone lacking confidence that either is on his side.
So many former Christians (like my fellow Recovering from Religion writers and other atheist content creators) left Christianity precisely because they raised their evidential standards in evaluating whether Christian claims are true. Christianity, if empirically true, should be able to rise to the challenge.
Curiously, Marriott does later name empirical evidence as one important leg in the “table” of faith, with others being personal experience, testimony of others, and Christian fellowship (p. 221). These are all well and good, but the fact is that different people, with differing personalities, will place higher value on different legs of that table.
So, some will no doubt insist on strong empirical evidence in order to be satisfied with their faith. Christians can lament all they want about the fairness of demanding evidence, but realistically, individual believers have leverage in setting conditions for staying in the religion. Simply telling those people to suppress their need for proof is becoming an increasingly losing strategy.
Takeaways for Christians
Marriott’s final chapters outline his suggestions for stemming the tide of deconversions, based on what he has learned from deconverts’ stories. His advice comes in two main categories: avoiding conditions that set believers up for a crisis of faith, and cultivating a sustainable faith within believers that can withstand challenges.
The former category (“avoidance”) contains advice that I actually can support church communities implementing. It may sound odd for an atheist to endorse ways to keep people in the fold, certainly. But if people must keep the faith, two of Marriott’s tips for crisis-aversion would lead to a greater sub-group of moderate-to-liberal believers, and lessen the fundamentalist tendencies that I believe are harming our society.
Be flexible on what makes a “true Christian”
Marriott explicitly cautions against imposing a “house-of-cards” belief system, where either every item in a set list of doctrines must be accepted, or none of it can. Stories arose where a believer came to change their mind about certain topics, such as evolution, LGBT equality, inerrancy of the Bible, etc., and was met with backlash. Others were ostracized for getting a divorce, dating a non-Christian, or even benign habits such as listening to pop music. These conflicts show a strong pattern of causing believers to feel abandoned by their church and thus questioning the very core of their faith.
If you are a devout, conservative church-goer, holding on to fellow church members will almost certainly require tolerating positions different from yours. Disagreement on positions is natural, but drawing a hard line on any issue risks those on the other side walking away.
So, your fellow congregants may reject Biblical inerrancy. They may support LGBT equality. They may even support pro-choice policy. Accept and greet them as fellows nonetheless.
Allow questions, and be prepared to address challenges early
Multiple interviewees cited discouragement from asking tough questions about the Bible, as a direct factor in leaving the faith. Which makes sense; squelching questions indicates to the inquirer that the answers have something to hide. Plus, if you know anything about young people, you know that forbidding something often just inspires them to want to do it more.
Believers who ask questions might still leave the faith as a result of those questions, but scolding them for asking will often make departure more likely, not less.
Marriott advises churches to “inoculate” believers against the challenges that these questions address, by tackling certain issues head-on in a safe environment (i.e. from the Christian perspective). Problems such as moral atrocities in the Old Testament and “textual discrepancies of the Bible” (p. 199) can be fully acknowledged by learned Christians, with the idea that would-be doubters can rest assured that answers exist and thereby avoid a crisis of faith.
This “inoculation” strategy intends to prepare believers for common challenges to Christianity while on their “home turf,” before encountering them full-on from secularists. I, for one, believe that the skeptical challenges are strong enough to warrant questioning the faith regardless. But I also see value in introducing as much nuance to the Bible as possible, and as early as possible; hopefully it can mitigate the zealotry over the Bible and its supposed inerrancy.
Takeaways for Atheists
Keep speaking out
Marriott correctly notes that the internet has introduced a truly level playing field, for Christian and secular arguments alike. Exposure to skeptical arguments and deconversion testimonies online has already had a meaningful impact in encouraging departure from the faith. Skeptics bolster the “Seeking the Truth” stage in Marriott’s model when they publish such arguments.
Personal stories of leaving religion — especially those about mistreatment from the church — resonate with those in the process of leaving their faith or those who recently have, giving them solace in the knowledge that others can relate to their struggles and that they are not alone. The same goes for speaking out with the arguments against Christian claims (issues with the Bible, God’s hiddenness, etc); people will see that others have thought the same thoughts and that they aren’t bad people for thinking it themselves.
Engage respectfully
One of Marriott’s subjects explicitly credits interactions with decent non-Christians as part of his deconversion; getting to know a fellow solider who was Muslim forced him to wrestle with whether his friend deserved to be sent to Hell.
Normal, everyday, upstanding people who happen to also be atheists can contribute to this shift in thinking, by showing grace and respect to current believers, whether engaging in person or (especially) online. I understand that it’s natural to feel angry about the effects that religion inflicts on our society; a lot of current events today upset me too. But we can separate out our feelings about the overall religion from the individuals that we dialogue with.
Secularists who were never religious would be well-served by finding sources from people who were devout, to help understand those who are devout. Drew of the YouTube channel Genetically Modified Skeptic and Neil Carter of the Patheos blog Godless in Dixie are excellent role models for this.
Stay optimistic
Perhaps my most valuable takeaway, personally speaking, was a reminder to keep a patient and optimistic attitude. Whatever culture wars conservative Christianity is currently winning, they are struggling to maintain the numbers that their power — and very existence — depend on; that this book was even published is proof positive of this. Marriott provides reasonable advice that can moderate the church into more beneficial and less harmful social positions, but the current pattern of religious exodus is over a decade in the making, and I do not credit the church with enough flexibility to apply his advice before losing many more people.
Would I recommend Dr. Marriott’s book? Yes I would, albeit with varied degrees of passion based on your religious background. Former Christians may well relate to his interviewee’s stories and gain insight into their own deconversion process, and lifelong secularists may pick up helpful information to put to better practical use than I can.
For current Christians, however, I would go further and call this book required reading. “The Anatomy of Deconversion” lays out one of Christianity’s biggest modern challenges, with few (if any) other voices doing the same. Christians concerned about the wave of religious departures must look deeper into just why people are leaving the faith. Perhaps more importantly, the book challenges believers to confront the uncomfortable reality of deconverts reporting a better quality of life than their time in the faith, and further challenges them to ask why (beyond superficial answers such as “wanting to live in sin,” being tempted by Satan, etc.).
John Marriott’s “Anatomy” represents a seemingly unprecedented deep dive into the process and aftermath of deconversion from the Christian faith, presenting real peoples’ stories on their own terms. Notwithstanding theological disagreements and stumbles in relating to deconverts, Marriott’s book serves to illuminate an important issue with a voice of — yes, I’ll say it — reason.
