Women Beyond Faith

Carrie's back! Join us as she share's the rest of her journey up to present day. May her badassery inspire you! Carrie Doan is a pleasure coach, writer, and business strategist who is passionate about empowering women to rediscover their worth through practices of pleasure. She believes that every single part of us is deserving of love and actively works to reawaken the spirit to a life of abundance. When she's not tending to her children or seeking adventures around the world, she's busy hosting the "Clearly Connected Podcast" where she invites listeners to reimagine all the ways they can reconnect to themselves, to others, and to our natural environment. Website: www.carriedoan.com Clearly Connected Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clearly-connected/id1602454881 IG @carriedoancoaching Carrie's Dare to Desire Ebook https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a0ola898j2QbPHX9PpjzNLCeCMD76QYA/view #badassbeauty #findingfreedom #onestoryatatime #carriedoanpleasurecoach #clearlyconnectedpodcast #carriedoancoaching #carriedoan Support the show Support the show

Carrie Doan is a pleasure coach, writer, and business strategist who is passionate about empowering women to rediscover their worth through practices of pleasure. She believes that every single part of us is deserving of love and actively works to reawaken the spirit to a life of abundance. When she's not tending to her children or seeking adventures around the world, she's busy hosting the "Clearly Connected Podcast" where she invites listeners to reimagine all the ways they can reconnect to themselves, to others, and to our natural environment. Website: www.carriedoan.com Clearly Connected Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clearly-connected/id1602454881 IG @carriedoancoaching Carrie's Dare to Desire Ebook https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a0ola898j2QbPHX9PpjzNLCeCMD76QYA/view Support the show

Janice Selbie is a Registered Professional Counsellor and religious recovery consultant. She Divorced Religion after nearly 40 years in the Pentecostal (and briefly, Mennonite) denomination. After also divorcing her husband, Janice went back to school to become a counsellor and founded the Divorcing Religion Workshop, the Conference on Religious Trauma (aka CORT), and the Shameless Sexuality: Life After Purity Culture conference. Here's additional details regarding Janice's offerings: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGhyTXTIM9kdTJ1jW-Ckb5gFrom CORT's vision statement: There are widespread assumptions that religion in general is good or at least harmless. Yet people are seriously hurt by religious doctrines and practices every day. This has to end. --- Dr. Marlene Winelll Support the show

Work. Family. Vacations. Nude Beaches. Putting into practice the Speaking Up and Speaking Out. Support the show

Alaine is back! In this episode she shares the pain, isolation and wonder associated with deconstruction. It takes considerable courage to confront cognitive bias head on. Many of us, hoodwinked since childhood, become driven to discover the truth. We're so over the BS! We sprint forward – often times ignorant to the enormity of the fallout for doing so. Alaine carried on. She kept asking the questions and fought hard to find honest answers. Still working through the aftereffects of her deconstruction. Alaine moved to the D.C. suburbs, leaving her family behind. She’s starting over. A new career. A new city. A new Alaine. Support the show

Alaine is a Gen-X former evangelical raised in the Deep South who found out the hard way that the unconditional love of Jesus had more than a few conditions. When her world began to crumble following a difficult divorce, her strict, conservative family and Southern Baptist community were not there for her the way she expected. Their shunning pushed her to question all the beliefs she’d clung to her whole life. A support group for women of faith showed her how many verses in the Bible had been mistranslated and misappropriated through the years to support patriarchal theologies detrimental to women—and if this was possible, what ELSE in the Bible might not be the literal “Word of God”? Alaine’s intense journey of deconstruction has led her down new roads away from almost everything and everyone in her former world. Today, identifying as an atheist/humanist, she is rebuilding her life and career as a paralegal in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Support the show

