Apostacy and the Intellect

From Jesus Creed

Scott Mc Knight reviews a book and speaks of the loss of faith. The article was really helpful to me and is worth reading. An abstract follows :

... a common feature of deconversion for many is the overarching role played by a search for intellectual coherence. Reason alone brings few if any into the faith - but reason alone drives many away despite significant social and personal cost. Those who walk away find not faith and fellowship but freedom and intellectual coherence. I cannot overemphasize this point. The intellectual questions and struggles are painfully real. In many of the cases - especially for those with clearly developed commitment to the faith before being swamped by doubt - the issue is not sin, rebellion and self. Occasionally a desire for moral, particularly sexual, freedom plays a significant role - but this is not a major driving factor in most cases. Changes in behavior often result from, rather than precipitate, a loss of faith. 

The shame is that the church - rather than dealing with the problem at its core, rather than providing a forum for Christians to question and grow - has often responded in a reactionary and destructive fashion. It is easy (incredibly easy in fact) to find an advocate to lead one to reject the church and join the freedom of the secular world; it is hard, often well nigh impossible, to find an advocate to help one explore the hard questions of the faith.