Former Megachurch Pastor and Author Joshua Harris Decides to Pull the Plug on His "Deconstruction of Faith" Course

Former megachurch pastor and author of the popular relationship guide I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Joshua Harris was about to launch a course about deconstructing one's faith. Initially, he was going to charge participants with a fee of $275. However, after criticisms from the media and theologians, he has decided to pull the plug on the course.

The course entitled "Reframe Your Story," which includes a "Deconstruction Starter Pack," cost $275. It was Harris' intention to help participants "deconstruct" their faith. Many have defined "deconstruction of faith" as a politically correct way of rejecting Christianity. "In time immemorial, people have lost their faith," said Dr. Carl Trueman, a professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College in Pennsylvania and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington D.C. "It's interesting because now it's used with this pseudo-intellectual language of 'deconstruction' in order to describe it. It's old thinking packaged in trendy postmodern language." 

However after receiving criticisms from theologians, the media and the public, Harris has decided to "pull the course." In a statement on his website, he explained that he had "hoped I could use my platform to spotlight other people with more experience and expertise, point people to good resources, and offer questions to help people unpack and make sense of their own journey. But I recognize this approach is flawed. I want to explore different ways to lift up other voices." 

In his statement, he mentioned two reasons for withdrawing the course. The first has to do "concerns about charging for the course and whether I should be teaching it at all."  Second, Harris confesses that he didn't get "permission from the creators to promote their work alongside my course, and I apologize for not getting consent first. I'm removing the emails of folks who downloaded the resource so no one will get follow-up messages."

In 2019, Harris confessed that he was no longer a Christian. He wrote, "By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian. Many people tell me that there is a different way to practice faith and I want to remain open to this, but I'm not there now."

He also added, "To the LGBTQ+ community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality." 

 

 

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