Bess is back from rural Pennsylvania to share with us the rest of her story – at least up to current day Spring of 2022. In her mid 20s and wise beyond her years Bess talks university, working through anxiety and panic attacks, therapy, finding the love of her life, managing relationships with still believing family members, and finding community with other out of the box thinkers in her small town. Bess is an animal lover and her gentle, soft spoken connection with these non-humans offers some calm and serenity during these difficult days -- these days of discovery – these days of redefining the dreams of her youth – these days of finding freedom outside the confines of a religious order – these days of post pandemic uncertainty – you’ll even her rooster crowing in the background! Damn! Bess is a badass!! If you'd like to reach out to Bess, she’d love to chat with you. You can reach her at Bess569@yahoo.com. Bess is learning how to use her voice. She is Speaking Up. And Speaking Out. And in so doing, she is Finding Freedom. On the Other Side. One Story at a Time. #WereSpeaking #WomenBeyondFaith #FindingFreedom #OneStoryataTime #SpeakingUp #SpeakingOut Support the show

Reagan's back! In this conversation she talks specifics regarding the multiple small businesses she runs here in the Greater Cincinnati area. Reagan is a career coach, professional photographer, CEO of a Nature Preschool, blogger, AND does speaking engagements. Whew! That makes me tired just typing it all out!! Reagan continues to inspire me -- she's changing the world by being herself! Here's Reagan -- sharing more of her journey -- from evangelical homeschool kiddo to earth loving, tree hugging inspirational homeschool mama and entrepreneur. Enjoy the conversation. I’m pretty sure you, too, will continue to be inspired by Reagan’s moxie. Find out more about Reagan at the links below: https://www.playfulacre.com https://www.instagram.com/playfulacre/ https://www.facebook.com/playfulacre https://twitter.com/playfulacre Support the show

Reagan is a mom and owner of multiple small businesses here in the Greater Cincinnati area. She grew up in the church. She and her family frequented the same homeschool circles as my family. Her people played on the same homeschool sports teams as my people. Her sister actually dated one of my favorite human’s brother. We knew, and -- still know—a lot of the same people. I’m not sure how or when I was first introduced to Reagan’s Instagram page. I don’t think I realized at the time that she was someone from our homeschool past, I was just attracted to the passion and pizzazz she oozed. I loved what she was saying about preserving the magic of childhood and getting kids out in to nature. She inspired me. Reagan was raising her kid the way I wished I would have raised my kids. She was teaching me things. One day last fall I put two and two together and realized our families used to do life in the same Cincinnati homeschool circles. And I wanted to know more. So -- I reached out and asked Reagan if she’d be interested in sharing her journey -- from evangelical homeschool kiddo to earth loving, tree hugging inspirational homeschool mama and entrepreneur. Luckily, for me and you, she said yes. Enjoy the conversation. I’m pretty sure you, too, will be inspired by Reagan’s moxie. You can find out more about Reagan at the links below: https://www.playfulacre.com https://www.instagram.com/playfulacre/ https://www.facebook.com/playfulacre https://twitter.com/playfulacre ​ Support the show

Trigger warning: This episode contains material that may be difficult for some of our listeners to hear. Conversations cover porn, body shaming, Josh Harris, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, statutory rape, purity culture and abortion. #porn #bodyshaming #JoshuaHarris #JoshHarris #IKissedDatingGoodbye #statutoryrape #purityculture #abortion #sexuallycurious #shamed #dating #relationships #courting #courtship #exvangelical #boymeetsgirl #findingfreedom #onestoryatatime #speakingup #speakingout Support the show

