Lily was a founding member of the Sisters 9, a group of writers, musicians, and artists, who carved out a space for themselves as free-thinkers devoted to lives filled with art and exploration. Naturally, she was an enigma at a place like APU, and she quickly deconstructed her faith, replacing it with a mission to bring uncensored art to the campus through zines and an open mic event called, "The Line." Clad in a dingy pink Bunny suit, she stood before the entire school during chapel and announced her event as a place to express unfiltered thoughts and expressions. Like me, she caught the attention of the school and had to answer for it all. But Lily began distancing herself from evangelical people and all faith, even fleeing SoCal when she graduated to live completely untethered from christianity in San Francisco. Dealing with her rough upbringing and religious trauma helped her become the person, the mom, and the artist she is today.

A couple of new components to Chapel Probation in this episode: a new sketch of a "children's" bible story program (1:11:30) about a terrifying story of Zipporah and Moses. My wife Geri and my son Owen helped out. And we have some bonus content at the end of the episode.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

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Asian-American-Apostate- Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University is available now!

Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, and Shin Kawasaki and Wingo Shackleford

Join the Chapel Probation Patreon  to support Scott and for bonus content. 

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You can subscribe to Scott's newsletter and learn more about the book, the blog, and performances at rscottokamoto.com

We're back with Season 3!

We start the season with someone who helped Scott get started in the deconstruction world, Dr. Chrissy Stroop. Everyone who listens to this podcast is likely familiar with Chrissy's work, but she joins us to talk about her educational experiences and how they shaped who she is today.

Dr. Stroop is a co-editor in the groundbreaking Empty the Pews anthology of stories of deconstruction.

Support Dr. Stroop by joining her Patreon here.

Update: Despite not being monetized, Spotify has flagged my Songs of Deconstruction segment as violating copyright, so it had to be deleted.

Asian-American-Apostate- Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University is available now!

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

Join the Dauntless Media Discord for more conversation with all the podcast communities.

Music by Scott Okamoto, and Jenyi

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Just a quick finale to an amazing season. Thank you to everyone who came on Chapel Probation and thank you to everyone who has tuned in. 

Asian American Apostate: Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University is coming out soon, so stay tuned for pre-orders. 

Apologies to Blake Chastain for this Moonlight moment where I gave him the Chapel Probation award, but I gotta give it to Asbury. Warning: Unpopular Opinion herein. 

See everyone in Season 3 which should fire up in April!

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

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Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, and Shin Kawasaki and Wingo Shackleford

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Like me, Gloria Beth Amodeo went to a "normal" school for college. But also like me, she got caught up in an evangelical ministry on campus. Cru was once Campus Crusade for Christ, and Beth joined up to escape what she thought was the evil secular values of the school. There she was indoctrinated into purity culture and fundamentalist views of the bible and church. She compares her experience to those of my guests from the Inter Varstiy Christian Fellowship episode, and tells us about her new book, which is out now, God's Ex-Girlfriend. 

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

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Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, and Shin Kawasaki and Wingo Shackleford

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It's Valentine's Day. Yay. Whatever.

The topic that I get asked to cover most is purity culture. And while many of the guests on Chapel Probation have mentioned sex and sexual experiences, almost all the stories get told as cautionary tales that result in punishment or guilt or shame. Not fun. Sex and sexuality should be a normal part of human development, but if you add evangelical culture to the mix, it gets toxic. We were taught to deny our sexuality and fetishize our virginity as some kind of mark of Jesus on our soul. So how about we just talk about sex and sexuality without the guilt and shame. No embarrassment, even for the less good experiences, and no shame for our desires and identities.

So, I brought S2.E1 guests, Hope and Nicole to help me tell stories and talk about sex. We had a blast, and we could have talked all night, but Nicole had a hot date with her husband, so we got a solid hour-plus of stories, observations, and claiming our sexuality. 

