Deconverted: A Journey from Religion to Reason

Deconverted: A Journey from Religion to Reason is a well-written semi-autobiography by Seth Andrews told with passion and pathos of his life-changing move from theism to atheism.

While not the same in details, my own life mirrors in general the same steps that Seth passed through in shaking off the uselessness of faith and religion in order to embrace reasoning, science and reality. The slowly dawning acknowledgment that a so-called infallible book was instead full of inconsistencies and that there was no sky-daddy to worship and serve; the friction of family still in the clutches of Christianity and the pain my breaking free of those clutches caused; the inexorable movement from ingrained teaching that there IS a god, to the position that there MAY NOT be a god to the realism that there is NO god; the feeling that a weight has been lifted when you stop basing your life on fairy tales and myths. All of these, I believe, are common to most who come to the realization that religious faith is a fallacy.

I have yet to meet anyone who moved from theism to agnosticism to atheism who did not go through a multitude of sometimes agonizing thoughts and emotions, because it is not a case of simply flipping a switch but, as Andrews says in the title, is a journey.

Some of the best parts of this book are at the end where Andrews gives resource after resource for fellow atheists. It's important for atheists, who are in the minority in the USA and the rest of the world, to know that they are NOT alone in their travels from the darkness of religion to the light of reasoning. I don't mean to sound like the moderator at some kind of support meeting, but it is important for atheists to know that they are NOT alone in what they have gone through and the feelings they have experienced.

Finally, I want to thank my friends and fellow Goodreads members, Richard and Heather, for gifting me this book on my birthday. It is one I have intended to read for several months and I am grateful that their generosity allowed me to read and enjoy this work.