Bess is in her mid 20s. She lives in a small rural Pennsylvania town. As you'd expect, she's been surrounded by conservative christians as far as the eye can see for the entirety of her life. Raised in the church and educated in christian schools, Bess never fit in. Everyone around her was exactly the same – same beliefs, same hobbies, same skin color, same EVERYTHING! Sure, she made attempts to fit in, but as a young teen, Bess determined she could no longer pretend to be someone she wasn't. This authenticity and independence created turmoil within her family of origin -- particularly in the relationship with her father. It wasn't appropriate for a young girl to ask questions and think for herself. As an older teen, Bess and her dad came to an understanding that they'd just have to agree to disagree. However, as Bess' faith continued to erode, the conflict returned and this time not only with dad but into the larger circle of Bess' immediate family. Living authentically hasn't been easy. Bess at times wishes she could just turn off her hunger for truth switch. But for some of us, this is impossible to do!! We are learning how to use our voices. We’re Speaking Up. And Speaking Out. Finding our Voices. And in so doing, Finding Freedom. On the Other Side. One Story at a Time. Enjoy Bess. She’s pretty f*&ing incredible! #WereSpeaking #WomenBeyondFaith #FindingFreedom #OneStoryataTime #SpeakingUp #SpeakingOut Support the show

Responding to your questions -- Leah talks work, Covid family relations, homeschool mama days and the kids subsequent trauma, as well as the movie Captain Fantastic with one of her crushes -- Viggo Mortensen. #WereSpeaking #SpeakUp #SpeakOut #FindingFreedom #OneStoryataTime #BraveAssBeauties #WomenBeyondFaith You can reach us at womenbeyondfaith@gmail.com, Instagram or Facebook. New graphic by Dara Paul. Thanks, girlfriend! Special thanks to my personal assistant and editor @emmacatherine09 Support the show

She's back!! Catch the rest of Andrea's deconstruction story here at Andrea B. Part 2! Born the 4th of 5 children to strict young earth creationist parents in the Midwest, Andrea B. was at church every Sunday. At the age of 9, she began attending summer camp at Kanakuk (think “Jesus Camp” Documentary) in Branson, Missouri. Attempting to grow in faith, confidence, and Christian characterAndrea buckled down intensifying her commitment to the faith. Sold out for Jesus, Andrea was rebaptized. Attending purity retreats, See You at the Pole events and before school prayer study groups became her standard. She purchased an ichthys bumper sticker for a high school boyfriend. She was a Jars of Clay fangirl. However, while still in high school Andrea took a world religions and philosophy course which revived her natural curiosity. While away at college, her fundie boyfriend insisted she grow her hair long and wear skirts. Slowly, she began to break away intellectually from fundamentalism. Support the show

Born the 4th of 5 children to strict young earth creationist parents in the Midwest, Andrea B. was at church every Sunday. At the age of 9, she began attending summer camp at Kanakuk (think “Jesus Camp” Documentary) in Branson, Missouri. Attempting to grow in faith, confidence, and christian character Andrea buckled down intensifying her commitment to the faith. Sold out for Jesus, she was rebaptized. Attending purity retreats, See You at the Pole events and before school prayer study groups became the standard. She even purchased an ichthys bumper sticker for a high school boyfriend. However, while still in high school Andrea took a world religions and philosophy course which revived her natural curiosity. Slowly, she began to break away intellectually from fundamentalism. Support the show

Alyssa is a 27 year old spouse & momma of two who is still adjusting to the freedom of "life on the other side" after recently deconstructing her beliefs from the Evangelical Church. After her parents divorced at the age of 8, she and her two brothers were primarily raised by their mom in Wichita, Kansas in a very right-winged conservative household. She currently lives in the Kansas City area, but is hoping to move down south at some point next year. She has been working tirelessly throughout the last year or so to unlearn and dismantle all of the toxicity that she was raised to believe was "love" within the church and her religious family. She enjoys drinking coffee, blasting punk music on long car rides, and isn't the least bit ashamed of her potty mouth. She is dedicated to healing her religious and childhood traumas and living her life as authentically as possible :) Find her on TikTok at @alwaysauthenticalyssa where she posts very real and raw parts of her healing journey in hopes to connect with people who are on a similar path. Support the show

