Graceful Atheist Podcast

My guest this week is Vanessa. She describes herself as “born into a large family of fire and brimstone preaching, bible beating, in-tongues-speaking Christians in the Pentecostal Church of God faith tradition.” Her father, her grandfather, and her great grandfather all were pastors of her home church. She began to doubt at a fairly young age and discovered she no longer believed in god in her college years. As a non-believer, she married her believing husband. Recently being unequally yoked has become a discussion point as they negotiate how to raise their daughter. Vanessa is grateful she can be present for her daughter in a way she did receive when she was young. We discuss unequally yoked marriage, secular parenting, and post-traumatic church syndrome. Interact Full show notes
https://gracefulatheist.com/2021/06/27/vanessa-post-traumatic-church-disorder/?gaid=gap79 Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to?gaid=gap79/Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/?gaid=gap79 Support the podcast
Via Anchor.fm and Stripe
Via Paypal: paypal.me/gracefulatheist

My guest this week is Chris Highland. Chris is an author of over a dozen books, he was a Protestant minister for 14 years and an Interfaith (collaborative, open-minded, inclusive) chaplain for 25 years. Currently a Humanist celebrant, he has a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion from Seattle Pacific University and an M.Div. from San Francisco Theological Seminary. My highest compliment to Chris is that he has been doing Secular Grace for most of his life. Chris shares his love of nature and beauty. We discuss humanism, nature and loving believing spouses. Links Friendly Freethinker Blog
https://chighland.com/ Clergy Project
https://clergyproject.org/ Why I am not an angry evangelical atheist
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rationaldoubt/2019/02/why-im-not-an-angry-evangelical-atheist-part-1/ Do we have to choose between aggressive religion and aggravated atheism?
Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/?gaid=gap78Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/?gaid=gap78 Books Nature Is Enough
https://amzn.to/3qnp1XX From Faith to Freedom
https://amzn.to/2TLEjcK Attribution Additional music
Dakar Flow – Carmen María and Edu Espinal "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats
https://makaihbeats.net/

My guest this week is Travis. Travis documented his deconstruction on the blog measureoffaith.blog. There Travis has documented his journey from a questioning but dedicated Christian to a doubting agnostic. He delves into the apologetics that was supposed to give him comfort but ultimately led to the loss of faith. This is one of the more emotionally raw episodes. Travis opens up about his grief at the loss of his beloved father. His dad was an example of faith well lived and it had a profound impact on Travis. We discuss what secular grief is like after one no longer can be comforted by belief in life after death. I have been feeling a little conflicted putting this information out there that can potentially help people lose faith because it was so important to someone like my dad. It makes me question whether I really want to be a participant for taking that away from someone.
These days Travis feels like he has said what he needed to say on the blog. His compassion and empathy is evident in that he is more concerned with caring for the people in his life than endlessly debating apologetics and counter-apologetics. Links https://measureoffaith.blog/ Interact Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/?gaid=gap77Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/?gaid=gap77 Attribution "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats
https://makaihbeats.net/

My guest this week is Amy Rath, the host of the NoneLife podcast. NoneLife is dedicated to all those who check “None of the above” for a religious category and who do not feel comfortable being categorized any other way. The podcast is inspiring us all to do good in the world and to live an ethical life. I’m Amy, and I’m a “none.” A what?  Well, it took a lot of searching for me to find this term, but it fits perfectly.  A “none” is someone who doesn’t belong to any particular religion.  There are likely as many reasons for being a “none” as there are individuals, so we’re a hard group to label.  Nones might be atheists, agnostics, former-members-of religions, humanists, etc. etc. etc.
Amy grew up a dedicated Catholic and was “all in.” In her late teens and early twenties she felt better “just not believing in anything.” In 2019 she discovered the term “None” as in “None of the above” and had a sense of “coming home.” “Finally there is a name for what I am.” She had found her people. Amy started the NoneLife podcast so that others could discover this sense of finding themselves sooner. She has become an important and inspiring voice for Nones the world over.
Links Website
https://nonelife.org/ PechaKucha presentation
https://www.pechakucha.com/presentations/practicing-decency Interact Full show notes
https://gracefulatheist.com/2021/06/06/amy-rath-nonelife/?gaid=gap76Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/?gaid=gap76Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/?gaid=gap76 Attribution "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats
https://makaihbeats.net/

