Courageous Hearts

Join us as we begin to explore the hidden life of Orthodox Jewish men who live secular lives in secret, with hidden cell phones, and girlfriends, and almost no plans to leave their communities.

If you have any questions or want to share your own story in extremism, please get in touch! You can find us on:

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @Courageousheartinc / @Calliewriting

or join our private Facebook group The Untold Stories of Courageous Hearts Podcast to get in on the conversation! 

If you like what we do and want to contribute to our efforts in supporting those who leave fundamentalism, you can find CourageousHeartsPodcast on Patreon and by becoming a contributor have access to additional weekly content!

Thanks for listening!

Molly’s story will knock your socks off.

Like many, she grew up in a moderately evangelical family. The rules were clear, Jesus first, purity, and obedience. She was raised to be a wife, and when she was 20 that's what she became. Quickly she realized that this new life didn't afford her the freedom that she hoped. She married a man who went to Moody college and had his heart set on being a pastor. Molly was apprehensive to become a pastor's wife, but she was told that her dreams for herself no longer mattered now that she was yoked to her husband. Her life was meant only to support him. Listen to her story of courage and triumph, how she found her footing and made a new life.

(The audio is a bit skippy in places. Bear with us, it's totally worth it to make it to the end of this one!!)

If you have any questions or want to share your own story in extremism, please get in touch! You can find us on:

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @Courageousheartinc / @Calliewriting

or join our private Facebook group The Untold Stories of Courageous Hearts Podcast to get in on the conversation! 

If you like what we do and want to contribute to our efforts in supporting those who leave fundamentalism, you can find CourageousHeartsPodcast on Patreon and by becoming a contributor have access to additional weekly content!

Thanks for listening!

Meet Nava, one of the wonderful women working hard behind the scenes to make our podcast and nonprofit everything it can be. Join us as we talk about religious trauma syndrome, our own journeys in and out of religion, and so much more!

I can’t wait for the you to get to know the force behind our support groups, and the badass that does her best to keep me on track with social media posts!! 

If you have any questions or want to share your own story, please get in touch on:

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @Courageousheartspodcast
twitter: @Calliewriting

or join our private Facebook group The Untold Stories of Courageous Hearts Podcast to get in on the conversation! 

If you like what we do and want to contribute to our efforts in supporting those who leave fundamentalism, you can find CourageousHeartsPodcast on Patreon and by becoming a contributor have access to additional weekly content!

Thanks for listening!

We're so honored to introduce you to Emily, a woman who courageously endured an abusive marriage while kept in a cage of religious extremism. A woman who fought to survive and built a life on the other side of abuse.

If you have any questions or want to share your own story, please get in touch on:

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @Courageousheartspodcast
twitter: @Calliewriting

or join our private Facebook group The Untold Stories of Courageous Hearts Podcast to get in on the conversation! 

If you like what we do and want to contribute to our efforts in supporting those who leave fundamentalism, you can find CourageousHeartsPodcast on Patreon and by becoming a contributor have access to additional weekly content!

Thanks for listening!

Just wait until you meet Charlotte. Raised in the midwest by parents and grandparents who were atheists, she found her own way to Christianity. As we've learned though, when your heart and mind is open, the journey rarely stops there. Listen to her story, as she took courageous steps to leave an abusive marriage and discovered who God is and what she's capable of. 

If you have any questions or want to share your own story, please get in touch on:

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @Courageousheartspodcast
twitter: @Calliewriting

or join our private Facebook group The Untold Stories of Courageous Hearts Podcast to get in on the conversation! 

If you like what we do and want to contribute to our efforts in supporting those who leave fundamentalism, you can find CourageousHeartsPodcast on Patreon and by becoming a contributor have access to additional weekly content!

Thanks for listening!

We've got a great one for you today, folks!

As we start to branch out into other fundamentalist groups I sat down with Avery (my cousin!!) to talk about our journeys out of the Evangelical Christianity we were both born into.

If you have any questions or want to share your own story, please get in touch on:

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @Courageousheartspodcast
twitter: @Calliewriting

or join our private Facebook group The Untold Stories of Courageous Hearts Podcast to get in on the conversation! 

