Counter-Evangelism: Home > Resources for deconverts
Resources for ex-fundamentalists, ex-"cultists," and ex-Christians
by Diane Vera
Copyright © 2003 by Diane Vera. All rights reserved.
If you're leaving fundamentalism or a similarly closed-minded cult, you might want to read my answer to the question I'm thinking of leaving fundy Christianity. Can you help me? in my FAQ. See also the lists of links below.
- Resources for ex-fundamentalists (including ex-charismatics)
- Resources for ex-"cultists"
- Resources for ex-Christians
- For those who have embraced alternative religions
- Resources for ex-fundamentalists (including ex-charismatics)
Most of the following sites aim to be supportive of all ex-fundamentalists, regardless of current belief, though most appear to be run by atheists. A few sites are run by more moderate or liberal kinds of Christians.
- Psychological Issues of Former Members of Restrictive Religious Groups
- exit-fundyism Yahoo group (replacement for exitfundyism, owned by Mike McClellan, who seems to have disappeared)
- Born Again Fundamentalism - Hope or Hoax? by Mike McClellan
- Dr. Marlene Winell's Religious Recovery group in Santa Cruz, California
- Deconversion stories from letters to Biblical Errancy
- Walk Away From Fundamentalism and its message board
- Fundamentalists Anonymous. See especially the Directory, including lists of support groups, both online and offline, plus lots of other resources. Has a Yahoo group FundamentalistsAnonymous.
- The Dangers of Fundamentalist Extremism in Christianity (run by a liberal Christian who also runs the Leaving Born Again Fundamentalist Christianity webring)
- Links on Brian Rainey's Progressive Theology page (liberal Christian)
- Center for Progressive Christianity (liberal/left-wing Christian)
- XCharismatics email group - "A forum for those who have survived the Charismatic experience and need to talk."
Ex-fundamentalists who desire an in-person support group or counseling should also look at my list of ex-"cultist" resources, below.
- Resources for ex-"cultists"
The ex-"cultist" movement is controversial. Some of its ideas can be seen as a threat to the civil rights of minority religions. Nevertheless, it does provide valuable services to ex-members of authoritarian religious groups, including ex-fundamentalists.
- reFOCUS: Recovering Former Cultists' Support Network (includes list of local support groups)
- Ross Institute for the Study of Destructive Cults, Controversial Groups and Movements (See especially the page on Recovery.)
- Cultnews.com, another site run by Rick Ross.
- FACTNet (Includes list of support groups and self-help groups. Alas, this site ALSO promotes the "Satanic Ritual Abuse" scare. Click here for some rebuttals, including Satanism and False Memories on the above-listed Ross Institute site.)
- Ex-cult Resource Center
- Info-Cult (Canada)
- Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center
- Cult Awareness & Information Centre (Christian site in Australia)
- Cultic Studies Review
- Cultic Studies Journal (American Family Foundation)
- Steven Hassan's Freedom of Mind Center
- Bill and Lorna Goldberg (clinical social workers in New Jersey)
- Green Eggs Report -- lots of links (seems to be down)
- ex-cult-support email group
- ExMembersOfCults email group
- reclaim.org and its Yahoo group email group - run by ex-members of the Bostom Movement for anyone leaving a Bible based cult
Below are sites for ex-members of some specific authoritarian religious groups:
- Recovery from Mormonism (has some email groups and message boards, as well as lots of info and links)
- PostMormon email group - not a recovery group, but a social club - run by a Wicca-influenced Druid.
- Beyond Jehovah's Witnesses
- Awake! to the Watchtower - Our Journey Out by Kathleen (McCormick/Roa) Quen, who also runs the Awake to the Watchtower email group on Yahoo
There are lots and lots of other resources for ex-members of some specific religious sect, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons. I have not bothered to list most of them.
- Resources for ex-Christians
Most of the following sites aim to be supportive of all ex-Christians, regardless of their current non-Christian religion or nonreligion. Many of them do tend to be oriented primarily toward atheists. But, at least, most of the following sites focus primarily on the process of leaving Christianity, rather than on arguing against theism in general.
- International Ex-Christian Meetup Day
- LosingMyReligion.com
- exchristian.org, a collection of deconversion stories and links
- Ex-Christian testimonies from Usenet
- Leaving Christianity, including a big collection of links
- Things We Didn't Find Out in Sunday School
- The Truth Shall Set You Free by Charles Kluepfel, an ex-Catholic
- No, I'm Not a Christian -- Not Anymore! by James Buckner
- Questioning: An Examination of Christian Belief by Merle Hertzler
- Christians Anonymous - A Resource For Recovering Christians
- Ex-Christians on Secular Web (Internet Infidels)
- The Joy of Disillusionment
- It's Not A Choice!
- Ex-Christian Sites on the Montana Freethinkers site
- Ex-Christian webring sites list
- Google directory list of ex-Christian sites
- Ex-ChristianSupport email group
- ExChristian.net (includes ExChristian email group - primarily for atheists)
- The Ex-Christian Website and List. (Hosts the extian email group, which, for whatever reasons, does not offer digest mode and does not automatically put any identifying tag such as "[extian]" in the subject line of messages, as most email groups do.)
- EX-TIAN email group homepage. (The email group itself appears to be dead -- I was unable to subscribe. But the home page has some interesting stuff on it, including deconversion stories and Psychological Issues of Former Members of Restrictive Religious Groups.)
- ChristianRitualAbuse email group
- For those who have embraced alternative religions
As noted earlier, most of the above-listed sites aim to be supportive of all ex-fundamentalists, ex-cultists, or ex-Christians, regardless of current belief, though most appear to be run by atheists, and a few of the ex-fundy/ex-cultist sites are Christian-oriented.
I'm now trying to put together a list of ex-fundamentalist/ex-cultist/ex-Christian resources intended specifically for people who have embraced alternative religions. So far, I'm aware of only the following:
- My own page For Theistic Satanists from hardcore Christian backgrounds (as I am too) (on my Theistic Satanism website) and my email group Theistic-Satanists-ex-hard-Xian.
- ExmoPagan, an email group for Pagan ex-Mormons
If you know of any resources aimed at, for example, ex-fundy Pagans, please let me know.
See also my listings of other resources for people (not necessarily ex-fundies, ex-cultists, or ex-Christians) of various specific minorities, religious and sexual.
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