The experience of leaving Protestant Fundamentalism: An existential-phenomenological analysis

The study examines the experience of leaving Protestant Fundamentalism. Seven subjects who experienced this transition were selected to participate in in-depth interviews. The subjects ranged in age from 26 to 52. Three were male, four were female. Their tenure in Fundamentalism ranged from 10 to 36 years. The principle goal of the dissertation is to construct a general description of the experience of leaving Fundamentalism from the themes common to all of the interviews. This supplies mental health professionals with information concerning the nature of this transition.;Transcripts of the tape recorded interviews served as the data which were analyzed, using an explication chart designed for this purpose, in order to respond to the following questions: (1) What is the experience of leaving Fundamentalism? (2) Is there an identifiable experience which initiates the process of leaving? (3) What other changes does leaving Fundamentalism entail? The common experiential themes were used to construct the general process structure of the experience of leaving Protestant Fundamentalism. This was the principle outcome of the study, which presented the experience of leaving Protestant Fundamentalism as an identifiable concept.;The results of the study indicate that leaving Fundamentalism is a process which includes three consecutive components: an initial experience of disillusionment; a period of tolerating the Fundamentalist environment; and finally, the actual act of leaving. The findings also indicate that leaving Fundamentalism brings about other important life changes which result, most basically, from the adoption of a broader and more accepting worldview. The findings generate hypotheses directly related to the research questions, and others which are tangential yet deserving of further research. The related hypotheses are concerned with that which catalyzes the process of leaving Fundamentalism, and with other life changes which occur subsequent to the act of leaving. The tangential hypotheses address the effects of Fundamentalism, given its patriarchal structure, on the mental health of females, and also the effect of Fundamentalism's theological ideology and imagery on the development and mental health of children and adolescents.