Purity Expert Josh Harris Announces 'I am Not a Christian,' Apologizes to LGBT Community

A leader in the Christian purity movement has announced he is "falling away" from Christianity and says he regrets his teachings on dating and sexuality.

Joshua Harris, who first came to notice when he wrote I Kissed Dating Goodbye as a 21-year-old, also shared that he and his wife, Shannon, are splitting up and "will continue our life together as friends."

"I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus," Harris wrote Friday in an Instagram post. "The popular phrase for this is 'deconstruction,' the biblical phrase is 'falling away'. By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian."

Harris, the son of Christian homeschooling pioneers Gregg and Sono Harris, served as senior pastor of Covenant Life Church from 2004 to 2015. He also wrote Boy Meets Girl: Say Hello to Courtship and Sex Isn't the Problem: Lust Is, encouraging courtship, rather than recreational dating and abstinence before marriage.

"While I stand by my book's call to sincerely love others, my thinking has changed significantly in the past 20 years. I no longer agree with its central idea that dating should be avoided. I now think dating can be a healthy part of a person developing relationally and learning the qualities that matter most in a partner."

Harris has walked back some of his views in recent years, stating he no longer believed Christians shouldn't date. He asked Multnomah Books to stop printing I Kissed Dating Goodbye.

"I have lived in repentance for the past several years—repenting of my self-righteousness, my fear-based approach to life, the teaching of my books, my views of women in the church, and my approach to parenting to name a few."

He also apologized for his previous opposition to LGBT rights and same-sex marriage.

"I specifically want to add to this list now: 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. I regret standing against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry. I hope you can forgive me.⁣⁣"

In an op-ed for Christian Post, evangelical activist Mike Farris criticized Harris for "walking away" from his marriage. "You have walked away from your faith in Christ," he wrote. "That's even worse."

Farris admitted he agreed with the guiding principles behind I Kissing Dating Goodbye but said Harris was too dependent on formulas for life: "You thought your faith and your marriage were based on formulas. They never went deeper than that."

"I do commend you for the intellectual integrity for recognizing that your secondary views (embracing the LGBT agenda, etc.) are utterly inconsistent with Christianity," he added "As is your view that it is ok to walk away from your marriage for the reasons you have stated. Both of these proved that you had renounced Christianity before you said so publicly."

Covenant Life Church also posted an open letter, urging congregants to pray for Harris' "redemption and restoration."

"Several times [the Apostle] Paul mentions former Christian leaders 'swerving from,' 'wandering from,' or 'making shipwreck' of their faith," wrote current pastor Kevin Rogers. "So while this is sad and confusing, it isn't new."

Rogers called Harris' announcement "an opportunity for greater resolve in our own faith."