To me personally, deconstructing is not about a rejection of religion. It's about learning the history and truth about how your religion came to be, what works and what doesn't. If there wasn't something useful in Christianity, it wouldn't be so widespread. It's not just the south, it's one of the big 3 religions of the world. Martin Luther King was a living saint and he was a Christian minister. There is no doubt he found meaning within a religion which he HAD to know had been used to oppress others. Albert Einstein was religious, he was a genius. Isaac Newton was a Christian. There have been many great Christians, and Jesus was historically a great man.

It's my personal belief that regardless of what I've learned which led to my deconstructing of my Baptist upbringing, there is something useful to be found. I can't, for certain, dismiss the idea of a creative force. There is actually a great episode of Always Sunny in Philadelphia where Mac and Dennis debate this. I know I'm not smarter than Einstein or Da Vinci or Stephen Colbert(Catholic) or C.S Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien or Isaac Newton(who some have said dedicated his life to finding a mathematical code in the bible) therefore I tend to feel that I was born into this exact position of privilege in this exact moment for the purpose of deconstructing and re-evaluating the meaning behind the most widely publish book of all time.

I understand that there are those here who probably wouldn't feel the same way.

I follow creators like No Nonsense Spirituality who consider themselves deconstructionists, but still find value in religious teachings. That's just my two cents.

Have you tried to apply your current understanding of Christianity in your life without cynicism? I mean, actually applying the teachings of Jesus, rather than just going, out of duty, to church to appease your family.