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Abstract: Researchers use “deconversion” and related terms for the process of leaving a community. That decision often involves intellectual doubts, emotional suffering, disagreements, and loss of social and family connections. In more mainstream religions a number of factors contribute to deconversion: gender, age, intellectualism, leftist politics, geographic mobility, religious background, location, tensions with parents, weak social bonds with members, and perceptions of hypocrisy among members or leaders. In new religions deconversion is related to failures: to insulate from outsiders, to regulate dyadic bonds, to justify sacrifices as imme…