In 1999, I heard the legendary gospel queen, Vickie Winans say, "...Good God, a friend when you're friendless" in her rendition of "Long As I Got King Jesus", and I have come to accept that this is the god that I met on the floor of my bedroom who was a friend to this friendless, queer kid when no one else would be. Growing up with undiagnosed ADHD and Autism, I struggled with establishing and maintaining friendships, which often meant that I was isolated and alone.
I spent a lot of time alone as a child, and ultimately my whispered prayers became full conversations about who I was, how I was showing up in the world, and how I could “improve” to be acceptable and likeable to everyone including god. I often failed at that mission, but each time I learned more and more that this deity that I came to trust with all of me did not see me the way others did.
In this episode, I discuss the importance of reading the Tanakh (the Jewish Scriptures) in its original context and coming to understand the humanity of the characters within the text. This will undoubtedly free you from fundamentalism and biblical literalism. I also have an emotional conversation about how my friendship with the Divine saved my life and made me feel an extraordinary love that only a being who is full of integrity, true justice, kindness, grace, and love could ever make me feel. I also discuss how the egomaniacal, insecure, jealous, emotionally unstable, unkind concept of god that was eagerly introduced to me in Christian fundamentalism.
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In this week's episode, we discuss the fact that Christian morality is an oxymoron based in illogical fallacies about the pertinence of Jewish laws according to Paul of Tarsus. I do not believe in Christian morality and in fact believe that Christians are historically less moral, because they, like Paul, enjoy pretending that the "sin" or desires of their "flesh" is what makes them commit certain immoral acts rather than investigating their own philosophies and unlearning the toxicity of these beliefs. We also discuss the physical distance of God and how so many of us are taught that God is so far removed from us that we are always looking outside of us for the love, grace, kindness, and mercy that is already within us to bestow upon ourselves first and then others. It is 100% within our power to redefine morality in a way that works for all of us in the spirit of Love and Kindness rather than in the shame and judgement of a vengeful god.
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This week, I sit down with my friend DL Mayfield for an in-depth conversation about where our neurodivergence begins and where faith in the evangelical church/fundamentalist god ends.
Also included in this episode is a brief discussion about Sam Smith's Grammy performance, Christians who felt “led” to walk out of the ceremony, The Black Church's obsession with wanting Beyoncé to die, and so much more.
Please go and listen to Part One of this episode on DL Mayfield's website God is My Special Interest | D.L. Mayfield | Substack
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In this season three opener, I discuss Joel Leon's tweet regarding his mother and her will to make ends meet for her children, which he defines as "HOLY". During the episode, we deconstruct together what many of us in fundamentalism have been taught about the terms "holy" and "holiness" and how they have been used to demonize Black and Brown poor folk for centuries in this country.
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I didn't grow up celebrating Christmas, and I've had enough experiences over the years that ruined it for me. I was also in a cult that was completely anti-Christmas, and even went as far as to call it a devil's holiday and say that the "Christmas Spirit" is a spirit from Satan sent to make people be nice for the month of December.
This year, I bought and wrapped gifts; I decorated my tree with glee; I participated in multiple parties and celebrations, as well as cooked a portion of my family's Christmas dinner. I'm finally free from that Grinch spirit that kept me from enjoying the most wonderful time of the year.
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You don't have Soul Ties; you have attachment and abandonment issues! The Christian church lied to you about your body not belonging to you, because it benefits from you not having Bodily Autonomy.
In this episode, I discuss soul ties, the history of women as property in the bible and American culture. I also discuss Pastor Tim Ross and the foolishness he was spewing about those of us who have deconstructed and decolonized our faith.
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In this episode, we're talking about the rise of the "worship" movement within the 21st-century church, the rise of Blue Eyed Gospel, and the role it played in bleaching the Black worship experience while limiting the traditional African parts of our worship. We're talking about how history repeats itself and the church follows a pattern based on what's happening in the world. In 2016, the underbelly of white supremacy was exposed in this country. Soon after, we saw a reemergence of traditional Black gospel music and a deep appreciation for that sound that is so deeply associated with our Black survival experience.
This episode discusses the intersection between Kanye and the evangelical church. How he used the tax-exempt status of his "Sunday Service" style gatherings to get himself out of debt and rebuild his brand, while essentially washing in white American Christian supremacy and using Black gospel music/musicians to make that come to pass. They're still going hard for him today--believing that his conversion was anything more than a sham and calling it crazy for Christ rather than fully addressing the truth of who he is as a person including his lack of personal wellness.
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In this episode, I wanted to dive further into this topic, because the question "Does Black Lives Matter to God?" had simply never crossed my mind. I always separated my religion from my Blackness, my socialist fight, my queerness, and my disabilities. I viewed them all as things that couldn't be fixed and therefore unholy and unclean. Now, I do not, but I still struggle to answer the question. Although, I try.
Whew! This one gets heavy in several spots. In this episode, I discuss the intersections of poverty, educational racism, ableism, homophobia, and much more. We are also getting deep into the value of human life as it pertains to the god of the bible, especially Black lives. Tune in. Tap In.
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In this episode, I speak about reading the bible like a book and not as a religious text so that you can see the many contradictions and how this can strengthen one's faith and NOT kill it. The key to this is accepting that the Judeo-Christian text is, in fact, not inerrant and should not be taken literally. The sad thing is many people NEED the text to be literal. They need it to be precisely what they have been taught because if there is an error in the text, then there is undoubtedly an error in the doctrines people have allowed to govern them for centuries. Get Free.
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This episode is part 2 of my episode about God being a monster. After I thought about it, I realized that the version of God built and handed to me in fundamentalism wasn't the end all be all when it comes to all things god. Maybe none of us know what the FK we are talking about is and are just figuring things out. Either is cool with me.
This week, I'm dealing with springboarding off a meme I saw, which read, "You will never look into the eyes of someone that god does not love." Of course, my immediate reaction was that this god I came to know did not love me--he shamed and abused me through the fundamentalist Christian church—so many stumbling blocks in my path that destroyed my faith. So now, I help other people find light outside Plato's Cave.
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Check out my cousin's podcast "Holy Smokes". Also, Check out Donnell McLachlan at donnellwrites on tiktok and IG
This week, we are having a very important conversation about what the church has taught us about women, and how we can overcome the sexist, misogynistic culture that so many of us have been raised in. The church as an institution must be challenged to decolonize and deconstruct every aspect of it's belief systems, especially those which aid in the the oppression of those who stand and several different intersections.
This week on Surviving Fundamentalism, we lock in with special guests Anna Dawahare and April Little from Reclaiming The Garden Podcast for a more in-depth discussion about the ways we each fought to reconstruct the ways we saw ourselves in the light of God's true love that we have had to realize has always been present with us. We also discuss identity politics, radical self-love, and neurodivergence.
As always, we hope that our stories can be a light to you wherever you are in your faith journey.
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Sorry it's been so long, but I'm back with a new show about how the Christian Evangelical church is rebranding for a rebuild. There is a revival brewing, and they're currently preparing for a whole new bunch of scared folks to come in so that they can rebuild their dying churches. Here's why I believe it's going to work...
This episode is all about the y8 supremacist male patriarchy is well aware of what it is doing--they have planned and orchestrated this for decades and finally they have been successful and at least overturning Roe v. Wade. This is not, nor has it ever been an issue of "saving innocent unborn"; it has always been a battle for the control of women. It's a huge move to show women and liberals that they'd do better to learn their places and stop trying to override and dismiss the white man. Hope you enjoy
THis episode is all about losing the fear of hell, Carlton Pearson, and the ways the church has used the doctrine of hell to control and manipulate.