In today's episode I talk to Jason Kirk, author of the novel Hell Is a World Without You. If you ever wanted to know what it was like to be a hormonal evangelical teenage boy in the late-90s/early oughts (or want to revisit your mindset if you were that teenage…
This is a re-release of my October 2022 interview with author Becca Andrews about her book No Choice: The Destruction of Roe v. Wade and the Fight to Protect a Fundamental American Right (https://bookshop.org/a/11130/9781541768390) . I was reminded of the importance of this book and others like it after reading…
Today I'm talking to Sarah McCammon, NPR political correspondent and author of The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church (https://bookshop.org/a/11130/9781250284471) . We talk about her personal experiences within white evangelicalism as well as how that informed her role as a journalist covering the 2015-2016 presidential campaign of…
This week I'm joined by Matthew Sheffield from Flux. We discuss Mormonism & evangelicalism, his experiences in right-wing media, and the 2024 election. It's a broad-reaching conversation that I hope you enjoy. Follow Matthew's work at Flux (https://plus.flux.community/) , including the podcasts Theory of Change (https://plus.flux.community/s/theory-of-change) , Doomscroll (https://plus.flux.community/s/doomscroll-podcast) ,…
This week I'm re-releasing my conversation with Beth Allison Barr, author of the book The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth (https://bookshop.org/a/11130/9781587434709) . I'm joined by two guest co-hosts, Emily Autenrieth and Laura Agase. The theology and practice of complementarianism in conservative Christian circles…
Today's guest is Lenny Duncan, author of the new book Psalms of My People: A Story of Black Liberation as Told through Hip-Hop (https://bookshop.org/a/11130/9781506479026) . This is a wide-ranging conversation, and I can't wait for you to listen. This conversation is another entry in my new series, The Good Books.…
Hello, 2024! Today I'm overjoyed to share my conversation with Kevin Garcia about their new book, What Makes You Bloom: Cultivating a Practice for Connecting with Your Divine Self. (https://bookshop.org/a/11130/9781506493589) This book is all about establishing new spiritual practices after leaving rigid fundamentalism, and I hope you check it out…
This week's guest is is Dr. Laura Anderson, author of the book When Religion Hurts You: Healing from Religious Trauma and the Impact of High-Control Religion (https://bookshop.org/a/11130/9781587435881) . We talk about the definitions of trauma and abuse, what drew her to this work, the importance of embodiment, and more. Find…
It's been a minute--well, more than a minute. Almost 4 months. Glad to be back to share this interview with Matthias Roberts, author of the new book Holy Runaways: Rediscovering Faith After Being Burned by Religion (https://bookshop.org/a/11130/9781506485652) . We talk about Matthias' story, the language we use to describe our…
Happy Pride, everyone! I'm re-releasing this 2021 interview with Erin Green and Paul Southwick of The Religious Exemption Accountability Project (https://www.thereap.org/) . CW: this conversation includes discussion of sexual and gender discrimination and other forms of abuse. We talk about how LGBTQ+ students are treated by college administrations, how LGBTQ+…
This week I welcome R. Scott Okamato back to the show to discuss his book Asian American Apostate: Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University (https://bookshop.org/a/11130/9781957687131) . We talk about his life as a professor at an evangelical college, the classroom experience, pushing back against Whiteness as an…
In this short episode, I talk about some of the books I'm reading right now. I wrote about them earlier this week for Post-Ev Post (https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/p/what-im-reading-may-2023) . The books discussed: Asian American Apostate by R. Scott Okamoto. Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/a/11130/9781957687131) | Amazon (https://amzn.to/3OefFeO) The Flowering Wand by Sophie Strand Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/a/11130/9781644115961)…
In this episode, I catch up with Holly Laurent from MEGA, the satirical improv show about a fictional megachurch. We last spoke in 2019, and a lot has changed since then. We talk about improv, comedy & satire, and the upcoming MEGA spinoff, The Rise and Fall of Twin Hills.…
New interviews are recorded and being planned, but not ready to be published. Various other commitments in life have taken precedent. In lieu of an interview, I'm publishing an audio version of an essay I wrote called "On Public & Private Griefs (https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/p/on-public-and-private-griefs) " last fall on The Post-Evangelical Post…
In this episode, I interview Gloria Beth Amodeo, author of the memoir God's Ex-Girlfriend: A Memoir about Loving and Leaving the Evangelical Jesus (https://bookshop.org/a/11130/9781632461476) . We talk about her college-age conversion to evangelicalism through Cru, how purity culture and gender norms are enforced, and much more in this wide-ranging conversation.…
This week’s guest is Lenny Duncan, author of the new book Dear Revolutionaries: A Field Guide for A World Beyond the Church (https://bookshop.org/a/11130/9781506483061) . In this brief talk, Lenny and I discuss church, the thought leader industrial complex, and more. A couple notes: we had a short window to talk,…
In this short episode, I talk about producing 200 episodes of this show: how it started, where it's been, what might be next. A new interview episode will be posted this week. Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post, LLC. Support this work via a subscription at $5/month or…
In this episode from 2020, I chat with Anne Helen Petersen about her book Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation (Amazon (https://amzn.to/3kqjuvQ) , Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/a/11130/9780358315070) ). We discuss her spiritual & religious background, her viral essay on BuzzFeed that led to this book, how the way we use…
IN this chill conversation with return guest Kevin Garcia, I talk to them about what we should expect from community, how online communities don't reflect the ones we might have left, and how this balances out with our desire for personal autonomy after leaving unhealthy communities. We get into it.…
Listeners, come see me w/ Brad Onishi of Straight White American Jesus & Tim Whitaker of The New Evangelicals in Philly on 2/11/23! Get tickets here (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/what-does-deconstruction-have-to-do-with-christian-nationalism-tickets-512073243857) and use code 50 at checkout to get 50% off! It's an archival episode! In September 2021, I spoke with Meghan O'Gieblyn, author…
In this episode, I speak with Teddy Wilson from Radical Reports (https://radicalreports.substack.com/) about his experience covering the radical right. We talk about how important language is when identifying and discussing various groups, the transnational nature of nationalist movements, what we know about the Brazil insurrection so far—and finally, how “progressive”…
Over at The Post-Evangelical Post (https://www.postevangelicalpost.com) , I've been writing about fictional religions for subscribers. As I wrote on 1/3/23 (https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/p/the-comfort-of-fictional-religions) : "When your faith of origin is also the origin of a grievous wound, there’s an odd solace to be found in knowingly made up things. Fiction, the old…
Happy new year, everyone - the first guest of 2023 is a return guest, Bradley Onishi. Brad is co-host of the Straight White American Jesus podcast and author of the new book: Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism—and What Comes Next. Our conversation starts discussing just…
This is an audio version of my latest essay published at The Post-Evangelical Post: The Vibe Shift That Was Foretold Came, & Twitter Did Not Survive It (https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/p/the-vibe-shift-that-was-foretold) . Back in February, a time that feels much farther away than a mere 10 months ago, The Cut published an essay…