One of the most profound and delightful surprises since I started my public exvangelical exploration has been the opportunity to reconnect with family members whom I didn't realize had also deconstructed. When you live in an Evangelical vacuum that roots your family deeply into its traditions, it is often difficult to know who you can …
As a preacher's kid, we are instructed that our first order of business is to worship and devote our lives completely to God. When you are very young, being told to worship God is, admittedly, an abstract idea. It's like being shown a picture of George Lucas and having it explained to you that this …
“If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice.” – The Joker It's taken me a long, long journey into healing and a brave, unexpected confession from someone dear to me to realize that it is time to tell this particular chapter in my story. Because it is not just …
Continue reading My Story: The Vanishing Act – A Tale of an Exvangelical’s Monster
This is not the exvangelical musing that I intended to write this week. But let me tell you about a brief conversation that I overheard in the break room a few days ago, so you may understand why this particular topic was suddenly one that I simply couldn't resist. Seriously, it was basically handed to …
Continue reading Exvangelical Musings: Tree-Huggers for Christ – An Ecocritical Bible Study
Today's dispatch comes from my friend Shana Nielsen, who like me grew up in the Evangelical Church and is now walking a path in which she is processing her experiences within it and coming to recognize its theology and practices as emotional and spiritual abuse that we carry with us long after leaving. She has …
I have worked with young children for far too long to not learn from their example and sometimes stand in awe of the wisdom found in their innocence. By observing them, I've come to some conclusions about the way humans work. I believe that people are inherently born with a sense of not only self-worth, …
"Signs of the Times" is a popular Evangelical phrase derived from a speech Jesus gives in Matthew 24 in which he foretells of "wars and rumors of war" as the way to know that the Kingdom of God is at hand. The chapter -- along with strange apocalyptic imagery in the Old Testament books of …
Continue reading Exvangelical Meditation: “The Signs of the Times”
Growing up in the Southern Baptist Church was basically life in a bubble in which we pretended the world we created for ourselves was the only one truly worth living in for everyone. Sometimes, people would just leave and we'd hear they were “backsliding,” but it's okay – we were prepped in Sunday school and …
Continue reading Exvangelical Musings: How to Talk to an Evangelical When You are Deconstructing
I was indoctrinated from a young age into believing that I had a "God-shaped hole" in my heart that only a personal relationship with Jesus could fill. In its way, teaching the exclusivity of this theological belief (as if it is a one-size-fits-all salvation package) is very deceptive, because when a "relationship with Christ" didn't …
Here is today's brief reminder that Hell Theology is child abuse, and I am doing what I can to be a part of the change that will make it reportable to children's services. To those of you who have experienced the psychological trauma of Hell Theology: There is help and resources, and the anxiety you …
Continue reading Exvangelical Meditation: Hell Theology is Child Abuse
Surviving the Spirit 