Life After Religion is Complicated, but We Are Not Alone
Welcome to The Backslide Blog
At The Backslide Blog, you will find a safe space to hold your doubts, question the worldview your religion presented, and process the complicated range of emotions found in deconstructing, changing, or walking away from your faith entirely. I found, through what some call deconstruction, the process of questioning, testing, and choosing what parts of my faith to keep or throw away, that there were many others like me. I felt so alone, now outside my lifelong community and struggling with the emotion of that loss. My partner and I had no family or close friends outside of Fundamental Evangelicalism. I was fortunate to find comfort and understanding in the words of others like me online, and my greatest hope is that my words might do the same.
I am no expert on “deconstruction,” there is no such thing. Deconstruction is a process, not a destination, and it can be done in many different ways and look entirely different from one person to the next. My experience will not match yours in every single way, and you may not land on the same conclusions that I have, and that’s perfectly okay! My advice is to take what part of my thoughts and words on leaving a toxic faith resonate with you and leave the parts that do not. You get to decide what is best for you, do not let me or anyone else decide that for you ever again. You may not end up with the same beliefs or ideas as me, and that is perfectly wonderful. So then, if you’d like to know more about me and where I’ve ended up, do read on.
The Author
Nick Friesen was a Christian for 25 years, raised in Fundamentalist Evangelical churches. His father was a former pastor in the Alliance Church, and the majority of his young childhood was spent in a Vineyard Church after his first confession of belief at 4 years old. His teenage years were dedicated to serving on the worship team and youth leadership in a charismatic non-denominational church. As a young adult, his goal became to start a family and pursue eventual employment in ministry as a worship pastor. As far as he was aware, his life was all on the right track for most of his 20’s; he was building “God’s Kingdom!” Then life, as it often does, confronted him with a different reality…
