"After growing up in a Christian home, being a pastor's kid, playing and singing in a Christian band, and having the word 'Christian' in front of most of the things in my life - I am now finding that I no longer believe in God."

These are the words of Jonathan Steingard, a Canadian musician and lead vocalist for the popular punk-pop Christian band Hawk Nelson.

Steingard recently took to Instagram to publicly share his declaration of disbelief in God.

"The last few words of that sentence were hard to write," Steingard continues in his post. "I still find myself wanting to soften that statement by wording it differently or less specifically - but that wouldn't be true."

The musician shares he has been dealing with his own disbelief over the past several years.

"It didn't happen overnight or all of a sudden," Steingard says. "I have been terrified to be honest about this publicly for quite some time, because of all that I thought I would lose.

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I’ve been terrified to post this for a while - but it feels like it’s time for me to be honest. I hope this is not the end of the conversation, but the beginning. I hope this is encouraging to people who might feel the same but are as afraid to speak as I am. I want to be open. I want to be transparent with you all - and also open to having my heart changed in the future. I am not looking for a debate at all - just a chance to share my story in the hopes some good can come from it. I love you all.

A post shared by Jon Steingard (@jonsteingard) on

"I'm still scared, but I'm writing about this now for a few reasons."

Steingard shares he no longer feels he can avoid sharing his change of heart, saying "It felt dishonest not to talk about it." He adds that many of the doubts that have led him away from faith are doubts shared by close friends and family members, which has affirmed his own feelings and led to what the singer calls "openness and transparency" in sharing his journey.