Content Warning: Lots of frank, open talk of sex and sexual acts. Listener discretion is advised.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

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Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, and Shin Kawasaki and Wingo Shackleford

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Ariel has been a big supporter of Chapel Probation as a moderator for the Facebook group and the inspiration behind in-person events. She attended APU and is connected to A Scott and Mahrs Shoppman as a housemate in the famed Synchronicity LA house, which was an intentional community formed by some APU alumni. I wanted to hear Ariel's thoughts on the podcast and her own experiences at APU, so it's kind of a hybrid episode. 

We want to hear your sexiest stories from christian or religious colleges and universities which we will feature in the upcoming anti-purity culture Valentines Day episode. You can send your story (which will be anonymous unless you want your name in it) to [email protected]. More info to come.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, and Shin Kawasaki and Wingo Shackleford

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No, I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about Daveo Mathias, a talented writer and creative human who got hammered by APU's evangelical culture to the point where he stopped believing in God because of his time there. As a new freshman, Daveo got a story published in the prestigious and new at the time web site McSweeny's. And while that might have offered a young writer some serious writing cred at a normal university, for Daveo, it was just one in a list of sins he committed simply by being a thinking, living human. Like many others, he found his people, but he still feels the pain of being rejected by an intractable, unforgivable culture that demanded conformity of its White students. 

Join the Dauntless Media Discord for more conversation with all the podcast communities.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, and Shin Kawasaki and Wingo Shackleford

Join the Chapel Probation Patreon  to support Scott and for bonus content.

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Meghan and Cortland of the Thereafter Podcast join me for a wild and fun conversation about sexual loopholes in Purity Culture, online communities, and how we navigate tricky subjects like purity culture and identity in life after evangelical faith. And we ask the question of the ages: Can people have sex before curfews on evangelical campuses? It's more complicated than you might think. Or not. 

Join the Dauntless Media Discord for more conversation with all the podcast communities.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, and Shin Kawasaki and Wingo Shackleford

Join the Chapel Probation Patreon  to support Scott and for bonus content.

Join the Chapel Probation Facebook group to continue the conversations.

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Dr. Bradley Onishi is a man on the rise. His podcast, Straight White American Jesus, which he co-hosts with Dr. Daniel Miller, is one of the most popular shows in the politics and religion category. Brad's book, Preparing for War- The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism and What Comes Next is already a best-seller on Amazon during its presale days, and it's out today, January 3, 2023. It's a book that should be required reading to all who care about the state of this country. 

We talk about Brad's time as a student at APU, and note how the white nationalist culture of the early 2000's grew into the nightmare of MAGA Nation. And we talk about our heritage as Japanese Americans and how evangelical culture made us ashamed of who we are.  We're all good now, and learning and growing still, but it's tough looking back at what we once were. 

We do settle a score from earlier this season when Blake Chastain and I called out Brad to outdo Blake's chapel probation story, so you can hear the results of the contest now. It was a close one, but I think I made the correct ruling. Let me know if you disagree.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, and Shin Kawasaki and Wingo Shackleford

Join the Chapel Probation Patreon  to support Scott and for bonus content.

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A lot of people have told me to just get my book published, as if that's something I could just do. Get an agent, find a publisher, bam. Book. But, no one I ever talked to, outside of my own friends and family, thought I could write a book worth reading. Until I met David Morris. First of all, how many male Asian American (much less Japanese American) authors of non-fiction can you think of? That pretty much tells you what the publishing world thinks of us. But David saw me and heard what I had to say. He saw value in both my voice and the stories I have to tell. Once I had David in my corner, I knew I could accomplish anything. 

David, in addition to a couple decades in the religious publishing world, has a doctorate in Psychology, and he brings his unique perspectives to Chapel Probation After Hours to talk about the podcast and his thoughts on the evangelical world. I even get him to cuss.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, and Shin Kawasaki and Wingo Shackleford

Join the Chapel Probation Patreon  to support Scott and for bonus content.

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You can subscribe to Scott's newsletter and learn more about the book, the blog, and performances at rscottokamoto.com