Virtual Life Podcast

Originally Published June 8, 2017 under the Women Beyond Belief podcast title.Sarah Levin was raised in a freethinking household by Atheist Jews. Even though she does not have a personal story to tell about leaving religion, she talks about her experience navigating her nonreligious Jewish identity. Her immigrant parents are from the former Soviet Union and they instilled in her a strong Jewish identity from a cultural perspective. They helped her have a deep appreciation for the freedoms that can be taken for granted in the US. Sarah has a desire to change the stereotype of atheists and show the world that they can be moral. She talks about women in the secular movement who are volunteers and who inspire her on a daily basis. Original Music Composition by Esther NicholsonDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the podcast host, Wendy Nicholson

Originally Published May 28, 2017 under the Women Beyond Belief podcast title.This Women’s Panel topic is Secular Parenting. I asked 3 of the former guests to join me in this discussion. Zoe Turner who is using a pseudonym, Marsha Wickham and Sara who chose to only use her first name. For this women’s panel, we had some unique backgrounds but also much in common including* We all started parenting while we were still Christians * 2 of us still have husbands who go to Church * 1 of us has children going to a Christian School * 3 of us have homeschooled our kids at some point  * The age ranges of our kids is elementary school to early 30’s * 2 of us are in blended familiesThe 6 main Questions we discussed included: * What family-of-origin parenting style did you experience? * What does the Bible teach about parenting? * What about corporal punishment? * Where to you get your morals and ethics, if not from the Bible? * How has your parenting style changed since leaving religion? * How do you and your partner or husband parent together?Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the podcast host, Wendy Nicholson.Original Music Composition by Esther Nicholson 

Originally Published May 20, 2017 under the Women Beyond Belief podcast title.Wendy talks about the podcast reviews after the first month and future guests.Original Music Composition by Esther Nicholson 

Originally Published May 12, 2017 under the Women Beyond Belief podcast title.Alexis Record lives in San Diego with her husband, a Christian believer, and their two special-needs children, the second of whom was added to their family through adoption. She comes from a fundamentalist evangelical background and prayed her way out of Christianity well before she reasoned it out. Her writing has appeared in the Humanist, The Radical Notion, the Clergy Project’s Rational Doubt, Faithless Feminist, Friendly Atheist, Removing the Fig Leaf, and she contributed a chapter on the harm of indoctrination for Karen Garst’s second book coming next year. These days Alexis spends her time volunteering for Sunday Assembly San Diego as a member of their board and the chairperson for their outreach program.Original Music Composition by Esther NicholsonDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the podcast host, Wendy Nicholson

Originally Published May 4, 2017 under the Women Beyond Belief podcast title.Sara grew up in Florida and attended a fundamental Baptist church. Her family was involved in many types of ministry including AWANA, children’s church, mission’s weeks, choir, etc. After she graduated from a Christian school, she worked full time. Then her mom sent her to Pensacola Christian College because she was worried that Sara was “backsliding”. Around the same time, her parents’ marriage fell apart.She then attended a community college until she got pregnant. Shortly before her son was born, Sara and her boyfriend got married. Because of the way that she was being treated by church members during the pregnancy, they took a break from church. However, they still believed in everything they were taught at church. After their marriage had some issues, a few well-meaning church members gave Sara some Christian books. The books explained to her how the marriage issues were her fault. However, she still held on to her faith, despite all of the shame and pain it caused her.After they went to see a Christian counsellor, Sara and her husband mended their relationship. Even though the counsellor didn’t help her much, it seemed to help her husband. After their third child was born, she stopped working full time and was able to focus more on the church. They went back to attending regularly, volunteering and leading small groups and bible studies.During an emotional crisis caused by her authoritarian father moving into their home, she started questioning her faith. Sara finally started to see what the Bible actually said. She could no longer say that she believed any of it, but she kept quiet. She didn’t tell her husband or family for over a year. During that time, her anxiety and depression worsened. After she finally talked with her husband, she felt strong enough to see a doctor and psychologist. She was then put on anxiety meds.Five years after her faith left her, she is “out” to everyone. She is learning how to navigate life with a husband and four kids who still believe in a god. Even though she is completely “out” to anyone who asks, Sara is choosing to only use her first name. She is trying to keep some level of privacy when she talks about her children and family. She feels it’s best to let them decide for themselves what they share to the public.Original Music Composition by Esther NicholsonDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the podcast host, Wendy Nicholson

Originally Published April 26, 2017 under the Women Beyond Belief podcast title.Jackie Burgett is an atheist living and learning in the Portland, Oregon area. She was raised Catholic but was fascinated by the supernatural and attempted to conduct séances in her spare time. After high school she went to PCC to pursue a degree in Welding Technology. On a whim, she took a few classes in philosophy and they ignited her interest in the big questions and critical thinking.After transferring and then graduating from college with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, she missed the intellectual opportunities at school and found another outlet for the curious mind: Meetup.com. While becoming a part of the atheist scene in Portland, she met other women who had journeyed from religion to atheism and was published in Karen Garst’s Women Beyond Belief: Discovering Life Without Religion.Original Music Composition by Esther NicholsonDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the podcast host, Wendy Nicholson