If you like what we do and want to contribute to our efforts in supporting those who leave fundamentalism, you can find CourageousHeartsPodcast on Patreon and by becoming a contributor have access to additional weekly content!

Thanks for listening!

Would you like to meet one of my favorite people?

Honestly, my personal endorsement should be enough, but just in case:

Allie is a badass. She’s the kind of girl who sees a problem and figures out the solution without waiting around to ask why someone hasn’t done it already. She, along with her sister Kate (the first woman we interviewed on the podcast!!) fought to save their little sisters from the abusive mother that no one was courageous enough to save them from.

Surrounded by obstacles and plagued by the guilt religious leaders laid on their weary backs,  they fought. With little money and support and all the burdens of college and their own lives, fresh from the corruption of orthodoxy, they prevailed.

Allie’s story is one we can all learn from. She and her sister are the very best kind of people, they were beat down and hurt and given no help, they had to claw their way into a better a life and through that, somehow, they never lost a bit of kindness or let bitterness grow within them. They’re full of grace and love like no one I’ve ever met. 

If you have any questions or want to share your own story, please get in touch on:

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @Courageousheartspodcast
twitter: @Calliewriting

or join our private Facebook group The Untold Stories of Courageous Hearts Podcast to get in on the conversation! 

If you like what we do and want to contribute to our efforts in supporting those who leave fundamentalism, you can find CourageousHeartsPodcast on Patreon and by becoming a contributor have access to additional weekly content!

Thanks for listening!

It may not be the most wonderful time of year for most of us, but it's certainly one we've needed to spend a lot of time talking about and processing with each other! Join (friend of the show) Yael and I (Callie) as we walk down memory lane remembering Passovers of years past, the things we miss, the things we don't miss....and get distracted (as usual!).

We can't replace your old memories, but we can help you find a way to make new ones, and remind you that you're not alone.

If you have any questions or want to share your own story, please get in touch on:

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @Courageousheartspodcast
twitter: @Calliewriting

or join our private Facebook group The Untold Stories of Courageous Hearts Podcast to get in on the conversation! 

If you like what we do and want to contribute to our efforts in supporting those who leave fundamentalism, you can find CourageousHeartsPodcast on Patreon and by becoming a contributor have access to additional weekly content!

Thanks for listening!

Noelle is the daughter of a Baal teshuva (a Jew who grew up non religious) father and a convert mother, when her family left modern orthodoxy and moved towards a more strict yeshivish lifestyle she struggled under the weight of what that difference meant in her daily life. When her family's rabbi decided that her mother's conversion was invalid and that she and her siblings would need to convert, it rocked her world. Noelle's courage as she worked through her issues with Judaism, a skewed view of her body due to years of religious oppression, and discovering a sexuality that she didn't even know was a possibility is nothing short of awe inspiring.

Noelle is a warrior whose first victory was saving herself. She will no doubt help save countless others. 

If you have any questions or want to share your own story, please get in touch on:

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @Courageousheartspodcast
twitter: @Calliewriting

or join our private Facebook group The Untold Stories of Courageous Hearts Podcast to get in on the conversation! 

If you like what we do and want to contribute to our efforts in supporting those who leave fundamentalism, you can find CourageousHeartsPodcast on Patreon and by becoming a contributor have access to additional weekly content!

Thanks for listening!

Join us as we embark on episode 1 of our sex education series!

Oh yeah, we're going there.

So many of us who were raised with religion weren't given the tools to safely and responsibly approach sex. Luckily I (Callie) was raised with one kick ass sister who has never once balked at a question or funny anecdote (and y'all there have been MANY). 

Special thanks to my fantastic older (by like, yeeeears) sister, Chelsea.

Send in your questions and comments for our follow up Q&A episode.

If you have any questions or want to share your own story, please get in touch on:

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @Courageousheartspodcast
twitter: @Calliewriting

or join our private Facebook group The Untold Stories of Courageous Hearts Podcast to get in on the conversation! 

If you like what we do and want to contribute to our efforts in supporting those who leave fundamentalism, you can find CourageousHeartsPodcast on Patreon and by becoming a contributor will have access to additional weekly content!

Thanks for listening!