Kicking off the first episode of 2025, Troy and Brian revisit their conversion stories...after four years of Exvangelical podcasting. They explore their early lives, the vulnerabilities that led them to embrace fundamentalist Christianity, and the roles of community and belonging in their experiences. The conversation delves into the impact of identity, and the emotional manipulation often present in Christian environments. They reflect on the long-term effects of their conversions, emphasising the importance of vulnerability and belonging at the very beginning of their Christian journeys.

Links

• Brian's first conversion story episode is here.
• Troy's first conversion story episode is here.

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Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

In our second episode back in 2021, troy talked a little about his pre-conversion home life and his experience of two Christian camps. It was at the second camp where he found himself speaking in tongues and started to wear the label, 'born-again'.

 As part of our 2025 Down Under Summer Series, we're replaying our best episodes. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. 

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We're now on video on YouTube here.

Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.

Join the conversation and connect with others here.

All our links are here. 

Transcript of this episode is here.

Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

Let's go right back to the beginning. In Season 1 Episode 1, Brian recounted his conversion story. "No bibles, no preaching, no god-bothering!" These were the conditions he put upon his two brothers, who had recently converted to Pentecostal Christianity, if he were to visit them while on holidays. What happened next would change the course of his life and still continues to impact who he is today.

As part of our 2025 Down Under Summer Series, we're replaying out best episodes. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

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We're now on video on YouTube here.

Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.

Join the conversation and connect with others here.

All our links are here. 

Transcript of this episode is here.

Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

In 2023, we talked with Clare Heath-McIvor, an exvangelical blogger and podcaster who has been operating under the pseudonym 'Kit Kennedy' since a dramatic and shunning-esque exit from her pastor father's church in 2016. In 2022, she and her ex-husband (a gay conversion therapy survivor) became whistleblowers for a 60 Minutes Australia political and religious expose on her father's City Builders Church and its tactics in Australian conservative politics. 

Trigger warning: This episode touches on issues concerning depression and suicide. If you are in Australia and require support, please reach out to 1800RESPECT by phone or online at www.1800respect.org.au/ or Lifeline on 13 11 14.

You can connect with Clare at www.unchurchablepodcast.com. If you want to explore her whistleblowing story, then see the links below:

• 60 Minutes Australia - Praying For Power: Caring church or crazy cult
• The Age Newspaper #1 - Liberal Party Candidate Agent for Ultra-Conservative Church, Family Says
• #2 - Speaking in Tongues, Exorcisms and Control: Life in City Builders
• #3 - Inside City Builders, the Pentecostal Sect with Lofty Political Goals
• #4 - Ultra-Conservative Candidate won’t sit in the party room if elected
• #5 - Shame on you: Liberal Party figure caught using fake 007 pics and fake identity for dirty tricks

As part of our 2025 Down Under Summer Series, we're replaying out best episodes. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

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We're now on video on YouTube here.

Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.

Join the conversation and connect with others here.

All our links are here. 

Transcript of this episode is here.

Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

We came out of the gate swinging for this first episode of Season 4, and unpacked some of the most problematic and ridiculous aspects of the doctrine of eternal torment, aka Hell. We also gave some suggestions on how to overcome the fear of Hell.

The resources suggested in this episode are:

Christian

• That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation: Hart, David Bentley
• Grace Saves All: Christianity and Universal Salvation Podcast
• Love Wins: At the Heart of Life’s Big Questions : Bell, Rob

Post-Christian

• Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife : Ehrman, Bart D
• Bart Ehrman on the Humanize Me Podcast
• Am I Going to Hell?: Bart Ehrman

As part of our 2025 Down Under Summer Series, we're replaying out best episodes. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. 

---

We're now on video on YouTube here.

Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.

Join the conversation and connect with others here.

All our links are here. 

Transcript of this episode is here.

Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone, and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

In this Season 4 episode, we talked with Catherine Quiring, who described herself as a reformed people-pleaser, Exvangelical and an aspiring advocate for anti-oppressive spirituality. She is a licensed Mental Health Counsellor, and Self-Trust Coach. Catherine told us why she believes the Evangelical god is a narcissist and that the symptoms experienced by those who have experienced covert narcissistic abuse are extremely similar to those experienced in high-control religious settings.

You can connect with Catherine via:

• Her website: www.cqcounseling.com
• Instagram: @catherinequiring
• Facebook: @cqcounseling

The book she referenced in this episode was Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment : Heimlich, Janet

As part of our 2025 Down Under Summer Series, we're replaying out best episodes. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. 

We'll be back with new episodes in April 2025!

---

Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.

Join the conversation and connect with other listeners here.

All our links are here. 

Transcript of this episode is here.

Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

We think this Season 3 episode is one of our best. We caught up with Andrew, a fellow traveller from our time at Great Big AOG. Andrew recounts his struggles being deep in the closet at church and how he later came to accept his sexuality and then live openly as a gay man. 

Trigger warning: This episode touches on issues concerning depression and suicide. If you are in Australia and require support, please reach out to 1800RESPECT by phone or online or Lifeline on 13 11 14.

ABBI serves individuals, churches, denominations, leaders and religious organizations in a respectful and non-confrontational way along their journey to understand LGBTI people, their community, and relationships. Their website is here.

As part of our 2025 Down Under Summer Series, we're replaying out best episodes. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. 

We'll be back with new episodes in April 2025!

---

Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.

Join the conversation and connect with other listeners here.

All our links are here. 

Transcript of this episode is here.

Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

This Season 2 interview was with another one of those people who still wear the 'Christian' label but who we can't bring ourselves to dislike. Anji Barker has 30 years' experience in neighbourhood-based community work in poor urban communities in Australia, Thailand and the UK. In this episode, she shares her own story of leaving fundamentalism and why she's happy to still call herself a 'follower of Jesus'.

You can connect with Anji at https://newbigintrust.uk/ and find her book, Missionary Not Just A Position on Amazon.

As part of our 2025 Down Under Summer Series, we're replaying out best episodes. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. 

We'll be back with new episodes in April 2025!

---

Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.

Join the conversation and connect with other listeners here.

All our links are here. 

Transcript of this episode is here.

Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

In Season 3 we were lucky enough to get to interview one of the poster boys for progressive Christianity, Brian McLaren. He was a Charismatic Evangelical pastor for twenty-four years and is now a progressive author, activist, public theologian. In this episode, we talked with Brian about his book, Do I Stay Christian? which gives reasons why people should stay but also why people should leave. You'll really enjoy this interview regardless of how you now define your spirituality (or lack thereof).

You can find Brian's book here.

As part of our 2025 Down Under Summer Series, we're replaying out best episodes. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. 

We'll be back with new episodes in April 2025!

---

Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.

Join the conversation and connect with other listeners here.

All our links are here. 

Transcript of this episode is here.

Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help.

In 2021, we kicked-off Season 2 by remembering our favourite CCM artists and a few songs. We invite you to sing and clap along at home.

Links

• Living in Laodicea by Steve Camp
• Asleep in the Light by Keith Green
• Creed by Petra
• Maranooka by In the Silence

As part of our 2025 Down Under Summer Series, we're replaying out best episodes. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. 

We'll be back with new episodes in April 2025!

---

Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here.

Join the conversation and connect with other listeners here.

All our links are here. 

Transcript of this episode is here.

Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help.