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Deconverted: A Journey From Religion To Reason (2013)

by Seth Andrews(Favorite Author)

4.17 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Outskirts Press, Inc.

review 1: Seth Andrews, although not an author by trade, has pieced together a surprisingly creative and well thought-out composition in ‘De-Converted’, which details his personal transition from a completely devout, bible-loving Christian to full-on non-believing atheist. I found the account of his personal journey out of theism and away from dogma, tremendously interesting as it provides amazing insight into the world of the devout Christian communities of the Deep South where extreme religiosity seems to be the norm; certainly eye-opening for a person who grew up in a largely moderate, non-outwardly religious environment.This is essentially a biography vis-à-vis religion that tells the story of guy that in his late twenties started noticing inconsistencies in the teachings ... moreof his religion that had been ingrained in him from a very young age. He began questioning for the first time, the so-called ‘truths’ that had been imparted on him involuntarily in his childhood and had continued throughout his entire life. As a DJ on a popular Christian radio channel in the 90’s, he was privy to some of the murky realities of an industry which over time began to seem somewhat affected to him, and did not appear to be so much unlike the dubious secular entertainment industry which was positively unscrupulous and not to be trusted.Once his journey had started, Seth was determined to learn as much as he could about the anti-religion movement that he knew so little about. It was all so new to him; he had never experienced such blatant impertinence toward the very thing that for his entire life had been so revered, not only by him and his family, but also by his entire community. After reading all he could from the so-called new atheists, (Hitchens, Dawkins, Harris, Dennett, Barker etc.), and reading the pages of the bible itself, Seth found himself embarrassed by the fact that throughout his entire life, he had not actually taken the time to read its words, and to take them for what they actually were. Encroaching on 40, he found himself at the end of a 18-year marriage, alone; isolated and scared. This was the first time that he had actually taken an objective look at it, and now that he had, he was dumbfounded by what he was seeing. Now more than ever, he was aware of his former ignorance and was becoming ever more aware of his inexorable ‘transcendence’ from religion to atheism.After ‘coming out’ to family and close friends, Seth found himself at a crossroads; his whole life to this point – not to mention his means for making a living – was founded on religion. To face the truth now (publicly) would mean exposing himself to everyone that knew him, putting himself out there for all to see. He had a decision to make and it wasn’t going to be easy. The result was his first on-stage appearance at an Atheist convention. It was a gathering in Tulsa Oklahoma where he describes the 45 minutes he spent on stage as the “most gratifying of [his] entire life”. He was surrounded “smiling faces” and as he puts it, he had “a feeling of coming home”. The transformation was complete and he has never looked back.Since that day, Seth Andrews has gone on to develop a website and an on-line radio program for Atheists called ‘The Thinking Atheist’. He now finds himself part of a quickly growing community of humanists and freethinkers, that are unbound by the shackles of religion that he describes as “wonderful, intelligent, enthusiastic, real people.”Seth Andrews has written a book from the heart, and managed to do it with both humility and candor.Fantastic!
review 2: I started this book thinking it'd be really boring. Once you read one Midwest deconversion story, you've read them all, right? However, I found myself connecting with Seth's story in a number of ways. Though our lives diverged in many significant ways, they also converged in a number of crucial ways, too. It reminded me that I wasn't the only one who felt frustrated with being raised on an incomplete and very biased representation of the Bible. less

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