Slow Train to Heck

We rejoin Luke Williams this week as he shares the remainder of his story, detailing the changes in his life after he left Christianity. Luke covers a whole bunch of life experiences and viewpoints, including exploring polyamorous relationships and cannabis and other drugs; working with the homeless, and organizing conventions; inconsistencies in the Bible and the human influence on its creation; and how his personal politics and views of society and people have been influenced by leaving Christianity.
Content warnings: drug use
Luke provided some show notes as well, which are as follows:
Music Stuff:

-The Plok Soundtrack (Starting from Beach when it gets good!) - https://youtu.be/0JVJP6te8n4?t=1053
-Sammus' powerful rap about inclusion at Magfest 2016 - https://youtu.be/Ss18rvfkCd0?t=2137
-Earthbound Song 'Happy Happy Is Blue' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReKd5LpEOQc
-Jacob Collier's Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9CusMKhoqk
-Phil Keaggy - The Reunion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC4om10cfWw
-And for the very brave: Luke's Spotify Top 20 VERY Wild Favourite Songs- https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Nrowj6IYnIkRkel83hHDm

Luke recommends the following Leftist Podcasts:

For informative deep dives on misinformation: Citations Needed - https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/

For improv comedy stories from history from two leftists comedians: The Dollop - https://www.dolloppodcast.com/podcast

For the murder podcast fan; but more important to know about: Behind the Bastards - https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/

For a scripted podcast about potential solutions: Unf*cking the Republic - https://www.unftr.com/

And check out what an Israeli Kibbutz can look like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ies2R__4c58 (not prescriptive, just fascinating...)

Luke is @lessashamed on Twitter, and he would love to know what you thought about his story. E-mail him: cheflwilliams AT gmail DOT com

Andrew Benson is a freelance writer, entrepreneur, pastor, and hiking enthusiast, who has worked in ministry all over Canada. Andrew and I have a great chat in this episode about what deconstruction looks like as a pastor, what deconstruction means to him, how interacting with people of other beliefs and cultures has impacted the way he sees things now, and what it might look like to hold things gently after redefining our beliefs.

Carly Butler is an indigenous woman who was born in the US, but now lives in British Columbia. Carly grew up in a Christian environment characterized by fear: Fear of government, fear of persecution, and most of all, the fear of the apocalypse. That fear drove her mother to take her to Canada to escape the coming tribulation, and things progressed from there. Carly's life is an amazing story of resilience in the face of overwhelming trauma, and I'm really honoured that she's chosen to share it with us!
Content warnings: acute religious trauma, apocalypse fear, Covid conspiracies, homophobia, colonization and genocide of indigenous people, residential schools, the pope's 'apology' tour
Carly's article about residential schools and the Doctrine of Discovery: https://looselipsmag.com/narratives/anger-residential-schools-and-the-tragically-hip/
Carly's article about the pandemic and its effects on her family: https://carlyhutton.medium.com/the-kids-are-not-all-right-c9084303b82c
GoFundMe for Carly's family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-button-family

Rebecca Price joins us this week to talk about her deconstruction story - growing up in the church and eventually being the victim of an abusive relationship, which resulted in her questioning what she believed about God and what the church had taught her about who God was. Rebecca explains through her own experiences how church teaching about "the consequences of sin" causes victims in abusive situations to feel like they deserve what's happening to them and amplifies the harm that's already happening.
Content warnings: abusive relationships, spiritual gaslighting, victim blaming

Natalie Van Osch joins the Slow Train to Heck to tell her story of growing up as a trans woman in a rural Catholic community in Ontario where her whole life was wrapped up in the Church, and her journey out of that environment and finding the freedom to explore her own identity.
Content Warnings: transphobia, LGBTQ2S+ discrimination, depression, suicide