Voices of Deconversion

This is an incredible story! 

Leah's life reaches a turning point in April 2018. Raised in fundamentalist Christianity, she is intensely aware of the threat of hell and the rapture as a little girl. At one point, she thought her family was raptured and she was left behind! This terrified her.

As she moves into high school she begins to ask some unwelcome questions and makes some controversial statements in church. (She compares Osama Bin-Laden and Jesus!) This leads to her first bout of atheism. 

Although her theology becomes more progressive, she finds herself sucked back into a very fundamentalist church group. At this point, mental health struggles reach a critical point. 

*Trigger warning re: abuse (emotional, physical, sexual) and suicide from about the 50 min. mark to 1hr. 5min.

I loved hearing how Leah eventually turned a corner. As she put it, "I started to get better the moment I stepped away from Christianity".

Hearing about her experience was powerful and inspiring.

Instagram: olive.poetry

[email protected]

https://www.marlenewinell.net

Studying for a doctorate in clinical psychology, Andrew is now an atheist. Not long ago, he was a Pentecostal minister (Master of Divinity from Princeton Seminary) with a certain calling to be a missionary in India. What changed?

In graduate school, Andrew realizes he must address some mental health issues. The Bible's teachings were causing psychological distress. His experience of religion as trauma is very common and such important an important issue!

His journey takes him from minister and missionary-to-be, to psychedelics and Burning Man. His dream is to help people heal from religion and dogmatic ideologies.

He offers private coaching, speaks at events, facilitates workshops and blogs at http://lifeafterdogma.org

Gary was born in Utah and raised a Mormon. He even dreamt of Joseph Smith at 4 years old! Gary had a strict upbringing. He also moved around the country a lot growing up.

Just after High School he ends up married and has a son. Soon Gary finds himself homeless, then in jail and later he endures a heart wrenching tragedy.  

Gary's story is truly inspirational! He has endured some incredibly difficult circumstances in life. He is now an atheist ex-Mormon and doing great!

[email protected]

Instagram:  little_gary_comic 

Richard describes his deconversion as more of a realization. I loved that description.

We get into so many awesome topics in this interview. We discuss everything from the Satanic Panic of the 1980's to the harm done when children are indoctrinated. 

Richard has always loved music. He talks about growing up listening to artists like Marilyn Manson & Nine Inch Nails and how this clashed with his mother's views. We talk about travel, teaching special education and mental health too. 

Check out Richard's new YouTube channel: Tales from the Church https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiqHic5KZlTZHLxnySukujQ

Twitter: @ChurchTales https://twitter.com/ChurchTales

[email protected]

Dan has a fascinating story!

Here's a video of Dan when he was a Christian and his faith is challenged through street epistemology:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpwxM2wNChE

Dan is from Texas and was raised Methodist growing up (later attending a Baptist church). Dan loved the church community and really lived out his faith. Camp ministry was particularly enjoyable for him. 

Dan sought out good reasons to back up his faith. It's this journey that leads to atheism. When he tells his parents of these new views, things go over much worse than anticipated.

Dan is now part of the Secular Student Alliance at Baylor University. He also has a great Youtube channel, which you can subscribe to here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCabcNd5rdI-FlHW6ecXQvLQ/featured

He is now host of the show, Truth Wanted. This is a call-in show about getting to the bottom of beliefs. Be sure to follow the show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/229569754409166/

Twitter: @ObjectivelyDan

Nicki's story has so many twists and turns, I absolutely loved it! This episode flies by.

Her Dad saw Jesus in the passenger seat of his truck. Her mom became a prophet. Nicki learns to read people, crack eggs on their heads and help women become pregnant through prayer.

She goes to beauty school and rebels, then become's the prodigal child. She meets the perfect Christian husband and starts a family. 

When doubts persist, she seeks out life-changing counseling. The fallout is significant. As an ex-Christian, Nicki finds her friendships are incredibly important.

What a great conversation!

At a young age Christine's family moved from New York to Oklahoma, so her mom could train to be an evangelist at Oral Roberts University. Her childhood memories include, nearly memorizing the movie Jesus of Nazareth and road trips to see evangelists Benny Hinn and R.W. Schambach!

Despite being saturated in charismatic Christianity, Christine struggled with guilt from, as she put it "not feeling it, like other Christians felt it". Nevertheless, Christine sought God with all her heart.

She is now an atheist and started the brand new podcast, Forsaking Faith with her friend Heather Bailey (hear Heather's story in episode 041) http://voicesofdeconversion.com/home/2018/5/26/041-heather-bailey-forsaking-faith-podcast-co-host-from-dancing-charismatic-to-agnostic). 

The theme of friendship, specifically genuine friendship with Christians, is an important part of Christine's story. This kindness expressed by both Christine and Heather carries over into their podcast. 

Forsaking Faith is a much needed podcast, so check it out and tell a friend :)

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/forsaking-faith

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/forsakingfaith/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/SecularHangouts @SecularHangouts

https://twitter.com/ForsakingFaith @forsakingfaith

The Happiness Hypothesis:

https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Hypothesis-Finding-Modern-Ancient/dp/0465028020

I had such a great time talking with Eva!

Our interview has a different flow than most episodes, but it's a nice change of pace. We discuss a variety of topics: How people on the island are still recovering from hurricane Maria, politics in Puerto Rico and some awesome work being done by Secular Humanists of Puerto Rico. 

Additionally, she shares some exciting news about freethinkers in South America! There was a first ever conference and Dan Barker (you'll remember him from episode 001 of the podcast) was one of the featured speakers.

We touch on Eva's path to Humanist Agnostic-Atheism about halfway through. Eva tells some great stories and has a great sense of humor. 

http://www.humanistaspr.org

https://twitter.com/HumanistasPR

@EvaSecularista

Ric was born and raised in the Philippines. He was baptized as an infant into the Roman Catholic church. Ric teaches me about Anticipated Mass and how malls in the Philippines host Catholic Mass! 

Ric loved biology and evolution from a young age. We discuss the different ways catholics and evangelicals view science. A big life lesson that Ric gained in deconversion was leaving the fatalistic thinking of a christian and learning self-determination. This is a HUGE part of so many of our deconversions, mine included! It's an amazing moment when you realize that you're in control and don't need to have "Jesus take the wheel" (as Ric jokingly noted).

https://www.riccalioliojr.com

http://filipinofreethinkers.org

http://iheu.org

VICE Article:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3k7jx8/too-many-atheists-are-veering-dangerously-toward-the-alt-right