My guest this week is Michael, AKA Reverend Bones. Michael is an Australian singer/songwriter whose latest album Escape From Heaven is about his faith transition out of Evangelicalism. Michael talks openly and honestly about how purity culture affected him and the religious trauma it produced. Michael is now a climate activist and anti-purity culture activist. Michael uses his TicTok presence to speak out on these topics as well as the need for separation of church and state. Links Website
https://www.reverendbones.com/ TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@reverend_bones Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/reverend_bones Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6ITRWlI5YToDcwA1o7SdRi Interact Full show notes
https://gracefulatheist.com/2021/05/30/michael-escape-from-heaven/?gaid=gap75 If you are interested in producing music for the Graceful Atheist Podcast, the sound I am looking for has a strong baseline and beat with gospel church organ, potentially with R&B or Gospel vocal samples. Here is a playlist to inspire you to Gospel R&B Beats. Get in touch. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/27qcj0QlDP23O7SzQKaAUL Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/?gaid=gap75Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/?gaid=gap75 Attribution Music by Reverend Bones from Escape From Heaven "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats https://makaihbeats.net/

This week I am being interviewed by Sam and Daniel from the When Belief Dies podcast. The focus is on what I have changed my mind about since beginning work in the secular community. We discuss the following topics:

• The deconversion process
  https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/?gaid=gap74
  https://gracefulatheist.com/2020/11/23/i-was-mistaken/?gaid=gap74
  
• Secular Grace
  How the 12 steps influenced my conception of Secular Grace
  https://gracefulatheist.com/secular-grace/?gaid=gap74
  
• Honesty contests
  Talking with believers
  The analogy of the Cathedral
  
• Secular Grief
  Letting go of an afterlife for oneself and one’s loved ones
  The human desire for an afterlife represented in secular movies
  

This episode is a sister episode to Daniel and me interviewing Sam on When Belief Dies. Both episodes are dropping at the same time. You can see me in the YouTube version interviewing Sam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mtOgkvIqJU Music If you are interested in producing music for the Graceful Atheist Podcast, the sound I am looking for has a strong baseline and beat with gospel church organ, potentially with R&B or Gospel vocal samples. Here is a playlist to inspire you to Gospel R&B Beats. Get in touch.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/27qcj0QlDP23O7SzQKaAUL?si=d4fad72b30c64c94 Links When Belief Dies
https://whenbeliefdies.com/
https://linktr.ee/whenbeliefdies Full show notes with much more
https://gracefulatheist.com/2021/05/23/sam-and-daniel-interview-david-ames-the-graceful-atheist/?gaid=gap74 Attribution Photo graphic design by Logan Thomas, Beyond Belief "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats
https://makaihbeats.net/

I begin every streaming interview with a question, “Hi, can you hear me?” Never has an affirmative answer to such a mundane question been so profound as it was with this week’s guest, Caroline Schwabe. Caroline had progressive hearing loss and eventually could no longer speak on the phone even with hearing aids. Almost by accident, she was referred to a Cochlear implant program in Canada during a routine hearing test. January 28, 2018, was her last deaf day. She has been on a three-year journey of rediscovery after receiving a Cochlear implant. Along with her husband, Andreas, Caroline co-hosts a podcast called My Beautify Cyborg about her Cochlear implant journey. It describes the hopes and fears leading up to surgery and the joy and rediscovery after turning on the implant. Caroline’s gratitude and joy is infectious and comes through in each episode. Caroline and Andreas had experienced major disappointments and hurts from the Church. At the same time, she was going through the implant process, both she and her husband were slowly leaving the Church. If not a full-blown deconstruction, they have been asking very hard questions and wrestling with the answers. This episode is unique in that there are two parallel stories: one of regaining hearing and one of questioning one’s faith. Podcasts have played an outsized role in Caroline’s rediscovery of hearing and language recognition, including this one. Links My Beautiful Cyborg
https://mybeautifulcyborg.com/ Links for Cochlear implant information
https://mybeautifulcyborg.com/links/ Interact Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/?gaid=gap73Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/?gaid=gap73 Attribution "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats
https://makaihbeats.net/

