Episode 26: Didn't Fit The Mold

08/24/22 • 72 min

Amanda joins us this week to talk about her exit from the church and how she never fit the mold the church wants her to. She also shares her experiences as a mom of autistic children, and the challenges of being part of a church community who expected her kids to act a certain way - and how her and her kids' experience of Christianity caused her to feel like a failed Christian, and how the framework of evangelicalism had a negative impact on her mental health.
Content warnings: ableism in the church, particularly prejudice against autistic people, as well as discussions around anxiety and depression

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Episode 25: Searching For Sarah

Rev. Sarah Heath, author, designer, pastor, life coach, and host of great podcasts like Revcovery, joins us on the Slow Train to Heck this week. Sarah grew up in Ontario working at Christian camp where she discovered her own innate leadership skills which would eventually translate to her being a great leader in church ministry. When she moved to the Bible Belt in the USA, she encountered a different version of Christianity than the one she was used to in Canada. Sarah shares her story of navigating American Christianity while moving up in the ministry world as a "professional Christian", becoming the "Pastor Sarah" persona while losing touch with how to be "Sarah" - until she eventually left formal Christian ministry and was able to rediscover who Sarah is outside of that environment.
Check out REVCovery: https://www.irreverent.fm/show/revcovery/
Connect with Sarah: https://revsarahheath.com/
The Brian McLaren book Sarah mentioned: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/58724954-do-i-stay-christian

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Episode 27: The World As We Know It Has Ended

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