Josh Harris: “I excommunicated myself”

With warnings about Trump, the ex-Christian leader steps into a post-Christian spirituality.

Didn’t Christians use to avoid excommunication? Maybe the latest thing is to do it to yourself. In a new interview, Joshua Harris reflects on his career as celebrity pastor and ‘purity’ guru. “I excommunicated people,” he says. Not living the right way? Out you go. “I think I came to a point of recognizing, you know, I’m not living according to this.”

“And I excommunicated myself, essentially.”

Not long after declaring himself divorced and ex-Christian, Harris continue to amaze with a lacerating critique of the tradition he left. In his new interview, he questions the need for church hierarchies.

“The more chaotic the world is, the more people want someone to tell them what to do. And when people are afraid, they latch on to people who say, ‘I have the answers.’”

And he comments on the Evangelical alignment with Trump.

“I think it’s incredibly damaging to the Gospel and to the Church,” he says. “I don’t think it’s going to end well. And I think you look back at the Old Testament and the relationship between the prophets and really bad leaders and kings, and oftentimes it’s not something you unwind…