Deconversion Therapy is a comedy podcast about religion. Bonnie and Karen punch up at charlatans like Jim Bakker or Jerry Falwell Jr. They don't discuss real trauma rather they point listeners to other spaces for that. They have fun with old church memories and cover recent and past scandals and debacles. They've been at it for 3 years now! Growing up in the Southern Baptist church in South Florida Bonnie and Karen "met" when we they 1 year old (1969 or 70!). Both became Christians. Bonnie was always a bit more skeptical than Karen who grew up in a fully-Christian household. Bonnie left, went back and then finally called it quits. Karen became a missionary and seeds of doubt didn't arise until she was on the mission field in Thailand. It was a painful decade as things began to unravel. Bonnie worked in Hollywood and has lots of stories. She now works in real estate. Karen taught English at a university and still does mentors students online. Support the show

Kimberly Poovey is the founder of The Exvangelical Parent, a community of misfits, questioners, and wanderers, sharing our stories and navigating ethics, morality, and spirituality in parenting. We come from a wide variety of backgrounds and religious traditions, but we are all on a journey of deconstructing, reconstructing, and decolonizing our faith, (or lack thereof.) We aspire to raise good humans without religious baggage who will make the world a better, more just, and more loving place. For the last several years, I’ve been in the process of deconstructing and reconstructing my faith, and I don’t yet know where I’ve landed. (Perhaps landing at all isn’t the point.) Now, as parents, my husband and I are trying to impart morality, ethics, empathy, compassion, and social justice to our child without making those things irrevocably interwoven with a conservative faith tradition. It’s a journey, and we are figuring it out as we go. I’m a writer, artist, wife, and over-caffeinated mom. Enneagram 9. INFP. After spending over a decade in the ministry world, I now write and create full-time. You can find my work on Scary Mommy, The Mighty, The Huffington Post, The Natural Parent, Parent Co, and Her View From Home. You can find Kimberly at https://theexvangelicalparent.com/ and on Instagram: @theexvangelicalparent Support the show

Justice Renée, born trans-female, raised in Young Earth Fundamentalism was taught through shame to hate her trans identity. As a preteen, Justice dedicated her life to Jesus and dove heavily into ministry. Steeped in fundamentalist culture it was not until 2019 when she opened up to her partner about her gender issues. Recently transitioned (woohoo!!), Justice is using her talents to amplify marginalized voices and improve the "Din of Conversation". She's challenging herself to deal with the fear and scariness of being in the public eye, stepping out from behind the camera. Enjoy Justice! She's a treasure!! PS Did you notice her tattoo?? You can find out more about Justice and the communities she's involved in at: http://thetransverse.net/about-the-transverse/ https://secularnorth.org https://twitter.com/leftintheleaves https://www.instagram.com/leftintheleaves/ Support the show

Justice Renée, born trans-female, was raised in a Fundamentalist Evangelical Home. Her father was a leader in the Young Earth/Creation Science movement in Utah and surrounding states through the 1980s and 90s. She was taught through shame to hate her trans identity. In her preteens, Justice dedicated her life to Jesus and began ministry work with her church, AWANA, and CEF and gave her first evangelistic message at 13. She went on to get Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies with a Missions Emphasis from Frontier School of the Bible, was Youth Pastor in Nebraska, worked at Christian Camps, and a CrossWorld Missions Candidate preparing for missions in Thailand. In 2009, responding to the Housing Crisis, she founded “Tears of the Patriots”, a Tea Party Group connected with Libertarian and Christian Nationalism. Due to a myriad of reasons, Justice Renée re-examined her belief system over a period of 7 years ending with leaving the church. She opened to her partner about her gender issues in 2019 and transitioned in 2020. Currently, Justice Renée works as a Systems Engineer at Target, helps amplify diverse voices through Secular North Productions, and raises her two kids with her partner in a co-housing community. She shares her story with others to give hope and move communities forward through the “Din of Conversation”. She found freedom in acceptance and a path forward from the hate. Stepping out from behind the camera, Justice Renée has begun opening up in a more public way to build connections with others and amplify the "Din of Conversation". Support the show

Speak your truth, Leah, even if your voice shakes. We matter. Our stories matter. And our voices need to be heard. #speakup #speakout #werespeaking #imspeaking #ourturn #exvangelical Support the show