Chapel Probation

One of the best people I've met in the past couple years doing this work is Gail, the co-host of the Full Mutuality Podcast. I want everyone who listens to Chapel Probation to also get to know the other podcasters in our Dauntless Media group, and Gail is one of the founding members. From rough family beginnings to foster care, Gail grew up in Canada in highly religious settings. But she, like her fiance, Nate Nakao, deconstructed to become an amazing human with a heart for all people. We talk about her story and her life and perspective today.

Gail and Nate had me on Full Mutuality back in April when my book came out, and Nate was a guest here in season 2 where he talked about his time at Bob Jones. If you haven't already, you gotta get to know these great people.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

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

Scott's book, Asian-American-Apostate- Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University is available now!

Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, Azeem Khan, 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.

Follow Scott on Instagram and Twitter and Substack

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

I admit it. There was a time I has zero hope for the LGBTQIA students and faculty at evangelical schools. But that was before REAP came on the scene bringing legal firepower to the fight against the inhumane bigotry and discrimination all evangelical schools are guilty of promoting and enforcing. The tide is turning now. Paul Southwick started REAP after working with trans students at an evangelical school, and Erin Green, an established queer activist on evangelical campuses in her own right, joined up to make one hell of a badass duo. You'll hear how Paul and Erin started out and how they do their thing. And you'll even have an opportunity to join a new religion that can have the same religious exemptions as christians, but you'll have to worship Erin...I mean we get to worship Erin. White nationalist, cis-het christians beware!

You can read about the work REAP has done and is doing here.

You can donate to REAP here.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

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

Scott's book, Asian-American-Apostate- Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University is available now!

Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, Azeem Khan, 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.

Follow Scott on Instagram and Twitter and Substack

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

You've seen (hopefully) The Secrets of Hillsong. You lamented how it centered Carl Lentz cosplaying Zoolander at his "corporate" job (That wasn't just me, right?). And you were introduced to Janice Lagata, if you didn't already know her work. So forget Carl and listen to Janice tell her story of attending Hillsong "College" in Australia and being part of the beginning of Hillsong NYC. More importantly, listen to her talk about getting out and moving on. Janice's podcasts, God Has Not Given, and Bad Words, are great resources for all of us moving on from evangelical faith.

Update: Due to copyright law, despite not being monetize and me providing free publicity for the record company, I had to remove the following segment.

This week, Scott's Songs of My Deconstruction segment takes us back to the beginning of his love for music with the incomparable Stevie Wonder.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

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

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

Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, Azeem Khan, 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.

Follow Scott on Instagram and Twitter and Substack

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

"Holly" is a Spanish teacher and an avid runner who listens to Chapel Probation every Tuesday on her regular run. She went to an EV college almost by accident before switching to a public school to finish undergrad, but then found herself at a conservative Catholic high school. Her experiences there were eerily similar to my own experiences teaching at APU with racism, misogyny, and anti-LGBTQIA hatred run amok. But Holly did her best to be a teacher who created space for the marginalized students and forged alliances with other teachers and students. Through it all, she deconstructed her faith and found her own worldview and identity. Just like I did.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

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

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

Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, Azeem Khan, 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.

Follow Scott on Instagram and Twitter and Substack

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

Peter Fenton is a young man just 6 years out of college at Wheaton, and he is killing it. His creative output for this year alone is incredible, and his past life as an evangelical has served to fuel his creative energy. He's got a film he produced making the festival rounds, and his play, Abandon All Hope is set to premier at the Rougue Theater Festival Off-Broadway this Saturday night. A lot has happened in a short amount of time for Peter professionally and personally. His faith, his sexuality, and his career path have all been affected by his deconstruction, and a lot of it can be traced back to his time at Wheaton.

