Matthew Taylor: Why We Podcast
Graceful Atheist Podcast
Mathew Taylor, co-host of Still Unbelievable!, returns to the podcast to discuss why we podcast.Links Graceful Atheist Podcast This week’s guest is Sara. Sara grew up in a Canadian Mennonite community and embraced it wholeheartedly. She was surrounded by evangelical Christianity and she thrived. Graceful Atheist Podcast This week’s guest is Beth. Beth grew up in a fundamentalist Christian home that revered James Dobson, Jerry Falwell and all those who created the “Moral Majority.” Her father was a pastor whose sermons centered on the End Times and protecting their families from the “shifting culture,” (read: all the movements happening in the 60’s and 70’s). Graceful Atheist Podcast Arline interviews this week’s guest, Andrew. Andrew is a self-named atheist “paleo-nerd.” He grew up home-schooled in a fundamentalist church in southern California. His whole schooling was religious and that included Young Earth Creationism. Graceful Atheist Podcast Arline interviews this week’s guest, Racquelle. Racquelle grew up in Canada in the Seventh Day Adventist church. Conspiracy theories were common in her household. Some of them she bought into. Graceful Atheist Podcast Arline interviews this week's guest, Andy Neal of Andy Films And Hikes fame. He is self described as a "plus size hiking influencer." Graceful Atheist Podcast Natalie from New Zealand tells Arlene here story. She grew up Pentecostal participating in church. In her young adulthood she converted to Mormonism. Graceful Atheist Podcast Jeff grew up in his words “a very religious household.” He attended a large Southern Baptist church. Graceful Atheist Podcast This week’s guest is Megan. Megan grew up in a fundamentalist Catholic home with an irrationally religious mother and an absent father. As a teen, she was invited to an evangelical bible study after school and after some serious “love bombing” by the youth group, she was a part of a community. Graceful Atheist Podcast This week’s guest is Kris. Kris grew up in a home with much wounding and suffering, an irreligious home that would shape her desire for God as a young adult. She became a christian when she was 22—a “poor, broken young mom.”
Matthew on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/vteclimey
Confessions of a YEC blog:
https://confessionsofayec.wordpress.com/
"God takes the good people early” post:
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As a young adult, she married and followed her husband into ministry. While he led, she helped as was expected of her. It didn’t occur to her until years later how little her own leadership skills had to be set aside.
Sara’s husband started deconstructing his beliefs before she did, but as he was learning, she wa
As a teen, she lived a double life, keeping plenty of secrets from her parents. However, as a young adult, followed all the rules with t
In high school, Andrew struggled with his shy nature and some depressive episodes. The church didn’t seem to have room for people like him. As a young adult, finally making his own decisions and living a life without fundamentalism everywhere, Andrew
Throughout her life she went through periods of doubt but something kept bringing her back to Church. A sense of obligation and expectation never left her.
Eventually, Racquelle deconverted from her faith and deconstructed the conspiracy theories. She now has an interesting perspective on the d
Andy tells his story of deconstruction, acceptance of his body and his joy in nature. He is an inspiration to all to get outdoors and experience nature.
Links
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/andyfilmsandhikes/
Link Tr
She saw that as woman her role was limited and was finding it difficult to accept the church's perspective on LGBQT issues.
Eventually Natalie deconverted. She is thankful for her kids' sake who later came out as queer. Natalie now finds time in nature and the forest life giving.
Interact
For quotes, recommendations, tran
In college he fell in love with the seriousness of Calvinism after reading John Piper’s Desiring God. He left seminary early to become a minster because he felt time pressure to be “on mission” for God.
After three pastors he knew committed suicide in one year, Jeff began to deconstruct.
Today he is agnostic and finds therapy and mindfulness helpful in his life.
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“You get ‘loved bombed’ when you walk into a new church or into a new youth group, and they make you feel like you are the most welcome you will ever be and that your community is so indeed of 
For years, Christianity worked well for her. She found community, built a family, made friends. Church gave her a place to use her abilities and passions, but there was always a glass ceiling.
In 2017, she and a friend went to a “biblical archeology” s
MJ grew up in a conservative evangelical home where Focus on the Family reigned and her whole world consisted of family, church friends, and a few Christian homeschooling families. She believed wholeheartedly, feeling all the existential pressure as a child to “save” everyone around her.
As a young woman, MJ was surrounded by social workers while in college, and these colleagues were curious. They didn’t ask theological questions; they asked political questions, but for MJ it was all connected. She went to her pastor and was dismissed again and again.
“I started asking myself, What are the criteria? What are [church leaders] really looking for? They’re looking for somebody who doesn’t question, doesn’t challenge the status quo, doesn’t have a viewpoint that encompasses anything that includes the world along with Christianity.”
Now MJ uses her love of books and art to encourage others to hear different perspectives—one’s inner life, relationships, systemic injustices, religion, and spirituality. Besides lengthening Arline’s personal To-Be-Read list, MJ’s Instagram has shown her that whatever one is convinced is true, there are other possible ways to view it.
Links
https://www.instagram.com/dissident_daughters
Interact
For quotes, recommendations, transcripts and more see the full episode show notes
https://gracefulatheist.com/2023/08/20/mj-dissident-daughters/
Join the Deconversion Anonymous Facebook group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/deconversion
Graceful Atheist Podcast Merch!
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Support the podcast on Patreon
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Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/
Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/
Deconstruction
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/#deconstruction/
Attribution
"Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats
https://makaihbeats.net/