This week's show is a Deconversion Anonymous episode. My guest this week is Brette. Brette was so serious about her Christianity in junior high her goal was martyrdom. In her young adulthood, she followed her pastor's advice and attended Master's Commission, similar to a discipleship training program. Her experience there was nothing short of psychological torture. Her faith began breaking down as did her physical and psychological health at Master's Commission. It included deliverance sessions and enumerating her demons. It wasn't until she saw her younger brother being treated poorly that she began to question. She and her brother left: "leaving was the BEST feeling!" After a brief stint in "spiritual but not religious" land, she finally admitted she no longer believed in god. She let go of "trying to make it be true." Brette has since discovered naturalistic and psychological explanations of her experiences that have given her more closure and comfort. Interact Sam (When Belief Dies) GoFundMe for a laptop
https://gofund.me/9bed67a7 Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/?gaid=gap72Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/?gaid=gap72Deconversion Anonymous
https://gracefulatheist.com/category/podcast/deconversion-anonymous/?gaid=gap72 Attribution Picture by Brette's daughter A. "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats
https://makaihbeats.net/

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This week's show is a Deconversion Anonymous episode. My guest this week is Arline. Arline became a Christian in early adulthood. She went to a Christian college where she met her now-husband. Her faith tradition was a severe version of Calvinism. She taught complementarianism. The roles allowed for women and complementarianism were not a good fit for Arline's inquisitive personality. Her husband went through an emotional deconversion first. Arline did not take this as well as she would now like. Alongside this was the long slow deterioration of her mother's health. She slowly began to deconstruct. First by exploring other versions of Christianity. Eventually exploring other faith traditions including meditation from a Buddhist perspective. In short. she was letting her curiosity and intelligence explore all the areas of interest that were previously prohibited. In the end, for her own personal intellectual integrity, she admitted to herself she no longer believed. She has since discovered natural human habits that have helped her far more than her faith ever had. Interact Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/?gaid=gap71Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/?gaid=gap71 Attribution "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats
https://makaihbeats.net/

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Janice Selbie on the Conference on Religious Trauma (CORT) The Conference on Religious Trauma
(#CORT) online
May 11 to 16, 2021
Links Conference on Religious Trauma
https://pheedloop.com/CORT/site/home/ Twitter
https://twitter.com/cometocort Face Book
https://www.facebook.com/ConferenceOnReligiousTrauma Godless Moms Podcast
https://www.godlessmom.com/podcast Friends of the podcast presenting at CORT

• Janice Selbie
  https://gracefulatheist.com/2019/11/27/janice-selbie-divorcing-religion/?gaid=cort2021
  
• Alice Greczyn
  https://gracefulatheist.com/2021/01/31/alice-greczyn-wayward/?gaid=cort2021
  
• Dave Warnock
  https://gracefulatheist.com/2019/08/08/dave-warnock-dying-out-loud/?gaid=cort2021
  
• Clint Heacock
  https://gracefulatheist.com/2020/04/30/dr-clint-heacock-reconstruction-after-deconstruction/?gaid=cort2021
  

Interact Full show notes
https://gracefulatheist.com/2021/04/29/?gaid=cort2021 Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/?gaid=cort2021Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/?gaid=cort2021 Attribution "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats
https://makaihbeats.net/

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