The bonus segment this week is a minor rant from Scott about the Texas battle to mandate a 10 Commandments in every public school classroom. As someone who loves public schools and once taught in them, myself, I have some thoughts. Question: can you list all 10 Commandments? I didn't think so. UPDATE: thankfully Texas Bill 1515, which sailed through the Texas senate, stalled in the House and didn't get a vote before the deadline. You can read about it here.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

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

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

Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, Azeem Khan, 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.

Follow Scott on Instagram and Twitter and Substack

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

You've probably come across Marla Taviano on Instagram or Twitter where she posts as "White Girl Learning," a book-promoting persona that focuses on BIPOC writers and authors. In this episode, Marla talks about her early days as a dedicated evangelical Christian, blissfully unaware of the bigotry and oppression BIPOC people face and her experiences and relationships that helped her see the world as it is in all its beauty and tragedy. After some missionary work and a wrenching divorce, Marla now lives a joyous life elevating marginalized voices and celebrating a life of wonder.

UPDATE: Spotify has informed me that using this song is a violation of copyright, so I had to take the segment down. It was never monetized. Just free advertisement for the record company and Rush.

Today's bonus segment is another Songs of My Deconstruction where I share my love for a band called, Rush. Because of the amazing musicality and heartfelt lyrics, Rush was part of my faith journey. They were also part of my deconstruction, as I saw the world through their eyes, musically and poetically. The video I mention in the segment can be seen here.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

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

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

Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, Azeem Khan, 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.

Follow Scott on Instagram and Twitter and Substack

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

Dr. Sara Moslener was once a Pro-life, abstinence-only culture warrior who won awards for her fundamentalist activism, but she deconstructed and became one of the foremost researchers of purity culture and its harmful effects on society. From Calvin College to Claremont Graduate University, Dr. Moslener has become an academic force exposing the dangers of purity culture. Her first book, Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence , put her on the radar of everyone interested in the creepy history of purity culture, and she has a new book coming out next year called, After Purity. She is an incredible speaker and conversationalist, and she is definitely funnier than Brad Onishi.

At the end of the episode, I give my plug for my book as part of AAPI Heritage Month and talk about how the audience of this podcast is revolutionary simply for listening to Chapel Probation.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

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

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

Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, Azeem Khan, 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.

Follow Scott on Instagram and Twitter and Substack

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

Jeff Karow took a stand against evangelical culture in the deep south, and it cost him dearly. Advocating for social justice alienated him from his community, his best friends, and his family. The episode starts out as another great, fun, look at an evangelical school, in this case Moody Chicago, but it ended up being a life-changing experience for both of us. No comedy or music segments in this episode, although I did record a parody song, which I apologize for to everyone except Ed Sheeran.

If you have a message for Jeff, send it to [email protected]. Let's send some encouragements his way. He's been through the wringer.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

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

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. 

Join the Chapel Probation Facebook group to continue the conversations.

Follow Scott on Instagram and Twitter and Substack

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

Dr. Julie Ingersoll is an expert fly fisher and fly fishing writer, but that's not why you're here. Dr. Ingersoll is also a researcher and scholar of religious studies, and she has been a leading voice in exposing American evangelicalism as a threat to democracy and a pluralistic society. Like me, she deconstructed decades ago, forging her own identity as a scholar and as a human outside of the confines of American christianity. Interestingly, she was once a part of the Christian Reconstructionist movement, one of the movements that influenced today's dominionist groups, including the New Apostolic Reformation. We eventually get to how fly fishing can heal our damaged psyches, but not before Dr. Ingersoll speaks some hard truths about how many branches of christianity harm us all today.

Buy Dr. Ingersoll's book, Building God's Kingdome: Inside the World of Christian Reconstruction.

Update: Due to spotify flagging my segment on Songs of My Deconstruction, I had to remove it.

Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective

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

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. 

Join the Chapel Probation Facebook group to continue the conversations.

Follow Scott on Instagram and Twitter and Substack

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

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

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

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. 

Join the Chapel Probation Facebook group to continue the conversations.

Follow Scott on Instagram and Twitter and Substack

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