Today I speak with Dave Warnock of Dying Out Loud, a speaking tour that he is on which I manage! Dave is a former pastor and now atheist. He became zealous in his teen years during the Jesus Freak movement of the late 60’s. He left religion about 8 years ago and became an atheist. His marriage ended due to this departure from the faith and 2 of his 3 children cut off communication with him. He connected with The Clergy Project, an organization that provides resources to former and current clergy who no longer believe in the faith. Through that organization, he met Cass Midgley who also lived in Nashville. The two became quick friends. And through Cass’s podcast, Everyone’s Agnostic, my paths eventually crossed those of Dave Warnock as well. I met him at the Everyone’s Agnostic retreat in 2018 but it was in March of 2019 when I visited Nashville to see Cass that I started paying more attention to this guy. He had been diagnosed just a week before with ALS, an ugly, terminal disease. I have a lot of issues around death, most I blame on Christianity’s denial of death. Dave wasn’t afraid of death. He was just incredibly disappointed that his time alive would be shorter than he anticipated. He spoke with me, with Cass, with everyone in their Nashville community that week about his reaction to his diagnosis. He didn’t shy away from sharing how he felt. He didn’t shame others for asking questions, for being speechless, for crying more than he was. He was setting the type of secular precedent around dying that I had never witnessed before and I was hooked. Knowing how many secular contacts I had in the podcasting world, I asked Dave if he’d like to talk about his diagnosis and his reaction to it on public platforms. He said, sure darlin’. And so it began. We initially called it, “Dave’s Last Ride”, but it quickly morphed into “Dying Out Loud”. We were surprised by the response of those who heard his story. I reached out to more and more platforms and now, 9 months later, Dave has been on The Atheist Experience, The Thinking Atheist, and The Scathing Atheist. He has plans to travel the nation and the world next year, speaking at NanoCon and the Conference on Religious Trauma. Dave and I have been working closely these last 9 months, just following the demand for his story that is being provoked from the community. Dave has told his story again and again and again in all this time, constantly reaching a new audience. So when we had an evening to ourselves in Madison, Wisconsin, I asked if I could interview him for my show, but I demanded that we not talk about the same old, same old that you could hear from any other interview. I want you to know Dave like I do. It’s such a pain in my ass and gives me such a hard time. He tells the worst jokes. He makes me laugh. He makes me feel loved. He’s a goof and I love him. With this interview, I hope you can get to know Dave a little better as the weird and wonderful guy that he is. Love you, Dave. So happy to be on this journey with you.
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Now that we’ve begun to process our history with toxic religion, we seek to regain autonomy over our minds and bodies from residual narratives, whether cultural or religious; while working towards respecting and empowering the autonomy of others. Together, we seek to rejoin the human race and participate in this chaotic experience of existence Thanks for listening and remember: You are autonomous and so is everyone else.
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