If you've ever sat in a church pew secretly thinking "I don't know if I believe this anymore..." this one's for you.

David Hayward, known worldwide as  @nakedpastor , spent over 30 years inside the church before walking away from it all. Today he uses raw, unflinching art to challenge religious abuse, toxic church culture, and the systems that keep people spiritually trapped. His work has helped thousands of people leaving the church feel seen, less alone, and finally FREE to ask the questions they were told would damn them.

In this episode we talk about the singular moment that David's faith shifted–in his graduation gown, after years of studying the Bible in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. We talk about what it's like to deconstruct beliefs while still leading a congregation, the cult-like systems hiding inside churches that look totally normal from the outside, and why so many people who leave the church end up grieving the very community that hurt them.

We also get into the spiritual abuse and coverups inside missionary organizations, what it takes to survive deconstruction inside a relationship, why the church's idea of "community" is often just control, and what it looks like to finally build a life and a faith entirely on your own terms.

This episode will hit HOME if you're:
• In the middle of deconstructing your faith and feel completely alone in it
• Trying to make sense of what you were taught all those years
• A missionary kid or third culture kid processing a childhood built around religious obligation
• Someone who left the church and still randomly fears hell even though you don't believe it anymore
• Done performing faith for people who would drop you the second you started asking questions

Connect with David Hayward (NakedPastor) socials, website, prints, commissions, newsletter ↓
https://nakedpastor.com/
https://www.instagram.com/nakedpastor

Find Rewriting Eden ↓
https://link.me/rewriting.eden
https://www.patreon.com/c/rewritingeden

In this episode of Rewriting Eden, I virtually sat down with the brilliant Marla Taviano – poet, author, and evangelical deconstruction survivor – for a conversation that is equal parts HOLY SHIT and homecoming ⚡️

Marla spent 22 years as the perfect Christian wife. She wrote books teaching women to submit to their husbands, led others to Christ, and filled 62 journals writing to a God she was certain was listening. Then she started reading them back.

She opens up about discovering her husband had been cheating for four years, the moment she realized the man she married never actually existed, and how the same theology that kept her trapped in her marriage kept her trapped in her faith. She shares what it felt like to dismantle everything she had built her entire identity around, and what she found underneath when she finally did.

Marla and I explore what it means to STOP shrinking yourself for a God AND a man who both demanded your smallness, why the people who deconstruct the hardest are always the ones who believed the most, and how picking up a pair of scissors and some Frog and Toad illustrations became one of the most radical acts of self reclamation she's ever experienced.

If you've ever made yourself smaller "because the Bible says to", this episode is going to wreck you in the best possible way.

Connect with Marla & Get Her Books Here ↓
https://itsmemarla.com/
https://www.instagram.com/marlataviano/
https://marlataviano.substack.com

Connect with Rewriting Eden ↓
https://link.me/rewriting.eden

In this first episode of Rewriting Eden, Avery is joined by emotional wellness coach and Self-Seeking School co-founder Madison Shea for a deep, honest conversation about what happens when your belief system no longer fits who you’re becoming.

Together, they explore what it really means to rewrite inherited beliefs and navigate identity transitions after Christianity.

In this episode, they talk about:

• Rewriting inherited beliefs and navigating identity shifts after Christianity
• Emotional wellness during deconstruction, including anger, fear, and triggers
• Spiritual paranoia, fear-based theology, and rebuilding self-trust
• Navigating family relationships during and after questioning faith
• Tarot as a reflective tool for healing and self-connection

This episode is for anyone who feels caught between who they were taught to be and who they’re becoming.

✨ Dive in with Avery Robitaille
🔮 Tarot Readings: https://calendly.com/tarotwithavery
🌿 Free Rewriting Eden Community: https://www.skool.com/the-sanctuary-6459/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exvangelical.oracle

✨ Connect with Madison Shea
🔗 Lock in your free consultation: https://madisonshea.com/link-tree/
🌀 Madison's Self-Seeking School: https://www.instagram.com/selfseekingschool/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madison.shea_coaching

If this conversation resonated, be sure to subscribe and please feel free to share with someone who’s quietly questioning too. You’re not alone. 🤍