Exvangelical

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 boy), this is the book for you. This is a fun conversation. You can purchase the book through your local bookseller, via Post Ev Post's bookshop.org page, or via this Amazon link if you are in the Kindle ecosystem. Subscribe to Jason's newsletter here. Support this show with a paid subscription to Post-Ev Post. Exvangelical is a production of The Post Evangelical Post, LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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. I was reminded of the importance of this book and others like it after reading a Wired article titled "‘In 24 Hours, You’ll Have Your Pills’: American Women Are Traveling to Mexico for Abortions." These are the lengths people who need reproductive care must go to in a post-Roe world. Becca's book details the stories of people in need of reproductive care and their allies, both before Roe and in places where abortion and other care was restricted prior to Roe's fall. Content note: I want to note that this episode deals directly with abortion and other aspects of reproductive care. For people in my age cohort—Elder Millennials and younger who grew up in conservative white evangelicalism, abortion was absolutely vilified, as were the people who needed them. This conversation starts there, and then looks at the history of reproductive care in the United States from the 19th century through today. I mention this near the end of my conversation with Becca, but I also want to mention it at the top - her book tells the stories of people in need of reproductive health care—including abortion—with tenderness and compassion. They are told in their contexts within the book; we do not appropriate them for this conversation. I highly recommend that you go out and purchase this book to read them for yourself.  Learn more about Becca's work at https://becca-andrews.com/ Purchase the book via PEP’s Bookshop.org page or via this Amazon affiliate link to support the show - and subscribe below to keep up to date with my work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

Today I'm talking to Sarah McCammon, NPR political correspondent and author of The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church. 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 Donald Trump, as well as how media coverage of religion & social life has changed since then. You can purchase her book, and support this show, by purchasing it from The Post-Evangelical Post's Bookshop.org page here. Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post. Support my work via a paid subscription at $5/month or $50/year at postevangelicalpost.com. 25% of net proceeds are donated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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, including the podcasts Theory of Change, Doomscroll, and So This Just Happened. Links: I appeared on Theory of Change last October, check it out here. We discuss the findings from this CNN article re: the SC GOP primaries and Matthew's piece about authoritarianism. Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post, LLC. Support my work with a paid subscription at $5/month or $50/year at postevangelicalpost.com Follow Blake on Threads @brchastain_ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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. I'm joined by two guest co-hosts, Emily Autenrieth and Laura Agase. The theology and practice of complementarianism in conservative Christian circles has shaped the lives of millions of women. For over a century, it has oppressed women and become a requirement for involvement and belonging in conservative churches. Dr. Barr's expertise in church history illustrates that - despite the claims of complementarianism's proponents - this is a newer understanding of Christian history and scripture, and not an unchanging, millennia-long orthodox belief. This is a book that has spurred conversation inside and outside the church. You can purchase the book here or from A Seat at the Table Books. Follow Dr. Barr on Threads: @bethallisonbarr Order books from A Seat at the Table Books. Follow Blake on Threads @brchastain, and follow the podcast on Twitter & Instagram @exvangelicalpod. Exvangelical is part of Irreverent Media Group. Learn more at irreverent.fm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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. 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. A new feed should be available soon. To support this show, head over to postevangelicalpost.com and subscribe for free or $5/month. The site is currently hosted on Substack, but I am exploring options to move to a new platform. Drop me at line at contact@exvangelicalpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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. This book is all about establishing new spiritual practices after leaving rigid fundamentalism, and I hope you check it out after listening to our chat. This episode has a longer intro explaining the multiple hiatuses in 2023, finishing my manuscript, my plans for a new show called The Good Books, and updates about eventually moving from Substack. The interview starts at around the 4:30 mark (dynamic ads may affect that start time). Learn more at postevangelicalpost.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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. We talk about the definitions of trauma and abuse, what drew her to this work, the importance of embodiment, and more. Find all the ways to follow Laura online at https://drlauraeanderson.com/ Support this podcast with a subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post newsletter. Subscribe for free or upgrade to $5/month or $50/year to get ad-free podcast feeds. Learn more at postevangelicalpost.com - As noted in the intro, I want to acknowledge that two days after my last episode was published, the war in Gaza began. I'm not the person to listen to in this moment. Here are some essays that have spoken to me and helped me understand this moment: "a lot of things are true." by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg "Speech and Speechlessness," by Talia Lavin "The Children Are Ours," by Camille Hernandez Churches for Middle East Peace, October 12th letter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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. We talk about Matthias' story, the language we use to describe our experiences, 'progressive fundamentalism,' and the reality of ~ the slippery slope ~. Let me know what you think - email me at contact@exvangelicalpodcast.com Learn more about Matthias's work at matthiasroberts.com. You can support my work by subscribing to my newsletter, The Post-Evangelical Post; subscribe for free, or upgrade to a paid subscribscription at $5/month at postevangelicalpost.com/subscribe. Paid subscriptions get ad-free podcast feeds and subscriber-only content. --- I did continue to write during my hiatus. Here are some updates: The Extreme Self The Impossibility of Fallow Periods Online An update on Exvangelical & Beyond The Comfort of Fictional Religions: The Spark Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