Originally Published April 17, 2017 under the Women Beyond Belief podcast title. Marcia grew up in a fundamentalist church. At age 7 her parents divorced. She was sexually abused by her father and was kept quiet by the legalistic rules of the church. After a number of tragic events including her mother’s mental breakdown and having to live with her abusive father, she finally lived with a foster family who were Mennonites. She married at age 17 and started to foster children at age 20. After her father’s death, the secret of the abuse became public and her depression escalated to attempted suicide. While she was in the hospital, she started to see a secular therapist who helped her initiate the road to recovery from the nightmares. He also challenged her to start thinking more critically and she started to question her faith. After 23 years of marriage, she divorced her 1st husband. She met her 2nd husband at a Unitarian church. Today, they live on an organic farm and have a blended family of 8.Original Music Composition by Esther NicholsonDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the podcast host, Wendy Nicholson

Originally Published April 14, 2017 under the Women Beyond Belief podcast title. Kristi was born and raised in Los Angeles. She grew up in a Presbyterian church, mostly socially as kids, and then her family stopped going to church. When she was in 10th grade, she went on a Memorial Day weekend trip to Mexico with the youth group and at that time decided to make her faith personal and got involved in church again. She went on several international mission trips in high school and college, was involved in Young Life in high school, and Navigators and Intervarsity in college.During her last year in college, Kristi did an internship in DC with the International Justice Mission, a Christian human rights organization. While there she started to a year-long Christian discipleship/fellowship program in Virginia, during which she interned at a faith-based community center in inner city DC. She stayed there for nearly a decade working with youth mentoring. She pursued her Masters in Theological Studies with an emphasis on Urban Transformation, but with just one class and a thesis left to go, Kristi decided to stop and pursue nursing instead. In 2011, she went back to school for an accelerated nursing program at Georgetown and obtained her BSN. She worked in a hospital for a couple of years, then moved onto her current job at a community health center, where she focuses on LGBTQ health and HIV prevention and care. During nursing school, she separated herself from the evangelical church, mostly due to scheduling and workload, but then made the conscious decision to leave. Nursing school inadvertently caused a break away from her evangelical sub-culture, allowing Kristi some breathing room and space to think outside of the evangelical framework. When she started her second career as a nurse in her 30s, she also started to build a brand-new community outside of the church. Kristi enjoys many outdoor sports, has many hobbies and generally tries to love and be loved. Original Music Composition by Esther Nicholson  Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the podcast host, Wendy Nicholson.

Originally Published April 11, 2017 under the Women Beyond Belief podcast title.Zoe Turner (Pseudonym) grew up in the fundamentalist Christian background. She was very involved in church ministry including going on missions trips. She was the victim of clergy abuse and dealt with depression and even contemplated suicide. Zoe met her husband online. She has had 4 children but 1 was a stillbirth and 1 was a miscarriage. These traumatic events were the catalyst to make her start to doubt the faith she had grown up with. Why would a supposedly loving god not keep her baby alive? As she and her husband wrestled with these and other questions, their faith started to slip away and now, after leaving the church 3 years ago, Zoe is finding beauty and her creative outlet through her writing and photography. She still seeks to find community but that is a challenge in the Bible belt when you no longer believe in god. Original Music Composition by Esther Nicholson  Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the podcast host, Wendy Nicholson.

Originally Published April 9, 2017 under the Women Beyond Belief podcast title. Ann Wilcox (Ann is using a pseudonym). She is one of the 22 women whose stories are featured in Karen Garst’s book, Women Beyond Belief: Discovering Life Without Religion.Ann grew up in fundamental Evangelical Christianity including attended Christian School for 12 years. Her mother was always submissive and the father was head of the home as is typical in many authoritarian religions. She was married for 10 years to a man who became a Christian in the “Jesus Movement”. But after her marriage ended, Ann dealt with depression and suicidal thoughts. She finally found a secular counsellor that was able to help her unravel the damage that religion had caused. After her father’s funeral, she realized she had lost her faith but needed to unpack what that meant. She spent 9 months labouring over the Bible and the doctrines of the faith she had once believed. By the end, with over 100 pages of writing, as she deconstructed her beliefs, she realized she had no faith left. She was an atheist even though the “A-word” used to be taboo. During this episode, Ann discusses how important it was for her to learn to trust herself, to be curious and to have compassion for herself. These things were strongly discouraged in her religious past.Here is a quote from her chapter in the book, “I wouldn’t wish my experience on anyone, but I have come out of it with a strong sense of my right to question anything anyone tells me, and to discover for myself what I value. That’s very freeing as I re-create the rest of my life.” (Page 34)Original Music Composition by Esther Nicholson  Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the podcast host, Wendy Nicholson.