Don't Throw the Baby Out With the Bathwater (or should you?)

What to let go and what to keep after leaving religion

In conversations about religious deconstruction, you often hear the admonition, “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” It’s an idiom that means you should be careful not to get rid of something valuable while trying to get rid of something unwanted.

The earliest known record of the phrase is from 1512 in Narrenbeschwörung (Appeal to Fools) by Th…