Happy Pride, everyone! I'm re-releasing this 2021 interview with Erin Green and Paul Southwick of The Religious Exemption Accountability Project. 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+ students end up at religious colleges, the history of religious colleges resisting civil rights, and why a formal legal challenge is important. In March 2021, REAP filed "a historic, class-action lawsuit representing 33 LGBTQ students and alumni from religious colleges demanding that the U.S. Department of Education to stop granting religious exemptions to taxpayer-funded religious colleges and universities that discriminate against and abuse their LGBTQ students. Learn more about the lawsuit and meet our plaintiffs here." In January 2023, that initial complaint was dismissed, but an appeal has been filed. For the full timeline of their case, visit https://www.thereap.org/lawsuit. REAP is also very active on social media and recently ran a #cantpraythegayaway campaign. Follow them on Instagram. Support the podcast via a subscription to my newsletter, The Post-Evangelical Post. For $5/month or $50/year you'll get ad-free podcast feeds, subscriber only writing, and more. Read my latest essay, "I Still Haven't Socially Recovered from Lockdown," that I mentioned in the intro. You can also subscribe for free. Visit postevangelicalpost.com to subscribe. Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post, LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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. We talk about his life as a professor at an evangelical college, the classroom experience, pushing back against Whiteness as an Asian American man, and how he found community on and off campus. Scott is also the host of the Chapel Probation podcast. Blake was a guest! Check out Scott's prior appearance on Exvangelical. Buy Scott's book from Bookshop.org and support this show. Use Kindle? Use this link. Support this show via a paid subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post at $5/month or $50/year. Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post, LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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. The books discussed: Asian American Apostate by R. Scott Okamoto. Bookshop | Amazon The Flowering Wand by Sophie Strand Bookshop | Amazon Finding the Fool by Meg Jones Wall Bookshop | Amazon The Heartland by Kristin L. Hoganson Bookshop | Amazon Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post, LLC and a member of Irreverent Media Group. Support the show by subscribing to The Post-Evangelical Post for $5/month or $50/year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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. Find out more about MEGA at their website. Support this show via a subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post. Subscribe for free or upgrade to $5/month or $50/year to get ad-free podcast feeds and more. Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post, LLC, and a member of the Irreverent Media Group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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" last fall on The Post-Evangelical Post. Thanks for listening. Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post, LLC. The Post-Evangelical Post is a newsletter about belief, technology, and society--with a focus on US white evangelicalism. Subscribe for free or upgrade at $5/month or $50/year to receive ad-free podcast feeds and more. 25% of net proceeds are donated. Learn more at postevangelicalpost.com/support. Exvangelical is a part of Irreverent Media Group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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. 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. Support Gloria Beth Amodeo & Exvangelical by buying her book from The Post-Evangelical Posts's bookshop.org page - or if you prefer ebooks, from my Amazon affiliate link. Follow Gloria Beth on Twitter. Support this show and all of Blake's work with a $5/month subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post on Substack. Benefits include ad-free feeds, Discord access, a subscriber-only podcast, and exclusive writing. 25% of net proceeds are donated. Learn more at postevangelicalpost.com/support. Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post, LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

This week’s guest is Lenny Duncan, author of the new book Dear Revolutionaries: A Field Guide for A World Beyond the Church.  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, and I captured as much as I could during that time. You may hear some occasional sounds in the audio including from some bangles Lenny was wearing; I think it adds to the ambience personally, but your mileage may vary.  Buy Lenny's book on Bookshop.org to support the show. Follow Lenny's Substack, A Sorcerer's Notebook. You can support my work by using the show notes link to buy Lenny’s book from Bookshop.org above , or by subscribing to The Post-Evangelical Post newsletter at $5/month or $50 year at postevangelicalpost.com. I donate 25% of net proceeds; check out the Support page to learn more.  Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post, LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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 $50/year at postevangelicalpost.com. Benefits include ad-free podcast feeds, supporter-only podcast & writing, and Discord access. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

In this episode from 2020, I chat with Anne Helen Petersen about her book Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation (Amazon, Bookshop). We discuss her spiritual & religious background, her viral essay on BuzzFeed that led to this book, how the way we use social media contributes to burnout, how our economic systems fail us, and more.  You can follow Anne on Twitter @annehelen and subscribe to her newsletter, Culture Study. Follow Blake on Twitter @brchastain, Instagram @brchastain_, and subscribe to his newsletter The Post-Evangelical Post. This episode was produced by Jake Lewis. Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post, LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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. It's fun. Follow Kevin on Instagram: @thekevingarcia. Support this show via a $5/month subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post. Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post, LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

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 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 of the new book God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning. We talked about her time at Moody Bible Institute, experiencing 9/11 on a Christian campus, the similarities between Christian prophecy & secular transhumanism, and all sorts of other great things. Buy Meghan's book on Bookshop.org or at your local independent bookstore. (Yes, that is an affiliate link, and it helps the show). Follow Meghan on Twitter. Support the show directly via a subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post newsletter at $5/month or $50/year - 25% of net proceeds are donated to The Religious Exemption Accountability Project and White Homework. Follow Blake on Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok. Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post, LLC and a part of the Irreverent Media Group podcast collective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about