Deconstructing

I BECAME AWARE of the term "Christian Deconstructionism" just the other day, and my curiosity was immediately aroused. That is a very long word, faintly remindful of the infamous "antidisestablishmentarianism", of lengthy lexiconic lore. I am reasonbaly sure I had never heard it before; all my life I have heard about Christian this and Christian that, but never the fabricated word "deconstruction-ism". I was instantly suspicious, with a slightly negative attitude. Anytime the word "Christian" is used as an adjective, my suspicions and distrust are aroused. My most recent run in with Christian adjectivity is the horrifying concept "Christian nationalism", which, as the name strongly implies, is nothing other than advocacy for the most intimate marriage between the Christian faith and American patirotism, between, indeed, church and state in the United States. Whereas Christian nationalism is a sickness, a deranged disease fo the far right twisted mind, which totallly contradicts what the founding fathers believed in, Christian deconstruction, I am inclined to believe, is a very good and beneficial process. It seems to refer to the process of very closely, factually, objectively, critically, fairly reexaming one's religious belliefs. A Christian, questioning one's own Christianity. Somehow that seems strange, seems to contradict the essential nature of religion as a form of "faith", and raises it to the status of science. It almost seems that any intelligent Christian, upon closely rethinking the basic tenets of the Christian religion, would inevitably arrive at the conclusion that it is nothing but myth and superstition... As in, taking it apart, one piece at a time, looking it over, then, putting it back together in the way which seems best, most veracious, most honest. In my experience, the one thing Christians generally are reluctant, indeed unwilling to do is question their own faith. That intransigence, that lack of open mindedness, is among the biggest complaints scientific minded people usually have towards religion in general, the Christian freligion in particular. Results, evidently, vary greatly. Some people apparently lose their faith afer "deconstructing", while in other people their faith grows even stronger as they reaffirm and confirm their fundamental, cherished beliefs. It seems remmindful of the experience of devout Christians as they enter and complete doctoral programs in theology in places like Harvard and Princetion, where they approach Christianity from a scientific, critical, historical point of view, rather than a devotional viewpoint, as they do in local Bible colleges. A fairly high percentage of graduates from Harvard's and Princeton's divinity schools go in as devout, born again Christians, and graduate as agnostics or atheists, atheists very knowledgeable about the Christian religion, every aspect of it. Christianity, especially in Europe and North America, is declining in membership in our increasingly secular, scientific world. One might wonder whether this "deconstructionist" trend might hasten its ultimate demise.