Most people who deconstruct but stay christian simply find a “liberal” or “progressive” church to attend. They may still have their contemporary worship, maybe even a fancy building, and people who are culturally and spiritually similar to them. Liam Young and his wife went in a different direction as they responded to bigotry and the evils of the prosperity gospel. Instead of going “new,” they went old school. Like 1500 years ago old school. Egyptian Coptic Orthodoxy old.
I met Liam right after he finished Marine boot camp, and he was unique to the rest of the students. Whereas the class he was in ended up being my second worst class ever at APU (the first is described in my book), Liam was a bright spot in a dark room. Most of the class, a creative fiction writing class, rolled their eyes at me as I encouraged them to dig into the human condition. They wanted to write cautionary tales of sin, missionary hero stories, and christian allegories. I did my best to help them, but…yuck. A few of the students in that class followed my guidance and went deep into story-telling, including Liam.
Even cooler was the fact that Liam liked to talk before and after class about the issues surrounding all this story-telling. He was solidly conservative, and we debated the issues with a friendly vibe. I was impressed with how he listened and altered his views when confronted with new points of view. It didn’t surprise me to see him deconstructing his views and his faith. What surprised me was where he ended up.
I often say APU is made for straight, white, conservative men. And it is. But I should add “wealthy” to that list. Liam’s first steps of deconstruction was the culture gap between his lived experience as someone with no financial support from his family.
You can enjoy the episode on all platforms here, or you can click Liam’s picture. Thanks to Jenny Yang for that tip. I really do not know what I’m doing with all this. I appreciate all your support.